The Northwest Indiana Food Council has identified a need for a sustainable and skilled farm labor workforce. The solution we found is to provide competitive salaries and training for farm employees. This apprenticeship program is possible because of support from the Center of Workforce Innovations, and the Indiana Department of Labor. This apprenticeship, sponsored by the NWI Food Council, requires farmer employers to apply to participate in the program. The NWI Food Council then helps the employer to hire an apprentice. The apprentice is required to complete 144 hours of related training instruction and 1.5 years of on the job learning. 

The NWI Food Council partners with additional providers to provide the related training instruction for the apprenticeship. These providers include Purdue University, Marbleseed, Food Finance Institute, Produce Safety Alliance, Perkins Good Earth Farm, Zandstra Farm, De Jong Farm, Lanes End Farm, Five Hands Farm, and Full Hands Farm.