Youth in Urban Ag Connect

Go Farm Connect partnered with Urban Roots to host a free Youth in Urban Ag Field Day, dinner and resource sharing program on June 29 at Rivoli Bluff Farm, (749 Arkwright Street) for young people between the ages of 10 and 20.
A tour of Rivoli Bluff farm showcased the work of Urban Roots in engaging youth in growing food, cooking, practicing conservation, and exploring agricultural careers. This event also provided an introduction to local United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) staff, who explained the USDA Youth Loan program, along with other helpful resources to support young agricultural entrepreneurs.
Hosting the event were Nura Ahmed, who works at Kilimo MN incubator farm and is an Arabic language specialist, and Matthew Barthelemy, farmer support specialist with Renewing the Countryside. They are Connectors with Go Farm Connect, trained to help new and experienced farmers of all kinds access helpful federal programs.
“The USDA has done a lot to support youth initiatives in rural spaces, helping to support learning, growth and development of dreams around farming, food production and working with the land. Now that we have an Urban Ag office in St Paul that will serve the Twin Cities, I’m eager to see what’s possible in supporting urban youth as well as the organizations that serve them,” says Barthelemy.
One person drove for an hour and a half from Mankato to be there and was excited to learn about youth programming, as she works with youth and farming in her organization.
With USDA being so new in Urban Spaces this was a great opportunity for them to visit an urban farm, particularly one working with youth,” said Kriss Marion of Go Farm Connect. “The USDA people all said how important it was for them to be there to not only show the community that they are a resource for them, but to also listen to the needs and learn about how they can better shape programming to meet the needs of youth and youth educators in urban spaces. The youth that were there were interested in learning more about youth loans, but were not as excited to do it alone. They were interested in doing it as a collaborative project. A couple of the youth educators said they wish there were resources to help them facilitate this kind of programming. One of the youths asked if there were loans to start a service / program to help other farmers.”