Reading the Farm: Discovering whole-farm interactions

MILESTONES ACCOMPLISHMENTS SUMMARY We conducted two training activities over the course of this project: a Reading the Farm Workshop held in August 2010 and a Finger Lakes Organic Crop Production Tour held in July 2012. Six hundred individuals became aware of the 2010 workshop and one hundred individuals became aware of the 2012 tour. Twenty-one ag service providers ultimately attended the 2010 workshop and 30 ag service providers and farmers attended the 2012 tour. As a result of the August 2010 Reading the Farm workshop: • Twenty beneficiaries increased their understanding of how one or more farm system components interacted with other components of the farm system • Eighteen of the beneficiaries increased their understanding of how 6 or more farm system components interacted with other components of the farm system • Twenty of the beneficiaries increased their confidence in one or more whole farm assessment skills • Thirteen of the participants increased their confidence in 4 or more whole-farm assessment skills • Seventeen of the beneficiaries increased their awareness of how recommendations about one part of a farm system could affect other parts of a farm system. • Nineteen beneficiaries indicated that they would change how they make recommendations to farmers • Twenty-one beneficiaries wrote action plans of how they would incorporate whole-farm system concepts into their educational programs • One year following the workshop, 13 beneficiaries indicated that the workshop had moderately or significantly improved their ability to help farmers implement aspects of sustainable agriculture As a result of the July 2012 Finger Lakes Organic Crop Production Tour: • Between 9 and 16 beneficiaries increased their knowledge a moderate amount or a great deal in 8 topic areas related to organic grain crop production and marketing. • Sixteen beneficiaries increased their understanding of how different aspects of organic grain crop production and marketing interact with each other within the context of a whole-farm system by ‘A moderate amount’ or ‘A great deal.’ • Five beneficiaries made changes to their educational programs within 4 months after the tour and 9 beneficiaries had plans to make changes INDIVIDUAL MILESTONE ACCOMPLISHMENTS Milestone 1. One hundred fifty potential project beneficiaries become aware of the workshop opportunity. (April 2010) Accomplishments for Milestone 1 Over 600 individuals learned about the 2010 workshop opportunity through Penn State e-mail lists, Northeast SARE State Program e-mail lists, and personal networking. One hundred individuals learned about the 2012 tour opportunity, including farmers, extension educators, researchers and students throughout Pennsylvania and the Finger Lakes region of New York. A collaboration with the Cornell Organic Cropping Systems Project facilitated interaction with potential project beneficiaries in New York. Milestone 2. Forty potential project beneficiaries submit applications to participate in the workshop. (May 2010) Accomplishments for Milestone 2 Twenty five potential beneficiaries submitted applications to participate in the 2010 workshop. Personal networks proved to be the most valuable way to recruit beneficiaries to the workshop. By networking with state leaders in NRCS, newly hired NRCS field personnel throughout Pennsylvania were encouraged to attend the workshop as part of their basic training. Informal feedback from our target beneficiary group indicated that the 3-day time commitment and the scheduling of the workshop in early August, which is both a prime vacation time and a busy time for county fairs, may have been deterrents to applying to participate in the workshop. For the tour in 2012, 30 beneficiaries registered to attend the tour. Milestone 3. (Revised Below) Twenty beneficiaries attend the workshop and increase their knowledge of farm system components that are outside their primary discipline and discover at least two ways that components of the whole-farm system interact. (August 2010) Milestone 4. (Revised Below) Twenty beneficiaries learn at least 3 ways that recommendations from their own discipline affect other components of the farm system. (August 2010) Milestone 5. (Revised Below) Twenty beneficiaries learn at least 3 ways that recommendations from other disciplines affect their own component of the farm system. (August 2010) Revised Milestones 3 to 5. Twenty beneficiaries: a) increase their understanding of how components of a farm system interact with each other; b) increase their confidence in skills used to conduct a whole-farm assessment; and c) increase their awareness of how recommendations about one part of a farm system could affect other parts of a farm system. (August 2010) Accomplishments for Revised Milestones 3 to 5 August 2010 Reading the Farm workshop Twenty-one beneficiaries attended the 3 day workshop in August 2010 where 26 farm system components were considered in the whole-farm assessments, broadly categorized into areas of agronomy, animal performance, business management, environmental resources, and social issues. Twenty beneficiaries increased their understanding of how one or more farm system components interacted with other components of the farm system. Eighteen of the beneficiaries increased their understanding of how 6 or more farm system components interacted with other components of the farm system. Beneficiaries also practiced several skills that are important for conducting a whole-farm assessment, such as identifying the farmer’s goals for the whole farm system and asking informed questions outside their area of expertise. Twenty of the beneficiaries increased their confidence in one or more whole farm assessment skills. Thirteen of the participants increased their confidence in 4 or more whole-farm assessment skills. Seventeen of the beneficiaries increased their awareness of how recommendations about one part of a farm system could affect other parts of a farm system. Several of the beneficiaries attending the workshop were agricultural professionals with several decades of work experience. However, the facilitated programming was targeted towards entry level professionals, which may explain why there are some individuals that reported minimal gains in knowledge, confidence, or awareness. Despite this, the more experienced beneficiaries played an important role in the group dynamic, sharing their wisdom, experience, and perspectives during the farm tours and discussions. July 2012 Finger Lakes Organic Crop Production Tour Thirty project beneficiaries attended one or more components of the 2012 Finger Lakes Organic Crop Production Tour. Sixteen beneficiaries completed a follow-up survey conducted approximately 4 months after the workshop to measure knowledge gain and understanding of system interactions. Complete results from the survey of knowledge gain on topics such as crop rotations for organic production, weed management in organic crop production and other topics are listed in Figure 1 (uploaded as attachment below). In brief, between 9 and 16 people increased their knowledge a moderate amount or a great deal in 8 topic areas that were the focus of the workshop. When asked to what extent the tour increased understanding of how the topics focused on in the workshop interacted with each other within the context of a whole-farm system, 8 responded ‘A moderate amount’ and 8 responded ‘A great deal.’ Milestone 6. Twenty beneficiaries outline how they will use new knowledge on whole-farm interactions in their educational programming and contribute to the development of new educational materials that meet their programming needs. (August 2010) Accomplishments for Milestone 6 Nineteen beneficiaries at the August 2010 Reading the Farm workshop indicated that they would change how they make recommendations to farmers. These changes included: • Being more sensitive as to why some recommendations may not be followed • Looking more closely at the farmers goals instead of just natural resource concerns • Taking more time to consider all of the options proposed to a farmer • Understanding how recommendations could affect the profitability and production level of the farm • Making recommendations that are not just farm specific, but farmer specific. At the end of the workshop, 21 beneficiaries wrote action plans of how they would incorporate whole-farm system concepts into their educational programs. These plans varied widely among individuals, reflecting the diversity of the beneficiary group. Whole-farm system interactions that beneficiaries planned to include in their future programs included interactions between: • Farmer goals, production practices and marketing/business decisions • Production practices and environmental resources • Agronomic practices, animal nutrition, and milk production per acre • Soil amendments, soil health, plant health, crop productivity, and profits • Crop productivity and livestock needs • Conservation practices, crop productivity and profitability • Animal nutrition and nutrient management Activities that beneficiaries plan to organize where information on whole-farm systems will be disseminated included: • Field days • Conferences • Fact sheets • Newsletter articles • County fairs • Winter extension meetings • Private farm visits • Whole farm assessments and SWOT analyses for farmer clientele In a 4-month follow-up survey after the 2012 Finger Lakes Organic Crop Production Tour, participants were asked whether they had used experiences or knowledge gained from the tour to make improvements in their farming system, educational programs, or research activities. Five respondents had already made changes, 9 had not yet made changes but planned to do so, and two were not sure. Specific changes made or planned were: • Incorporating information into course materials and extension programming. • Sharing knowledge learned about challenges and opportunities for small grain production with farmers. • Adopting similar rotations on own farm. • Planting an organic winter wheat variety trial in association with OGRIN. • Sharing information with new specialty wheat farmer and other local growers. • Use a case study of farm in newsletter article and extension publication • Plan to use information learned in upcoming project • Take students to one of the case study farms In addition to these planned actions, these responses from participants illustrate the value participants’ saw in the educational experience: “It help to strengthen and solidify sustainable ag networks in the northeast. There is a tremendous amount going in in both PA and NY, and this trip helped to highlight that. It will definitely improve cross-state-line collaborations in the future.” “It was incredibly useful for networking and it strengthened relationships between Penn State and Cornell. I don't think the questions above about management will capture how successful this event was for building the organic community.” Document 1, uploaded below, contains a full listing of comments from the 2012 Fingers Lakes tour survey respondents. Milestone 7. Fifteen beneficiaries communicate with project leaders and other participants the successes and challenges of incorporating content about whole-farm system interactions into their educational programs. (August 2011) Accomplishments for Milestone 7 2010 Reading the Farm Workshop Eighteen of the 32 service providers (participants and facilitators) from the 2010 Reading the Farm workshop responded to our follow-up survey in December 2011. The survey asked participants to describe the successes and challenges they encountered in incorporating whole-farm system interactions into their educational programs, and also asked questions to help evaluate progress towards our performance target. Eight of the survey respondents were from Cooperative Extension or University, 6 were from NRCS, one was from the Chesapeake Bay Program Advisory Committee, and one was from Penn State Public Broadcasting. Three participants described successes using knowledge about whole farm systems in their programs: • “In my role as Chair of the Chesapeake Bay Program Science and Technical Advisory Committee, the knowledge was instrumental in assisting me to fund appropriate workshops and reviews on agricultural issues. During this phase of TMDL planning, this knowledge was critical to the committee.” • “Getting a better understanding of Organic Farm Systems has given me a better understanding of challenges that Organic Farmers face and considerations that I previously had not contemplated.” • “I had a much better understanding about looking at the farm as a whole after the training. I use the knowledge learned, everyday, but no specific stories.” One participant described challenges using knowledge about whole farm systems in their programs: • “The main challenges are the intensity of the process with limited resources and other commitments. We have made a plan to use this process more with a farm visit approach but it has not really happened yet.” In addition to these comments, 13 of 16 participants responding to the survey indicated that the workshop had moderately or significantly improved their ability to help farmers implement aspects of sustainable agriculture during the last year. These other comments from survey respondents illustrate the impact of the program on their work with farmers: • “For many who have spent years working with farmers, many of the concepts that were shared during the RTF workshop were not "new". However, it was great to have the opportunity to spend time with colleagues from other disciplines to learn some of the new ideas within that discipline, to improve our understanding of concepts that we know at least something about, or to receive some reinforcement that the many concepts/ideas that we've known and shared with our farmer and ag professional clientele remain current.” • “The Reading the Farm workshop has positively impacted my understanding of all of the variables that farmers need to consider and contend with on a daily basis. The experience plays a role in how I approach and interact with farmers and the questions I pose to them to understand their experiences.” • “The course was extremely helpful and changed my understanding of how to work well with my farmer colleagues. I think it has changed my approach more than the content of my work.” Document 2, uploaded below, contains additional comments from the 2011 Reading the Farm survey respondents. 2012 Finger Lakes Organic Crop Production tour Six of the 24 participants from the 2012 Finger Lakes Organic Crop Production tour who responded to our one-year follow-up verification survey shared these comments about the impact of the tour on their work: • “I teach courses in agronomic crop science. Finding resources about weed management practices in conventional crop production is fairly easy. Finding resources (and real examples) about weed management in organic agronomic crop production is very challenging. I benefitted very much by seeing the organic fields and by listening to the growers’ successes and challenges.” • “In our organic field crops study circles we have incorporated the idea of learning from producers and experts and the experts listening a lot.” • “Made some really good contacts with other folks doing similar things and have been able to exchange some ideas and experiences with them.” • “The tour was valuable for several reasons. Although my work with farmers is rather limited, I will be taking a class of undergraduate students to several of the locations that we visited. So it was great to meet these farmers and hear about their operations. However, the most valuable outcome of the tour for me stemmed from a lunch-time conservation with one of the other farmers on the tour who told me about some innovative practices they are using on their farm. I followed up and ask them to collaborate on a grant proposal that was submitted to the ORG program. Unfortunately the proposal was not funded, but it was rated highly and I will be resubmitting it the next round.”

• Figure 1 Finger Lakes Tour Survey Data
• Document 2 Reading the Farm Workshop Survey Comments
• Document 1 Finger Lakes Tour Survey Comments