Agripreneur Training Approach

The Rural Enterprise Center has created an innovative, scalable small-scale approach to farming, focused on creating economic opportunities for rural Latino families. The training process builds on strengths of culture and experience, and addresses challenges such as lack of access and working capital, marketing and business support infrastructure, and focused training.

Beginning with the grassroots work of building a broad business/community support infrastructure, and moving towards the launch of new “agripreneurs” or family-scale farmers — our goal is to help rural Latino immigrant families break the cycle of poverty so they can participate in and contribute to the long-term vitality of their communities.

At the same time, this approach has the potential to transform community food systems, helping to rejuvenate small-scale farming operations struggling because of the trend toward consolidation in today’s commodity-driven agricultural environment.

Download Rural Enterprise Fact Sheet (PDF)
Download Case Study: Agripreneurs, A Free Range of Opportunity, by Center for Rural Entrepreneurship (PDF)

Why poultry?
Although it’s not the only agricultural product, raising natural free-range chickens is at the core of the Rural Enterprise Center’s project to help Latino farmers succeed. Here’s why:

Turnaround – Poultry has a short life cycle and a concurrent cash flow (multiple flocks are raised each season). That means it’s possible for low-income families to begin raising poultry without having to disrupt their current situation significantly. Poultry requires minimum inputs and allows maximum returns.

Culture – Most immigrant Latino families already have experience and knowledge around this kind of poultry farming (never to be confused with conventional poultry farm methods) and with cooperative systems. This is a competitive advantage in a growing market for local, natural foods.

Sustainability – In sustainable farming systems, biological activity needs the presence of livestock. For example, chicken manure is nature’s fertilizer, and can help us grow more nutritious products more efficiently – such as vegetables, nuts, fruits and honey. Plus we reap the benefits of soil protection through permanent roots systems, extraction of beneficial minerals found deeper in the soil, carbon sequestration, reduced carbon emissions and more.