Launched in 2016, the Bay Area Farmer Training offered comprehensive learning, mentorship, and employment opportunities for new and beginning farmers to gain skills and knowledge in agroecology, food justice initiatives, local marketing, and cooperatives.

From 2016-2018, nearly 100 graduates of BAFT’s program participated in accessible, comprehensive, and interactive training and employment opportunities in sustainable agriculture. Especially designed for immigrants, refugees, and formerly incarcerated individuals, BAFT served to decrease cultural and resource barriers for beginning farmers, to increase cross-cultural awareness and understanding among farmers and in society, and to increase agroecological practitioners and practices that revive local food systems oriented towards earth stewardship, equitable economies, and multicultural alliances.

BAFT seeded new pathways for socially disadvantaged and limited-resource beginning farmers to establish viable agricultural micro-enterprises and farmer cooperatives along the urban-to-rural spectrum by developing a network of farmer-mentors, host farms, entrepreneurs, and interconnected enterprises to support the sustained success and endurance of these new farm businesses. This includes incubating worker cooperative farms, an innovative model adopted by a handful of farms across North America.

BAFT received financial support from a Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program grant of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture in 2015.