Farms and ranches in the United States face continuing economic pressures, and each year thousands of farm operators, adult family members, and employees are forced to look for employment elsewhere. Although many farmers need assistance in making the transition to new careers, as a group these workers have not been widely served by employment and training programs. A few states and local areas have targeted farmers for employment and training assistance since the farm crisis of the 198Os, learning a great deal about how to meet the special needs of farmers in the process. Until now, however, this knowledge has not been available to others, and programs wanting to improve their services to farmers have had few resources to help them. This guide, which documents the lessons learned by eight projects targeting farmers, is intended as a tool to help administrators and staff of employment and training programs in agricultural communities improve their services to farmers.

Funded by the U.S. Department of Labor, this guide was produced as part of the evaluation of the EDWAA (Economic Dislocation and Worker Adjustment Assistance) Farmers and Ranchers Demonstration. The purpose of this demonstration, which funded four projects for approximately three years, was to develop innovative and effective strategies for serving farmers. .The Department of Labor also funded an evaluation of the demonstration, which included intensive study of the demonstration projects and four non-demonstration programs that also have developed innovative services for farmers.

The experiences of four demonstration projects in Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota and four additional projects in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Wisconsin are the foundation for this guide. Detailed case studies of these projects are included in Serving Dislocated Workers.