Arizona Agricultural Workforce Development Coalition
Ajo Center for Sustainable Agriculture convened the Arizona Agricultural Workforce Development Coalition in 2018. While organizing the coalition, Ajo Center for Sustainable Agriculture has been building a network of farmer mentors, training and educational organizations, and beginning farmers. The hard work of the coalition and supporters led to the passing of the Arizona Agriculture Workforce Development Program into law on June 30th, 2021 after three legislative sessions.
The Arizona Agricultural Workforce Development Coalition dedicates their work to developing guidelines for shared apprenticeship training, and campaigning to pass legislation to support beginning farmer trainees at the state level to offset the cost of training to remove barriers to entry. While in the process, increasing the awareness of the diverse faces of Arizona agriculture, and creating a network of young, beginning, established and older farmers and organizations.
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Our Partners:
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Iskashitaa Refugee Network
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Southern Arizona Young Farmers and Ranchers Coalition
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Local First Arizona
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Pancho Farms
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Pinnacle Prevention
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Arizona Food Systems Network
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Karalea Cox
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Our Funders:
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Vitalyst Health Foundation
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Community Foundation of Southern Arizona
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News
Ajo CSA Press Release, July 27 2021
Farm apprenticeship bill could help aging workforce in Arizona, ABC15, Feb. 18 2021
BRINGING IN THE NEXT GENERATION OF ARIZONA FARMERS, Good Food Finder, Nov. 7 2019
Supporting the Future of Farming, Growing America, Oct. 3 2019
Growing New Farmers, Edible Phoenix, May 15 2020
Arizona's ag workforce is getting older, Western Farm Press, Dec. 4 2019