Mentorship Program

Important Statement Regarding the 2025 Mentorship Program

Dear Partners,

As we continue to reflect on our progress and plan for the future, we want to share some important news regarding our Farmer Mentorship Program. After much consideration, Partners in Food and Farming (PIFF) has decided to pause the Farmer Mentorship Program for the year 2025. This decision comes as part of our commitment to ensuring that our programs are sustainable, effective, and aligned with the needs of our farmers and the agricultural community we serve.

Why We’re Pausing the Program

The pause on the Farmer Mentorship Program will allow us the necessary time to focus on planning, restructuring, and fundraising efforts. While we take immense pride in the successes of our past cohorts, we recognize that there is always room for growth and improvement. We want to ensure that future iterations of the program are not only impactful but also tailored to effectively address the evolving challenges faced by farmers today.

Here are the key areas we will be focusing on during this pause:

Program Planning and Restructuring: We aim to enhance the program's framework by collecting feedback from past participants and mentors. This will enable us to make informed decisions on how to better serve the agricultural community in future cohorts.

Fundraising Efforts: Securing sustainable funding is vital for the success of any program. We will be working diligently to develop a comprehensive fundraising strategy that allows us to invest more resources into the Farmer Mentorship Program. This includes exploring new grant opportunities, expanding our donor base, and identifying partnerships that align with our mission.

Strengthening Resources: We recognize the importance of providing our mentors and mentees with the best possible tools and resources. During this time, we will focus on enhancing the materials and support systems available to participants, ensuring they receive the guidance they need.

Looking Ahead

Although we will not hold a Farmer Mentorship Program in 2025, we remain committed to supporting farmers in Indiana. We will continue to provide various resources, training, and events throughout the year, aimed at fostering connections, learning, and growth within our farming community.

We genuinely appreciate your understanding and support during this transition. The Farmer Mentorship Program has always been a cornerstone of PIFF’s mission, and we believe that this pause will ultimately lead to a stronger, more effective program that serves our farmers better than ever.

As we move forward, we will keep you updated on our progress and share new developments.

Thank you for being a part of the PIFF family, and we look forward to continuing this journey together!

With gratitude,

Porchea O. McGuire, Executive Director, Partners IN Food and Farming

Why Mentorship?

Our Mentorship program pairs beginning and experienced farmers. Why? In the Fall of 2021, we surveyed farmers ahead of our organizational launch. When we asked about what programs or events farmers wanted (field days, an apprenticeship program, etc.), the #1 thing that farmers asked for was a mentorship program. We listened and we're pleased to say we've begun our second round of this great program..

Thanks to grant support from the Indiana State Department of Agriculture, PIFF and the Hoosier Young Farmers Coalition piloted a mentorship program in 2023 and 2024.

How Mentorship Works:

Here’s how the program works:

Mentors and mentees receive a $1,200 and $800 stipend respectively to help cover their time engaging as well as travel to four in-person events. For mentors, this includes a training on how to be a strong mentor.
The mentorship program includes regular interactions for the mentor/mentee pair, including:
- A kick-off event and a closing event with all 10 mentor/mentee pairs. Both events will be hosted on a farm in central Indiana, including a farm tour, potluck, and time to get to know each other and reflect on the mentorship experience.
- A visit to the mentor’s farm.
- A visit to the mentee’s farm.
- A midway virtual group gathering to check-in as a whole cohort
- Six (minimum) virtual conversations via phone/zoom that dive into key topics.
- The chance to ask questions in real time, as the season progresses, via text/email.
We provide a workbook to guide the mentorship sessions, including reflections to prepare for the session’s topic and prompts to facilitate the actual mentor-mentee conversation. Each pair decides what topics to cover for each meeting, and can tailor the curriculum to fit their mentee’s needs and the mentor’s experience.

We're happy that we've had excellent support from some partner organizations. The 2023 and 2024 programs were co-hosted by the Hoosier Young Farmers Coalition (HYFC) and Partners IN Food and Farming (PIFF), with grant support from the Indiana State Department of Agriculture's (ISDA) Specialty Crop Block Grant.

Can I apply now?

We are not currently accepting application for the Mentorship Program. We hope you will consider applying for our next round. Be the first to know when we're accepting applications by signing up for PIFF's e-newsletter, and by following us on Facebook or Instagram.

Curious about serving as a Mentor in the future?

Click here to read more about how Mentors will help their mentees, what's expected, and what's not.

Interested in being paired with a Mentor in the future?

Click here to read more about what's expected of Mentees, what you might gain and how you'd contribute.

Mentorship Update, 2023-2024

Interested in what we've done so far? The report on the left is full of information about our first two cohorts. Click on the image at left to view it.

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