Sowing Seeds of Entrepreneurship: Lincoln University and CCUA Help Growers Build Small Businesses
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The Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture uses a schoolhouse at its Agriculture Park to host lectures for market gardening apprentices.
For three years, Lincoln University of Missouri (LU) has partnered with the Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture (CCUA) to teach local growers agricultural economics and marketing through the Market Gardening Apprenticeship.
Now, as summer slips away and autumn creeps in, the collaboration is coming to a close.
With its conclusion, 14 market gardening apprentices will graduate the program, leaving with the skills necessary to develop small businesses of their own.
The Market Gardening Apprenticeship began in 2023 thanks to a three-year United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) grant. The grant was awarded through the USDA’s Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production in 2022.
Lincoln University Assistant Professor/State Extension Specialist Dr. Eleazar Gonzalez teaches CCUA market gardening apprentices about financial and marketing plans on July 28.
CCUA Director Tony Minnick explained the program started in response to the needs of local growers. CCUA teaches food production skills to home gardeners and small producers through its programs, while Lincoln University brings expertise in small business development.
Together, they created an apprenticeship program to help local growers learn how to plan, start and manage a small business.
“We’re trying to inspire folks to produce more food for themselves and their families, and for those looking to go deeper and be contributors to the system, provide the tools for them to proceed with that,” Minnick said.
Beginning in March and stretching until October, apprentices attend a series of lectures, farm visits and other activities led by CCUA team members and LU faculty.
Lincoln University Farm Superintendent Chris Boeckmann leads CCUA market gardening apprentices on a tour of LU’s Alan T. Busby farm on Aug. 4.
Minnick said apprentices are expected to dedicate about 12 hours each week to the program. They learn about crop planting, irrigation systems, pest management, weed control, greenhouse work, nursery care, field preparation, harvest and wash protocols, marketing and small business skills.
Lectures by LU faculty members cover several topics, including small farm production and management, economics of local food production, consumer behavior and native plants as specialty crops.
“The lectures have been great. Like the one Dr. Nadia (Navarrete-Tindall) did a few months ago. My interest is in native plants, so that made me super excited,” Apprentice Jess Wishon said. “It’s a super lucrative prospect.”
Apprentices also get out in the field, visiting Lincoln’s research farms and other farms in Missouri. Minnick said those field trips give apprentices the opportunity to see how different farms with diversified crops and livestock operate.
He noted that field trips to Lincoln’s farms are always a favorite component of the program.
Graduate students and research assistants showcase organic research on LU’s Alan T. Busby Farm Aug. 4 for CCUA market gardening apprentices.
On Aug. 4, for example, apprentices visited LU’s Alan T. Busby farm. There, attendees boarded a tractor-pulled trolley and toured the organic research farm’s plots and fields, gaining insight into native fruits, hemp, sheep, goats, greenhouses and more.
According to Minnick, 20 apprentices graduated in the first two years of the program. Several of those graduates have started their own small businesses, including three who went into business together to found Birds and the Bees LLC, which sells honey, vegetables and jams at the Columbia Farmers Market.
When this year’s apprentices finish their tutelage in October, the program will end as well. Minnick explained the NRCS grant funding the apprenticeship only lasted three years, and another funding source has yet to arise.
However, while the future of this specific apprenticeship is unknown, Minnick said CCUA will continue to train growers and educate the community.
“Either way, we’ve seen all the really great resources Lincoln University has to offer folks that are new growers trying to start a business, so that will be something to tap into in the future,” Minnick said.
CCUA market gardening apprentices enjoy a tour of LU’s Alan T. Busby farm from a tractor-pulled trolley on Aug. 4.
Additionally, CCUA leads a variety of programs seeking to connect people with food. CCUA seeks to educate the community and provide food assistance, working with families, veterans, public schools and others.
“We’ve been really grateful to open the program up to all the resources Lincoln University has to offer,” Minnick said. “Dr. Eleazar Gonzalez has connected our program participants with some of the best resources and people at Lincoln University and really rounded out the experience for folks.”