Future Harvest Beginner Farmer Training Program (BFTP)

Our Beginner Farmer Training Program (BFTP) offers a 12-month immersive training experience that combines a comprehensive classroom curriculum with hands-on learning at some of the region’s leading sustainable farms. Applications for 2024 have closed. Applications for 2025 will open in the fall of 2024.

• We offer three training levels, designed to meet the specific needs of beginning farmers at different stages in their careers.

  • Level 1: Interested in farming but not sure where to start? Get your hands dirty with hands-on events and online classroom learning in this flexible program designed for folks who still work full time

  • Level 2: The flagship level of our program, designed for folks who have some on-farm experience build their skills and launch their farm businesses

  • Level 3: A mentorship program for farmers who have started their businesses and seek targeted support in both production and business 

  • Not sure which level is the best fit?

• All three levels of the BFTP are FREE and trainees receive a host of benefits: annual FHCASA membership, free admission to our popular winter conference and year-round field days.

• Join a diverse, inclusive network of new and experienced farmers! We are committed to building a safe, supportive network for all trainees, free from discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, disability, religion, veteran status, military obligations, or marital status.

• This is a region-wide program, open to beginning farmers in MD, VA, DE—including the Delmarva Peninsula—and DC, WV, and PA. We offer in-person farmer-to-farmer training opportunities throughout the Chesapeake region, and classroom requirements are completed online.

• We offer training in diverse operation types, including: vegetables, fruit, cut flowers, herbs, and livestock at urban, peri-urban, and rural farm settings.

• The program is also designed with built-in scheduling flexibility to allow new farmers to further their training while maintaining their own farms or other work.

• Accessibility: We are committed to making the BFTP accessible to all aspiring farmers. While our programs currently best serve folks located within 2 hours of DC or Baltimore or on the Delmarva peninsula, we work to develop custom learning plans for folks across the Chesapeake region. We want to make this work! Please feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns.

Individuals apply — this is training for aspiring and beginning farmers, not an institutional grant. Future Harvest publishes three applicant tests for the current cohort, quoted verbatim. You should be someone who:

• "Are currently employed, have secured employment for 2026 or are a regular volunteer at a soil-based vegetable, fruit, flower or herb farm in Maryland"

• "Have some experience farming, and want to learn more about the 'how' and 'why' of sustainable agriculture."

• "Have an interest in taking on a management role on a farm and/or starting your own farm, in the next 3-5 years."

Read those carefully, because they are stricter than they first look:

1. You must already be working — paid or as a regular volunteer — on someone's farm. This is not a program for people with no farm connection yet; the on-farm placement is the spine of the training.

2. The farm must be a soil-based vegetable, fruit, flower or herb operation. Hydroponic operations and livestock-only operations fall outside that description.

3. As currently published, the farm must be in Maryland. Earlier cohorts were wider — Future Harvest's own history notes the program "grew beyond Baltimore County with trainees and training farmers across the state and into Virginia," and a past cohort of "over 90 trainees spanned three states plus Washington DC" — but the live requirement names Maryland only. If you farm in VA, DE, WV, PA or DC, ask before assuming you qualify.

No acreage minimum, income test, age limit, land-ownership or tenure requirement is published. No years-of-experience floor either, beyond "some experience farming."

No audience restriction is published. Future Harvest's earlier published program description committed the program to being "free from discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, disability, religion, veteran status, military obligations, or marital status." Reported participation has skewed toward historically underrepresented farmers — "65% of trainees identify as female and nearly 50% identify as Black" — which is an outcome, not an eligibility rule.

Timing: "The application period for 2026 has closed," with the next application expected to open "in very early December."

No tuition figure, stipend amount, or grant ceiling is published on the program page. Future Harvest describes financial support without naming dollar amounts, so treat the numbers below as unpublished until you ask them.

What the page does publish:

• "A year-long program" — a full-season commitment, January through December.

• "Mini-grants available to fund start up costs on trainees' farming ventures," and "Opportunity to apply for a farm start-up grant only available to BFTP graduates."

• Scale of that pot, historically: "The program has distributed thousands of dollars directly to limited-resource farmers annually in the form of needs-based, farm start-up mini-grants." Grants are needs-based, so there is no fixed per-trainee amount.

• Host farmers/mentors receive "A stipend to offset the additional time spent working with a Trainee" — amount not published.

No program fee or tuition is stated either way, and no match or cost-share applies. Contact Future Harvest before budgeting: the mini-grant amount and any trainee cost are set per cohort.

2026 Beginning Farmer Training Program Application

Beginning Farmer Training Link and Info