Final report for ENC22-219
Project Information
This proposal builds on Practical Farmers of Iowa’s (PFI) exceptional understanding of the food and agriculture system. Staff bring a multitude of experiences and education to the team ranging from formal agronomy or animal science educations to lived farming experience. Several staff at PFI have formal educations in sustainable agriculture specifically, which benefits the organization’s capacity to think critically about farming and conservation practice adoption within the context of opposing forces and philosophies. Our farmer-led organization recognizes, for instance, that despite strong environmental stewardship ethics, market realities are unavoidable and maintaining profitability is essential. To reinforce PFI’s institutional farming knowledge, we propose the development of a sustainable agriculture field course for staff that includes visiting key agricultural stakeholders. Then, to build on the knowledge gained from the field course, PFI staff and board will participate in scenario planning activities that help forecast potential programming needs. Staff will also participate in a grassroots training to enhance outreach and networking efforts. To build off of the success of our current project funded by SARE-PDP – “Expanding and Diversifying Farmer-Educator Capacity through Ambassador Academies” – we’ll continue to provide coaching and speaking opportunities to farmer-leaders trained in that grant. We’ll also build that network of farmer-leaders by holding additional communications trainings; and increase its impact by developing relationships with media and other farmer networks. The outcome of this work will be a team of staff and farmers better equipped to educate others and promote sustainable practices for wider adoption and food system resiliency.
Once developed, the curriculum materials (slides, handouts and reading lists) for the field course will be available for ongoing use. Staff (n~30) will participate in a three-day field course visiting various agriculture stakeholders and covering three perspectives of agriculture (ecological, economic, social). PFI’s board of directors and staff will participate in a scenario planning exercise (n~42) resulting in recommendations and insights to inform the next three-year strategic plan for the organization. Staff will participate in a grassroots training (n~30) and have access to a summary handout of strategies and tips. Farmers in the membership will attend three communications trainings (n~24) and encouraged to follow-up with additional coaching for specific outreach opportunities. The farmer outreach coordinator will develop relationships with journalists and farmer networks (n~25) that will lead to earned media and speaking opportunities featuring farmer-leaders.
Education
PFI's believes and practices a farmer-led approach to education. This not only applies to our educational opportunities geared towards farmers, but also to our trainings we hold with our staff. We believe that farmers are the best educators on agriculture because of the wealth of practical, hands-on experience that informs their knowledge. And, that their stories and knowledge have a unique ability to inspire the trainees that may not be easily achieved with other kinds of trainers and teachers.
PFI also practices experiential learning as much as possible. Getting people out onto farms to see the concepts of agriculture at work, providing live demonstrations of soil health properties, practicing grass roots organizing techniques by doing phone banking, and role playing and practicing speaking with the media after a media training. Most of our educational initiatives in this project contain some kind of hands on or experiential learning element to promote adoption of the concepts and learning after the training.
Education & Outreach Initiatives
Help farmers speak effectively to the media and in presentations
Throughout the course of this project, PFI held 5 media and presentation trainings. A total of 27 farmers received training on how to speak about their operations and goals successfully to the media as well as in presentations to a broad constituency. Farmers learned the history of media, the role it has in our lives, and practical strategies to prepare for effective media interactions. They had the opportunity to practice in different mediums, including in front of the camera.
Following each media training, farmers were surveyed on the impact of their experience. 27 farmers are now better equipped to share their stories with the media, increasing their reach and impact.
|
I know how to prepare for an interview. |
Please rank your overall comfort level speaking to the media. |
How would you rate your overall change in knowledge from this event? |
|
91% agreed or strongly agreed with this statement. |
91% were moderately or very comfortable speaking to the media |
87% experienced change in knowledge |
PFI staff will gain knowledge about agriculture in the Midwest that they can apply to their day to day work to better serve PFI's farmer-members.
In 2024 PFI held our 3-day sustainable agriculture education course, split across three days from April 16-July 9.
- History of agriculture (April 16, 2024) 40 attendees: Full-day course on the history of agriculture in Iowa on April 16, 2024. This course was broken into modules based on time periods. Each module will include 30 minutes of presentation followed by 20 minutes of discussion. The modules are:
- Pre-Colonization, Original Peoples and Wildlife
- Settlement to WWII
- Green Revolution: Capitalization and Consolidation of Agriculture
- Green Revolution: Community Impact
- Farm Crisis
- Origins of PFI
- Presenters include agriculture researchers, farmers and an Indigenous peoples scholar.
- Soil and water unit (June 3, 2024) 38 attendees: This unit will look at the characteristics of Iowa’s soil and water and the interconnections with agriculture and included demonstrations of soil properties under different management practices (slake test, rainfall simulator).
- Modern agriculture solutions (July 9, 2024) 44 attendees: Full day field trip focusing on modern agriculture and ways to work toward PFI’s vision: an Iowa with healthy soil, healthy food, clean air, clean water, resilient farms and vibrant communities. The field trip took us to 3 farms in central Iowa. Our first stop was Uncle G's Farm, a direct-to-consumer, small-scale livestock farm producing chicken, poultry and hogs. Our second stop was at Iowa Cover Crop where we learned about how two young farmers started a cover crop seed and service business to support their conservation and income goals on their own separate farms. And then we ended at Deal's Orchard, an integrated horticulture and field crops farm producing apples, pumpkins, sweet corn and row crops as well as several value-added enterprises in their farm store, you-pick and hard cider.
The materials, slides and readings for each event are gathered and shared with all staff via our internal SharePoint site. For all three days evaluations were given to the staff who participated in the trainings, the results are summarized in the outcomes section later in this report. It is important to note that the staff participants came from every department across the organization, this included staff members whose roles directly engage with farmers, but also staff who work on finance or HR. Regardless of their role, staff rated their change in knowledge and usefulness of the training highly.
On August 12, 2024 we culminated the learning series with a reflection exercise on the following questions:
- What are some themes you heard about challenges farmers face on the farm tour?
- What are some themes you saw about how farmers are finding success outside of the agricultural status quo on the farm tour?
- What you found most valuable from the sustainable ag basics series? Where could you use this content in your everyday work?
Evaluations show the staff who attended the training events did increase their knowledge about sustainable agriculture and that they rated the new information as likely to be applied to their work.
| Training Event | How would you rate your overall change in knowledge from this event? | How likely are you to apply something you learned to your work at PFI? |
| April 16 - History of Agriculture | 100% experienced change in knowledge | 73% somewhat or very likely |
| June 3 - Soil Health Basics | 100% experienced change in knowledge | 84% somewhat or very likely |
| July 9 - Farm Tour | 94% experienced change in knowledge | 69% somewhat or very likely |
Enhance outreach, recruitment, and networking efforts with our farmer members.
Training was held for PFI staff on August 11th to track phone call interactions with farmers and members of PFI in the Dynamics CRM. A Standard Operating Procedure document was created and shared with staff to reference the process, as well as a recording of the training.
*The Viability team makes and receives the bulk of the incoming and outgoing calls, and they track their call interactions in Airtable, where the data is currently separate from the data in Dynamics.
It is now easier for PFI staff to track phone calls with farmers and ensure that follow up interactions with farmers are able to continue where we last left off, allowing us to efficiently and effectively support farmers. PFI staff now have both training and written instructions to refer to with questions about tracking phone calls. Of all calls coming in and out of PFI in 2025, a 1% increase was seen after the training for the amount of calls where the interaction was tracked in the Dynamics CRM.
The media coordinator will develop relationships with journalists and farmer networks (n~25) that will lead to earned media and speaking opportunities featuring farmer-leaders.
This project focuses on peer learning as well as building relationships with the media in order to increase the visibility of innovative farmers in Iowa. Elizabeth Wilhelm, PFI's media relations coordinator, built relationships with journalists during the reporting period that resulted in more than 30 reporters attending in-person events.
In addition, PFI worked to get more than 470 members featured in the media in 2023, and 60 members to speak at non-PFI events.
In 2024, 90 members spoke at non-PFI events and members appeared in the media 792 times.
Farmers were able to share their stories and experiences with a wide audience 1,262 times through media appearances including radio, tv, and online and print journalism. PFI members spoke at non-PFI events 150 times, reaching outside audiences with their regenerative management systems. These outcomes were built on the back of the work of our media relations coordinator, Elizabeth Wilhelm, who has built strong relationships with over 30 reporters to elevate farmer voices.
In year two, PFI staff, along with its board of directors, will participate in scenario planning activities based on their increased understanding of Iowa’s agricultural systems. This scenario planning will help put into action the knowledge gained through the field course by providing a framework for planning future programming.
PFI's board has created a horizons committee to participate in scenario planning activities to ensure the success of PFI and ensure that PFI programming continues to meet the needs and desires of farmers. Their objectives are below, and they've met 4 times to date.
- Identify and Monitor Emerging Trends and Potential Disruptions (Ongoing) - Track and analyze external trends and unexpected disruptions that could impact the organization’s mission and operations.
- Conduct Annual Risks and Opportunities Analysis (Spring for Annual Retreat) - Lead a process (such as a SWOT or similar analysis) to evaluate areas of volatility and potential vulnerabilities (e.g., market shifts, policy changes, environmental factors) and recommend mitigation or adaptation strategies. Annual analysis will ensure a consistent, forward-looking review process.
- Data Gathering and Issue Synthesis (Ongoing) Collect relevant external data to support risk assessment and opportunity identification. Circulate relevant articles to committee members.
- Educate and Inform the Board (Ongoing) Identify and present key topics that require deeper board understanding to support informed decision-making. Circulate relevant articles committee members.
PFI is better equipped to respond to external trends and events that may impact our work, and has plans in place to respond to potential vulnerabilities.
Educational & Outreach Activities
Participation Summary:
Learning Outcomes
Project Outcomes
From the sustainable agriculture training series evaluations we documented large change in knowledge and large likelihood to apply knowledge to staff members' day-to-day work. The table below summarizes the outcomes and impact.
| Training Event | Number of Attendees | How would you rate your overall change in knowledge from this event? | How likely are you to apply something you learned to your work at PFI? |
| April 16 - History of Agriculture | 40 | 100% experienced change in knowledge | 73% somewhat or very likely |
| June 3 - Soil Heath Basics | 38 | 100% experienced change in knowledge | 84% somewhat or very likely |
| July 9 - Farm Tour | 44 | 94% experienced change in knowledge | 69% somewhat or very likely |
Media training participants were evaluated on the impact of the training. See table below:
|
I know how to prepare for an interview. |
Please rank your overall comfort level speaking to the media. |
How would you rate your overall change in knowledge from this event? |
|
91% agreed or strongly agreed with this statement. |
91% were moderately or very comfortable speaking to the media |
87% experienced change in knowledge |
27 farmers received training on how to speak to the media and in presentations.
PFI farmers were featured in the media 1,262 times.
150 PFI members spoke at non-PFI events.