Aspiring Farmers/Apprentices
This 6-month, Spanish-language, intensive practical training program offers aspiring farmers the opportunity to learn sustainable and production methods and establish a small farm business. Classroom instruction, workshops, and field trips are offered to 20-30 farmer-apprentices each year covering soil fertility, bookkeeping, equipment maintenance, irrigation management, integrated pest management, marketing, business planning and small business management, organic certification procedures as well as English as a Second Language. PEPA is unique in that it offers participants the necessary tools to become successful, independent farmers while at eh same time transfers an understanding of how protecting the environment and conserving natural resources can be a critical  component contributing to a farm’s economic viability.

PEPA Class of 2002	PEPA Class of 2003

After successful completion of the six-month intensive course, participants have the option of farming at the RDC for up to three years in an extended apprenticeship program.  First year apprentices begin with half an acre and can farm up to five acres in the third year.  Land, water and equipment costs are subsidized during this period, gradually increasing with et successful completion of each year, ultimately reaching near market value for these services upon completion of the three year apprenticeship program.  Throughout the program, apprentices have access to technical assistance in relevant areas.  Many of these are described below as stand-alone programs

Established Farmers
ALBA recognizes that despite having years of experience, established farmers with limited resources face challenges in being successful and profitable. The PEPA program for established farmers aims to offer educational and training opportunities that help farmers improve their economic viability through better production and land management, and business planning and marketing.  In recognition of farmer’ time constraints, PEPA programs for establish farmers are organized as theme-based sort courses, lasting form 1 day to 4 weeks, covering topics ranging from pest management, to post-harvesting handling, to marketing.

Aspiring Farmer Apprenticeship Program
The three-year Farmer Apprenticeship program is designed to allow participants to put into practice what they have learned from the formal PEPA course.  After successful completion of the six-month intensive course, which includes 109 class hours, participants have the option of farming at the RDC for up to three years in an extended apprenticeship program. First-year apprentices begin with half an acre and can farm up to five acres in the third year. Land, water and equipment costs are subsized during this period; they gradually increase with the successful completion of each year, ultimately reaching near-market value for these services upon completion of the third year.  Throughout the program, apprentices have access to technical assistance.

With land-lease connections, technical assistance, business planning and marketing support, we help many farmer apprentices and established farmers to ultimately be able to farm their own land sucessfully.  Continuous improvements are made through farmer-to-farmer exchanges and regularly scheduled training and workshops on diverse topics as well as constant on-site technical assistance..

Land, Water and Equipment Access
At the RDC, priority is given to farmer apprentices for access to land, equipment and water.  In years where all cultivable land at the RDC is not being occupied by apprentice farmers, ALBA may provide the opportunity to establish farmers to rent land at market values. Preference will be given to farmers that have participated in the apprenticeship program and who may be having difficulty securing land on their own. At the FRTC, ALBA receives proposals from farmers and research institutions on a rolling basis throughout the year to lease land.  Proposals which emphasize economic viability of conservation techniques, which assure that responsible ecological land management will be practiced, or which focus on the research areas described below, will be given priority.

Outreach and Technical Assistance
As an open community resource for organic production and conservation information, ALBA assists small farmers throughout the Central Coast, especially under-served and minority Hispanic farmers.  We offer workshops and materials in Spanish while collaborating with other agencies and organizations to provide access to information and services that promote conservation and/or ecologically sound agricultural practices on a diversity of farms (including the California Certified Organic Farmers, the University of California’s Cooperative Extension, each County’s Resource Conservation District, the Community Alliance with Family Farmers, and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service).  Information is also disseminated through radio programs, publications, word of mouth, direct assistance, and field demonstrations on-site.

Marketing Alternatives
In a growing organic consumer marketplace, our overarching goal is to help established and apprentice farmers to form profitable, reliable marketing strategies that will allow them to maximize their profits and achieve greater control over the planning of their field operations. We accomplish this in several ways:  by exposing new farmers to direct marketing strategies such as Certified Farmer’s Markets and Community Supported Agriculture and providing additional sales to restaurants and retail outlets through a distribution sys tem that focuses sales of crops grown by the farmers who have graduated from our six month education program.  ALBA continues to offer technical assistance and support services throughout the growing season that offer small farmers the ability to increase their economic viability and maintain a greater control over their own destinies.

ALBA is fortunate to have a warehouse building that offers a cleaning area, packing shed, sales office and a 1600 square-foot cooling and storage facility.  Our warehouse also serves as a teaching resource that provides new farmers with access to hands-on education.  This includes proper post-harvest, for example, use of cooling equipment, cleaning and packing techniques, and follow-through with accurate documentation.  All of these aspects of marketing contribute to the success of farmers.  Each step of the process is carefully contemplated to produce high-quality crops with reliability of service to each customer. Our distribution arm is called ALBA Organics, and its purpose is to contribute to the economic strength of both our farmers and our organization.

Ecological Restoration
As a model organic farm, ALBA recognizes the importance of maintaining and restoring the ecological integrity of the ecosystems under its management – whether these be cultivated or non-cultivated.  On cultivated lands, practices such as crop rotation, cover cropping, incorporation of organic matter, leaving land fallow, among others, all contribute to maintaining and enhancing the condition of the land, while protecting water and atmospheric resources.  In the case of non-cultivated lands, a restoration goal must be established, based on the original state of that ecosystem and the current state.  On both farms, we have elaborated conservation plans with the Natural Resources Conservation Service.  These plans serve as guides for each farm in setting priorities for conservation and restoration of cultivated lands.  While practices carried out on cultivated lands will always have an impact (positive or negative) on the surrounding non-cultivated lands, we strive to plan for the maintenance and restoration of these non-cultivated lands as well.  At the FTRC, this process has taken the form of a Land Management Planning process with key stakeholder involvement.  In the case of the RDC, this process is just getting underway, although many practices are already in place, such as hedgerows, windbreaks, etc.

Research
The challenge of promoting economic viability for small-scale, limited resources farmers who strive to practice ecological land management drives ALBA’s research interests.  We believe that information empowers farmers and as such, we aim to create and facilitate participatory, on-farm research opportunities that bring together farmers, researchers, academics, policy makers and activists.  We have a demonstration plot at the RDC, and one in development at the FTRC, allowing institutionally-oriented research in more controlled field-based environments.  The demonstration plots are also useful to test the adaptability of new crops and challenge our leasing farmers to experiment and diversify their own operations with every new season.