ADDRESSING BARRIERS TO BETTER SERVE SOCIALLY-DISADVANTAGED MICHIGAN PRODUCERS: A COMMUNITY-MSU INCLUSIVE TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE NETWORK

MSU College of Agriculture and Natural Resources does not have a network of educators and specialists,particularly one connected to external partners to serve Black, Indigenous, Latinx and New Immigrant Producers across the state, this project will create one.Currently the Black, Indigenous, Latinx and New Immigrant farming populations do not have full and complete trust with the Land-Grant University System and the USDA. They often do not seek resources and have more limited access to educators and connecting agencies. We will work to create trust between BIPOC farmers, MSU and state and federal entities.External organizations have provided feedback that MSU does not recognize and incorporate community-based expertise into their educational model. This network will change that.We will hold engagement sessions, in which external producer groups, BIPOC farming support and advocacy organizations, and BIPOC farmer funds have been invited to engage with and inform MSU Educators to influence programming.A major shift in outreach success, with increased enrollment and engagement by BIPOC producers, was and will be made when MSU CRFS, MIFFS and MSU Extension offereBIPOC-focused education, outreach and technical assistance.The sheer amount of MSU, CRFS and MIFFS resources makes it hard to identify changes needed to get to inclusive & equitable documents. This network will make resource identification an inter-institutional network effort to identify and updateresources most relevant to BIPOC producers.There is both historical national, state, and local meta-data on racism within agriculture. There is also ongoing anecdotal and regional data from BIPOC producers on why they do not access USDA, state and Extension resources, financing, and risk management products. With a change in thinking in what and how TA is provided, we can make the change in Michigan.More low-interest financings for business growth, more access to risk managementinsurance protection, more success in writing and receiving USDA grant funding and NRCS reimbursement grants to grow their businesses and find financial success.Technical assistance data can be captured at many levels in the MSU system. Data is captured anonymously from time of registration in a meeting or program and to end with impact survey through Qualtrics. This data collection will provide insight on program changes, producer opinion, touch points and improvements in TA. We will ensure we launch and utilize all aspects of data collection to inform work and systemic changes due to this project.We believe a shift to more inclusiveoutreach technical assistance to underserved groups in Michigan, which will be measured and accountable to this project, it will be valuable to share across the country for a potential national impact.