Progress report for ENC22-211
Project Information
This project increases natural resource professionals (NRPs) awareness of forest farming practices and opportunities in Missouri through in-service educational workshops, hands-on activities, and farm tours. These experiences will provide NRPs with a foundational knowledge of forest farming practices, non-timber forest products, and woodland management approaches. Demonstration sites established at the Lincoln University Busby will enrich participants’ understanding of different forest farm production methods. Learning circles held pre- and post-workshops will provide researchers with insights into NRP learning and help shape future programming and extension activities. The outcomes of this project include increasing NRPs’ knowledge of forest farming practices, clarifying opportunities for funding forest farm practices, and providing technical guidance for NRPs to improve their comfort for designing forest farming systems. This work will improve the ability of NRPs to work with farmers and landowners to establish forest farming practices on their properties and increase their on-farm income.
These workshops will result in NRPs improving their understanding of forest farming and acquiring the technical knowledge needed to better support farmers who are interested in implementing forest farming practices. Through the process of planning and hosting the forest farming workshops, a working manual for forest farm management will be created. This document will serve as a guide to help natural resource professionals support farmers in the design and establishment of forest farms. The workshop content will also be transitioned into fact and guide sheets that will assist natural resource professionals in facilitating additional forest farming workshops for their peers and farmer clientele. The use of learning circles will build connections between NRPs who are knowledgeable and interested in forest farming practices. As the NRPs work together with landowners and with other NRPs, a forest farming network of knowledge, resources, and support will emerge and expand throughout the state. Lastly, the combination of learning circle focus group interviews, NRP surveys, and the landowner survey in year three will provide a thorough evaluation of workshops as a model for improving natural resource professionals’ knowledge of forest farming production.
Cooperators
Education
We conducted a two-day workshop on forest farming. The "Train-the-Trainer" (TTT) workshop was designed to equip individuals with the skills and knowledge necessary to train others effectively. The target audience for a Train-the-Trainer workshop included individuals who will be responsible for training others within their organization or community on forest farming.
Education & Outreach Initiatives
This project stimulates important conversations around sustainable agriculture and forest management. The goal was to increase the natural resource professional's knowledge about forest farming.
We hosted the second two-day workshop from May 16th – May 17th, 2024, on the Lincoln University Research farms. The workshop included a variety of educational, experiential, and community-building opportunities focused on forest farming. Presentations included information on defining the practice of forest farming, the types of plants and other products that can be grown in a forest farm, market opportunities, and sources of federal and state funding to help landowners establish a forest farm. This year, we added a focus on partnerships and indigenous knowledge in forest farming which expanded our conversations around the importance of forests beyond timber production. The Natural Resource Professionals also participated in a hands-on mushroom log inoculation demonstration. Each day was full of opportunities for participants to network with one another and with experts in the forest farming field. Participants received a total of 15 contact hours of information and experience.
We hosted 25 natural resource professionals from University Extension offices, State Conservation Offices, students (future natural resource professionals), and private technical service providers for the two-day workshop. One local farmer participated in the workshop events by providing video content (Ozark Mountain Ginseng). We had a total of 11 speakers join us to share their expertise on a variety of topics related to forest farming. The presenters this year included some of the nation’s leading experts in forest farming, including Dr. Jeanine Davis from North Carolina State University and Dr. John Munsell from Virginia Tech. All sessions were professionally livestreamed to accommodate a virtual audience and recorded to share after the event on YouTube. Videos can be found by searching " LU Forest Farming Workshop 2024."
As a direct result of the workshops (described in the Educational & Outreach Initiatives section), important cross-disciplinary connections were formed between the participants, presenters, and hosts. This initial connection has started a local listserv of people who are interested in forest farming and wish to stay active in the regional development of this practice. All workshop participants expressed the value of attending the workshop to improve their ability to work with landowners interested in forest farming. These initial education and outreach efforts will be continued over the remaining year of the project, and we hope to strengthen local and regional connections into a more organized collaboration of people interested in forest farming through the newly formed Midwest Forest Farming Coalition that was established by a separate grant award.
At least 40 total natural resource participants will
- Improve their knowledge of forest farming practices, prospective plants and fungi for cultivation, forest farm management techniques, and proper harvest protocol.
- Understand the opportunities for funding forest farming activities through cost-share programs, grants, and university partnerships.
- Gain experience performing mushroom log inoculation and tending woodland plants
- Understand how to design and plant a forest farm.
- Leave workshops with the expertise needed to train fellow natural resource professionals and support landowners with their forest farm establishment.
- Lead workshops and training for other NRPs on forest farming practices
Educational & Outreach Activities
Participation Summary:
Learning Outcomes
Project Outcomes
This project has improved NRPs’ understanding of forest farming and provided them with the technical knowledge needed to support farmers interested in implementing forest farming practices. All the content for the workshops will ultimately be synthesized into a comprehensive working manual for forest farming practices. This document will serve as a roadmap to help natural resource professionals guide farmers in the design and establishment of forest farms. Information about forest farming will also be summarized into short-form fact and guide sheets published on the Lincoln University webpage. These forms are available to assist natural resource professionals in facilitating additional forest farming workshops for their peers and farmer clientele. We currently have ten of these sheets completed and published online. The use of learning circles during the workshop facilitated the connection of NRPs who are knowledgeable and interested in forest farming practices. As part of the project evaluation, we have collected both pre- and post-surveys from the workshop sessions which were used to quantify the effectiveness of the workshops. These surveys plus the planned landowner surveys in year three will provide a thorough evaluation of workshops as a model for improving natural resource professionals' knowledge of forest farming production.
The forest farming handbook is currently being edited and is under review for release in spring 2025.