From the Farm to the Job Market: A Guide to Employment and Training Services for Farmers and Ranchers. Research and Evaluation Report Series 94-D

In the face of steadily declining numbers of small-operation farmers and ranchers, the Economic Dislocation and Worker Adjustment Assistance Act's Farmers and Ranchers Demonstration Project funded projects in four states to develop strategies for serving farmers. The experiences of these four projects in Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota and four additional project formed the foundation for this guide. The guide consists of five sections and four appendixes. Section 1 explores what makes farmers different from other employment and training clients and the reasons for farm and ranch dislocation. Section 2 outlines startup activities for programs seeking to improve services to farmers. Section 3 describes how programs can be designed to meet the needs of farmer clients, emphasizing services that differ the most from services for other dislocated workers, such as outreach, case management, and supportive services. Section 4 discusses ways that states can assist local areas in developing programs that respond effectively to farm dislocation, and the last section provides a resource list containing contact information for the 8 projects described in the guide and a bibliography listing 12 other documents, case studies, autobiographies, fiction, and essays about farming. Appendixes consist of the following: a farmer retraining survey, client stories, a checklist of farm skills, and forms for documenting eligibility. (KC)