BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The LSU AgCenter is taking applications for a free 16-week training program for about 20 beginning farmers.

The Grow Louisiana program accepts both people who want to farm and those who have been farming for less than 10 years, program director Marcus Coleman said in a news release Thursday.

“Grow Louisiana provides whole-farm planning, horticulture and business training, resources, support, and mentoring with the overall goal of increasing the success of agricultural communities by building a statewide network of farmers and providing business tools and educational resources to new and beginning farmers,” he said.

This is the program’s third year. Coleman says the 2018 classes in New Orleans and those last year in Lafayette each had 18 participants. This year, they will be at Louisiana State University’s Baton Rouge campus. The first eight-week session will be Thursday evenings starting Oct. 1, with a second eight-week session in the spring.

The AgCenter is working with the Acadiana Food Alliance, Market Umbrella and Sprout-Nola to put on the program, with funding from a U.S. Department of Agriculture Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program training grant.

Applications should be submitted by Aug. 26.