Developing Technical Skills of Service Providers in the Northeast to Assist Farmers with Transition to No-Till

The no-till training curriculum plan was completed by the project team and reviewed by the advisory board. The board determined common obstacles to implementing a successful no-till program, addressed how these issues can be managed using field-based knowledge, and developed a training plan that best enables the TSP to support the farmer in the no-till practice transition. The advisory board also suggested speakers and educational resources that would be useful to the target audience. An online platform for the course was developed in Extension Foundation moodle platform to allow students access to more resources.

The complete online course can be found at the following link: https://campus.extension.org/course/view.php?id=1606

Recruitment began at the 2018 No-Till & Cover Crop Symposium held in Burlington, VT on March 1st, 2018. There were 225 attendees from around the region (NY, VT, MA, NH, and Quebec).  Recruitment continued through direct email contact with the northeast Certified Crop Advisors. The email lists were obtained from John Jemison in ME and Jeanette Marvin in NY. The program announcement was emailed to a distribution list of 586. Project collaborator Kate Parsons distributed the announcement to the Northeast NRCS listserve which was estimated to reach over 500 stakeholders. Through UVM Extension social media, list serves, and newsletters we were able to distribute the announcement (No-Till PDP Advertisement) to 1300 additional stakeholders. A press release was developed and sent to 10 local media outlets for distribution (Press-Release-PDP-No-Till-Intensive-Trainings). 

A registration site was developed through the UVM Eventbrite account. Any interested stakeholder could apply through the website. Due to heightened interest, we left the registration open longer than originally planned allowing for 76 people to sign up.

We allowed for 58 TSPs to participate in the online no-till course, expecting that if a few dropped out over the course of the winter, we will still reach our performance target of 50. Also, 3 farmers registered for the course and 5 farmers are watching certain webinars live with their TSP. The baseline survey was developed and posted on the Moodle Course Site.

All attendees were sent a welcome letter that provided the with all the relevant information required to attend the class. It also outlined expectations including completion of the baseline survey, required quizzes, and impact tracking (Welcome-Letter-No-Till-Intensive-Training).

The survey tool used to conduct baseline data collection was reviewed by the advisory committee and completed by all class registrants. The No-Till Training Program’s Pre-training Survey was set up on the class’s online training site, campus.eXtension.org (Pre-course-Survey-for-No-Till-ASPs). Participating TSPs were instructed to complete this survey before watching the first webinar so that the advisory team could gauge the level of knowledge participants had prior to the Training Program. It also collected basic information about the participant’s professional and geographic background as a whole, allowing the advisory team to tailor resources and speaker presentations to the audience at hand.

We found that 34% of participants are from USDA NRCS, 21% are Independent Consultants, and 16% are University/Extension. We are happy to see the majority come from those groups as this training program is geared towards those working directly with farmers interested in implementing no-till.

We offered Certified Crop Advisor (CCA) credits and 1 Pesticide Applicator credit through this Training Program. The survey showed 34% of participants are CCAs, and 16% Pesticide Applicators, so offering this credit opportunity seemed to be a draw for a good portion of participating TSPs.

Participants were asked a series of ranking questions in regards to their perceptions of no-till with the options ‘poor’, ‘good’, ‘very good’, ‘excellent’, and ‘unsure’. As for environmental conditions such as soil type, 50% of participants perceive ‘good’ conditions, 24% perceive ‘very good’ conditions, and 8% perceive ‘excellent’ conditions for implementing no-till. As for farmer enthusiasm to implement no-till, 63% responded ‘good’, 8% with ‘very good’, and 5% with ‘excellent’. This is about where we expect to see these perceptions to be, and are pleased that the majority of TSPs work with enthusiastic farmers with potentially workable no-till soils.

We asked TSPs to rank their prior knowledge on a 1 (low) to 5 (high) scale for a variety of topics as related to no-till, including environmental benefits, economics, tools & equipment, manure management, fertility management, pests & herbicides, basic agronomy of common field crops, soil properties, and creating constructive client relationships. Average answers for each topic ranged from 2.9 to 4.0, averaging at 3.5 across all topics. The TSPs were asked these questions once more at the End-of-Training Survey to evaluate if their knowledge on no-till has improved. 

The No-Till Training Program’s Pre-Webinar Training Survey was distributed on the class’s online training site hosted on Extension’s online campus, campus.eXtension.org, entitled No-Till Training Program. The site acts as a resource hub housing the webinars, related resources, surveys, forums, and training program expectations – which can be accessed long after the No-Till Training Program ends. Participating technical service providers (TSPs) were instructed to complete a preliminary survey before watching the first webinar so that the advisory team could gauge the level of knowledge and confidence participants had in regards to no-till prior to the Training Program. It also collected basic information about the participant’s professional and geographic background as a whole, allowing the advisory team to tailor resources and speaker presentations to the audience at hand.

Between November 5, 2018 and February 18, 2019, the UVM advisory team hosted an eight-part webinar series for TSPs. The series met every other Monday from 11am to 12:30pm. Each webinar hosted a farmer, researcher, or other expert practitioner. The webinars discussed common obstacles to implementing a no-till program, addressed issues through field-proven technical knowledge, and followed a training plan that best-enabled TSPs to support farmers in their no-till transition. The webinar series offered a total of eight Certified Crop Advisor credits and one Pesticide Applicator credit.

Webinar topics included:

• Introduction to No-Till with Heather Darby, UVM Extension
• Equipment & No-Till Application Tools with Jeffrey Sanders, UVM Extension
• Herbicide & Pest Management with Bill Curran of Penn State and John Tooker of Penn State Extension
• Soil & Water Management with Odette Menard, MAPAQ
• Precision Agriculture Technology in No-Till with Scott Magnan, Scott Magnan’s Custom Service
• Economics & Record Keeping with Kirsten Workman, UVM Extension
• It’s a Management Style, Not a Technique with a panel of farmers and members of the advisory team

Of the 58 TSPs who attended the online training course’s webinar series, 55 attended the majority of the webinars and completed their accompanying post-webinar quick-poll surveys, while 3 TSPs ended up missing 2 or more webinars. Each live webinar was recorded and has since been uploaded to the training program’s website so that if a TSP was unable to watch it live, they can access/reference it after the fact. Once the webinar series ended, we requested that TSPs complete a Post Course Survey with similar point scale questions to the Pre-Webinar Training Survey to compare how TSPs knowledge and confidence levels developed. The advisory team used input and results TSPs provided during and after the webinar training to help plan the four In-Field Intensive Trainings the following spring.

We saw some promising results when comparing the Pre-Webinar Survey responses to the Post-Webinar Survey responses. We asked TSPs to rank their ability to troubleshoot with farmers having issues adopting conservation practices, such as no-till. On the Pre-Webinar Training Survey 65% of TSPs perceived their ability to troubleshoot as ‘good’, ‘very good’ and ‘excellent’, with 31% selecting ‘poor’. In the Post-Webinar Training Survey 97% perceived their ability as ‘good’, ‘very good’ and ‘excellent’, with 0% selecting ‘poor’.

We asked TSPs to assess and rank their knowledge on a 1 (low) to 5 (high) scale for a variety of topics as related to no-till, including environmental benefits, economics, tools & equipment, manure management, fertility management, pests & herbicides, basic agronomy of common field crops, soil properties (physical, chemical, and biological), and creating constructive client relationships. Average answers for each topic ranged from 2.9 to 4.0 on the Pre-Webinar Training Survey, and from 3.3 to 4.3 on the Post-Webinar Training Survey. We were pleased to see that when we asked TSPs these questions on the Post-Webinar Training Survey, their confidence in their own knowledge improved, and this point scale reflects the gain in knowledge the Training Program has provided.

When asked on the Post-Training Survey the top three outcomes/benefits TSPs experienced through the webinar series, responses varied but all touched upon lessons covered over the eight webinars. Some highlights are listed below:

• Ability to troubleshoot problems associated with transitioning to no-till
• Soil properties, temperature, and moisture
• Confidence to recommend no-till cropping systems
  • “I have increased knowledge in all aspects of no-till systems, giving me a well-rounded understanding of the topic and allowing improved ability to provide introductory technical assistance to producers.”
• Better knowledge of manure, economics, and equipment
  • “…diving into the equipment. Understanding if a corn planter is properly set up for no till or not was a huge benefit - now I can confidently go through a corn planter with a producer and make recommendations like down pressure springs, closing wheels, etc.”
  • Saves a farmer time and money in the long run
• Understanding that this is a long-term plan for farmers
  • “Challenging my own thinking in transitioning from a short term results framework to a long term systems framework.”
• Many misconceptions were proven false, such as no-till limiting yields
  • “I have a host of resources available to me for reference, further learning, and to share with producers.”
• “CCA credits you don’t have to travel for was a huge bonus!”

After the last class, project team announced additional webinars and the start of virtual office hours. A survey was sent to participants asking they list topics they would like discussed further. Topics included organic no-till systems, managing fields in wet seasons, grain drill calibrations, best agronomic practices, cover crop selection, cover crop termination, farm viability, etc.

Of all the No-Till Training Program participants, 26 attended the No-Till and Cover Crop Symposium free of charge on February 28, 2019 in Burlington, Vermont. There were 122 total attendees at the event. The first topic related to this training program was entitled, Views from the Field – A Progressive Perspective. This was a progressive farmer panel discussing meeting the challenges that come with no-till cover cropped systems in the Northeast. Next, Kirsten Workman gave a similar presentation to the one she gave during this No-Till Training Program’s webinar series. This presentation was entitled, The Business Case for Conservation Agronomy, discussing how conservation practices, the farm’s economic bottom line, and the farms resiliency all need to be a part of the equation when making management decisions. The third related topic was entitled, Manure, and was hosted by experts Jeffrey Sanders, David Bessette, and Ashley Farr. This session discussed making manure work in a no-till cover cropped system, and gave the audience an opportunity to ask the experts their toughest manure-related questions. Precision agriculture was built into each presentation highlighting a role for GPS technology to track seed placement, depth, and fertilizer additions. A portable no-till row unit with demo GPS platform was on display at the conference. Project advisor Scott Magnan explained the technology to farmers during breaks and tradeshow visits. Attendees could earn five Certified Crop Advisor credits for attending.

During May and June of 2019, the No-Till Training Program offered four In-Field Intensive Trainings. The in-field intensives were held in Maine, Massachusetts, and Vermont. They were hosted by local collaborating farms that have incorporated no-till into their crop management systems. These hands-on workshops fostered a stronger working knowledge of no-till equipment, soil health, fertility, and technology used to make no-till systems successful. The events gave participants time to network in-person, meet the advisory team, and ask experienced farmers direct questions. The in-field workshops were part of the No-Till Training Program but were opened and advertised to a wider swath of stakeholders, which brought 97 total attendees to the four events. Attendees could earn six Certified Crop Advisor credits per training. Details on each event listed below:

• Tuesday, May 14, 2019—Foster Brothers Farm, 1917 Case Street, Middlebury, VT 05753—This event had 17 attendees. We compared four fields (three with different cover crop applications and one hay field) assessing the field conditions, planting conditions, and soil health. The Fosters demonstrated their no-till corn planter, their roller-crimper, and a brand new no-till grain drill. We also looked at their GPS and precision agriculture tools utilized in planting and field work. There was a soil pit and lots of opportunity for discussion and hands-on interaction with equipment and soils.
• Wednesday, May 22, 2019 —Devine Farm, 337 Meadow Street, Amherst, MA 01002—This event had 29 attendees. The field site was a 20.6-acre field with silt loam soil. We watched their no-till corn be planted into a cover crop and into tilled soil. We checked seed depth, trench closure, down pressure, and soil temperature. Attendees had an opportunity to get their hands dirty checking the corn planter for its readiness for planting no-till, i.e. worn bolts, bearings, opening disk size, levelness of planter, down pressure system. The Devine’s were able to prepare a soil pit so that attendees could investigate the current soil health - soil structure, compaction, and earthworms.
• Thursday, May 30, 2019 —Stonyvale Farm, Exeter, ME & Roger Whitney Farm, Corinna, ME—This event had 27 attendees. The group visited the Fogler’s (Stonyvale Farm, Exeter) to observe their planter (GPS and auto-steer) and to set up and evaluate soil quality with small pits and the NRCS Soil Health Trailer. They also visited fields managed by Roger Whitney in Corinna to see his cover crop/no-till planting techniques.
• Tuesday, June 4, 2019 —Manning Farm, Swanton, VT 05478—This event had 24 attendees. We compared no-till planting into low and high seeding rate of cover crop, also roller crimping to no roller crimping into cover crops. The Manning brothers showed the group their John Deere Planter and the precision agriculture technology they use on it. We discussed cover-cropping options for no-till systems and compared the John Deere no-till planter to the White no-till planter, discussing similarities and differences. We looked at the soils and compared between the different cover crop seeding rates and no cover crops.

The advisory team shared detailed information about the 2020 No-Till and Cover Crop Symposium with No-Till Training Program participants, highlighting the opportunity to attend free of charge and receive CCA credits. There were 113 total attendees at the 2020 Conference, 41% being farmers, 17% being TSPs, and 14% being Federal and State employees. There were a total of 66 individuals that could be classified as agricultural service providers that attended the meeting although only 18 No-Till Training Program participants were enrolled. Due to a snowstorm coming through that day, final attendance overall was lower than normal. Of those that attended, we were able to get training program-specific surveys . Between those TSPs, they indicated that in 2019, they worked with a total of 43 farmers who implemented no-till for the first time or added on new/increased no-till acreage, representing a total of 1,720 acres. All TSPs also answered ‘Yes’ when we asked if their knowledge gained through this training program specifically helped them to troubleshoot with the farmers they work with interested in/transitioning to/implementing no-till.

Participants have been provided multiple communication tools to ask questions, share information, and support their learning throughout the project period thus far. For example, there is a Forum under each online module of the No-Till Training Program website (https://campus.extension.org/course/view.php?id=1606) where participants can generate conversation with peers and ask questions.

When surveyed participants were excited for additional learning opportunities and a webinar series was held in winter/spring of 2020. Following each webinar, project team members and guest speakers stayed on the call to allow for "virtual office hours" for program participants.

Participants were provided the email  and phone of Training Program coordinators, advisors, and speakers, and were encouraged to reach for additional one-on-one support. At the in-field intensive trainings hosted summer 2019, many of the TSPs were able to meet in-person for the first time and socialize with one another through these educational, hands-on workshops.

Due to the pandemic many of our participants had limited interactions with producers in 2020. It was difficult to help farmers try new practices or improve their current no-till production. Although we were able to host some office hours the demand was low again because of the pandemic and how program participants were able to interact with their farmer clients. We were provided with an extension to have an additional year to work with Prorgam participants to put their new knowledge and skills into place. 

No-Till Training Program participants were further supported in 2021 as they were able to interact more easily with their clients. Our project team had interactions with program participants and provided assistance through virtual meetings, email, and phone. Several trips were made to verify the performance target.