LICKING, Mo. (AP) - New farmers like Air Force veteran Matt Nuckolls no longer have to rely on their wits when starting out.

The 10-year veteran is among the participants in a new University of Missouri Extension program designed to link beginners with experienced farmers. His classmates include a British engineer, a retired sheet metal worker and a nurse interested in sustainable farming.

The Grow Your Farm program is modeled after a more established counterpart called Farm Beginnings that began a decade ago in Minnesota.

Students in the inaugural Missouri program are meeting weekly at the Phelps County Extension office in Rolla, where they pour over thick binders stuffed with sample business plans, legal case
studies, marketing advice and more.

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