From Classroom to the Field: Advanced Soil Health Training for New York Agricultural Service Providers

An advisory committee was formed in April of 2018 and met six times between April 16^th and October 2^nd, 2018 to discuss selection criteria and to plan the curriculum specific to New York’s agricultural for Workshops One and Two.  Committee members also provided input through email and phone conversations throughout the project. Updates on the progress of the curriculum was sent to the advisory committee periodically. The committee consisted of approximately 15 people from Cornell University, Cooperative Extension, Soil and Water Conservation Districts, the NYS Soil and Water Conservation Committee, NRCS, and Agribuisness including four farmers and two Ag Consultants.  Workshops one through five have been completed, the final workshop concluded on January 21^st, 2020.  Materials from all of the workshops, including presentations, have been shared with class participants. A webpage with course materials and some videos is also publicly available.

(http://soilhealth.cals.cornell.edu/workshops/american-farmland-trust/)

Completion of curriculum development was delayed due to inclement weather in March of 2019. We also found that there were already many commitments to March meetings by project beneficiaries and therefore they were unavailable for our March meeting.

In addition, American Farmland Trust created a short informational webpage for the general public interested in learning more about the program. That page can be found here: https://farmland.org/project/new-york-soil-health-specialists/

In June 2018 a recruitment announcement for program applications was sent out to agricultural service providers through the List-servs of organizations such as New York Agri-Business Association, NE Region CCA, Cornell Cooperative Extension, NY Soil & Water Conservation Districts, AEM Planners, NOFA-NY and others (see attached announcement – “02-Soil-Health-Specialist-Flyer-060618-final”). The flyer included a link to where individuals could apply to the professional opportunity.

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Both the flyer and the website recruitment materials clearly stated performance targets and expectations for our beneficiaries.

Thirty-nine service providers from Agri-business, farmers, cooperative extension, soil and water conservation districts, and non-profits completed the application process which closed July 20, 2018. We exceeded our goal of attracting at least 30 applicants. There were 21 applications from the private sector and 19 from the public with an impressive geographic distribution among the applicants. The application included a pre-training skills assessment and questions to identify interested farmers they currently advise who they can further assist on soil health issues if selected for training program.

A beneficiary selection criteria document was created on April 16th listing eight key characteristics to look for in a successful applicant (See upload 04-Beneficiary-Selection-Criteria-Final). A sub-committee convened on August 13, 2018 to discuss selections of the final applicants. Private-sector applicants received higher priority in the selection process as that was the primary focus of the trainings, but there is also public sector representation. Seven of the 20 beneficiaries are also active farmers. Notices for acceptance into the program were sent out on August 24th, 2018. The acceptance notification included reminders of our performance target and beneficiary requirements and expectations. A congratulatory letter, instructions on how to pay the registration fee, a letter for them to sign affirming their commitment to the program, a tentative curriculum outline, a draft agenda of the first workshop, and a survey of training needs were included in the notification email. 

• 05 AFT Soil Health Specialist Congratulations 082318
• 06-AFT-SHS-Payment-Instructions
• 07-AFT-SHS-Affirmation-Letter-082418
• 08-AFT-SHS-Survey-of-Training-Needs-082418
• 09-AFT-Soil-Health-Specialist-Denial-082418

Notices for those not accepted into the program were also sent out at that time.

A press release was posted to the AFT website on September 21, 2018 and was picked up by other outlets, including Morning Ag Clips (https://www.morningagclips.com/aft-trains-practical-soil-health-specialists/).

A press release was posted to the AFT website on September 21, 2018 and was picked up by other outlets, including Morning Ag Clips.

Learning Through Education Program 1 - SHST Graduate Announcement 042920

As previously mentioned, a survey of training needs was sent out with the initial acceptance announcement and a template was handed out with time to complete it at the second workshop. However, we have found that it is difficult to get the beneficiaries to respond with much interest in the training plans. A lesson learned from this project is that participants prefer to develop learning plans during time allocated at the workshop and not on their own, so time should be allocated in the agenda. 

As further explained in the "Additional Outcomes" section below, a second round of training was held due to the extension of the SARE grant and because Cornell University received funding to do additional training.  This second round included 23 Ag Service Providers. 3 of them are also farmers. 1 additional farmer participated making the total 24 additional trainees in 2020 and 2021.

Workshop One was conducted September 24 and 25, 2018 in Cortland, NY. The curriculum was led by Cornell’s Soil Health Team and was based on training NRCS provides to their staff. This workshop started with an orientation to introduce beneficiaries to the requirements and expectations of the program which included the project Performance Targets, Milestones, Verification, and an introduction to the training plans.

See handouts:

• 12-SARE-AFT-Welcome-Letter-WS-1
• 13-SARE-AFT-List-of-Committments
• 14-SARE-AFT-Project-Milestones
• 15-SARE-AFT-Workshop-Outline-and-Schedule

This first day focused on the principles of soil health, and a detailed discussion of soil biology. We hosted an orientation social hour in the evening of Day One for beneficiaries to build relationships and strengthen networks as part of their professional development. Day Two focused on soil ecology, soil health indicators, assessment techniques and soil health management planning. The afternoon of Day Two was held on-farm and focused on identifying soil health indicators in the field, using soil pits as a teaching and demonstration tool, and learning about soil health systems on the host farm.

The workshop was held in conjunction with the New York State Conservation Districts Employees Association’s annual Conservation Skills Workshop. Our program was included in their schedule and registration was open to NYSCDEA registration system. An additional 22 people from NRCS and Soil and Water Conservation Districts attended the training.

A separate web page was created on the Cornell Comprehensive Assessment of Soil Health website and shared with project participants with general project information, agenda, speaker bios, participant bios, and presentations: 

• 16-SARE-AFT-WS-1-Participant-Bios
• 17-SARE-AFT-WS-1-Agenda-Final
• 18-SARE-AFT-WS1-Speaker-Bios
• 19-SH-Specialist-Training-Orientation-Intro

http://soilhealth.cals.cornell.edu/workshops/american-farmland-trust/

Additional Cornell training series

As further explained in the "Additional Outcomes" section below, a second round of training was held due to the extension of the SARE grant and because Cornell University received funding to do additional training.  This second round included 23 Ag Service Providers. 3 of them are also farmers. 1 additional farmer participated making the total 24 additional trainees in 2020 and 2021.  The second round of workshops were modified from the original curriculum due to feedback from the original beneficiaries and COVID-19 restrictions. Therefore the original Workshop 1 was condensed and combined with Workshop 2 and held on October 22nd and 23rd, 2020. The reported numbers for Milestone#4 are reflective of including attendees of all workshops  for the second round.

Workshop 2:

Workshop Two was conducted October 23 and 24, 2018 in Ithaca, NY. As with the first workshop, the curriculum was led by Cornell’s Soil Health Team but focused on cover crops and adapting cover crop management to different soil types and farm operations. Day One presentations included cover crop characteristics, planting dates and addressing soil specific health constraints through using selected cover crop species or mixtures. One highlight of the training was the hands-on cover crop demonstration where 20 varieties of cover crops were planted in plastic tubes and grown in a greenhouse for five weeks prior to the workshop. The cover crops were brought to the workshop and pulled out of the tubes so that participants could see the bare root systems of each of the plants. The beneficiaries had the opportunity to pick up and examine all of them in one place. This was followed-up by a discussion of each plant, one-by-one, lead by Cornell’s Sustainable Cropping Systems Lab Assistant Professor Mathew Ryan:

Day Two focused on the economics of cover cropping in New York, based on a 2017 survey of farms across the state. We also addressed how nitrogen management can be affected by the use of cover crops. We ended the classroom experience with a panel of farmers who have been implementing cover crops long term. They shared their experiences and expertise. In the afternoon we headed outside to a field day where 35 plots were planted on three dates with different species and mixtures. The field day was open to the public and was coordinated and lead by one of the program’s beneficiaries. There was a tour of the plots lead by a team of experts from the German company, DSV, which provided a unique perspective to cover cropping. The field day also included the New York Soil Health Trailer and a Soil Pit. See attached agenda. 

• 26-SARE-AFT-WS-2-Agenda-Final
• 27-SARE-AFT-WS-2-Speaker-Bios
• 28-SARE-AFT-WS-2-Producer-Bios
• 29-Field-Day-Cayuga-Ag-Cover-crops-Final

Course materials are available at http://soilhealth.cals.cornell.edu/workshops/american-farmland-trust/

A post-workshop survey was handed out at the workshop. See attachment for a summary of the responses: 30a WS2 Evaluation_Summaries 102418

One beneficiary took the time to send an email with the following praise:

“I was very happy with this session. I took a lot away regarding cover crop species and their specific traits. I feel that the data was presented in a way in which we all understood it. Seeing the different plants, with their root structures really helped me. I feel a lot more confident in advising growers on cover crops. I felt that the lower point / activity ratio was perfect. With the presenters I felt that there was a good balance of academic, ag business and grower input. The field day at king agra was awesome. Everyone got to see the different cover crops in their various stages of growth. The data presented was easy to digest and everyone was more than helpful.”

A list of resources was shared after the second workshop. See PDF: 31-SARE-AFT-References. One participant had this to share:

“Thank you to everyone for putting this together. What a gem! I began to go through the document without previewing it; thinking I would be able to review and provide feedback. The breadth of experience and knowledge of our instructors is evidenced in the scope of this collection! Needless to say, I cannot add anything at this time. I look forward to applying what is contained in it. Personally, I find it astounding. Coming from the background I have, and with what I am learning, I see many opportunities, many challenges, and am more aware of how our historical and current practices interact with the soil.”

Additional Cornell training series

As further explained in the "Additional Outcomes" section below, a second round of training was held due to the extension of the SARE grant and because Cornell University received funding to do additional training.  This second round included 23 Ag Service Providers. 3 of them are also farmers. 1 additional farmer participated making the total 24 additional trainees in 2020 and 2021.  The second round of workshops were modified from the original curriculum due to feedback from the original beneficiaries and COVID-19 restrictions. Therefore the original Workshop 1 was condensed and combined with Workshop 2 and held on October 22nd and 23rd, 2020. The reported numbers  are reflective of including attendees of all workshops  for the second round.

Workshop 3:

Workshop #3, was originally scheduled for March 6^th and 7^th, 2019 but was postponed due to poor weather and because there were several other established winter meetings already scheduled in late February and most of March. This made it difficult for our particular group to be able to attend our event which was new to their schedule. However, this workshop was rescheduled and held October 29 and 30, 2019 in two locations. Because it was necessary to reschedule around farm activities, this workshop became our 4^th workshop in the series. However, it will be described here.

As always, the curriculum was led by Cornell’s Soil Health Team and focused on nutrient management and carbon cycling.  Day One topics included an introduction to biochar and it’s benefits for soil health (video), a facilitated discussion on nutrient management in pasture systems, and a video-conference presentation on tools for precision nitrogen management (video). The group was also given introductions to the farms that were featured for this training by Matt Sheffer of Stone House Farms and Conrad Vispo of the Hudson Valley Farm Hub. See attached agenda:  01 SARE AFT WS 4 Agenda Final

In the afternoon of day one, we had an extensive tour of Stone House Farms in Hudson, New York. Working with the Rockefeller family, Stone House Farm has dramatically changed its production methods to embrace diverse soil health practices.  They have established a new project, Hudson Carbon, that is focused on documenting the climate impacts of adopting soil health practices, including no-till, cover crops, and pastured livestock. They are collaborating with Marine Biological Laboratory to analyze carbon cycling from soils across 12 sites on their farms.  In order to do this, they have been collecting data on their farm along with a conventional, neighboring farm for the past four seasons. We made several stops along the tour to examine their cropping systems and to see how they are collecting data. At the end of the farm tour, we had a reception at the Churchtown Dairy to foster peer-to-peer networking within the group of specialists. See attached photos:

The morning of day two focused on the agricultural management effects on nutrient loss to waterways and the atmosphere. We included a farmer-led discussion with Jay Goldmark, field crops production manager for the Hudson Valley Farm Hub.

In the afternoon of day two, we had an extensive tour of the Hudson Valley Farm Hub which is a non-profit center for resilient agriculture located on 1,500 acres of prime farmland in Hurley, NY. They provide professional farmer training, host and support agricultural research, demonstrate new farm technologies, and serve as an education resource for advances in food and farming.  The Farm Hub works with local farmers and partner organizations to identify barriers to and opportunities for building a resilient food system.  See attached photos:

A post-workshop survey was handed out at the workshop. See attachment for a summary of the responses. 11 WS4 Evaluation_Summaries Some highlights of responses include:

“What I liked best about this course was all the farms and the experiments shared. Very awesome to hear the innovative and advanced work going into soil health practices. These farmers seem more like scientists than laborers and tractor drivers.”

Another said: “This was by far my favorite workshop. Being able to interact with growers and see how they run their operations is always an interesting learning experience. It's fascinating going to operations different than the one many of us typically work with and getting to experience first-hand how they are run.”

Course materials are available at http://soilhealth.cals.cornell.edu/workshops/american-farmland-trust/

Additional Cornell training series

As further explained in the "Additional Outcomes" section below, a second round of training was held due to the extension of the SARE grant and because Cornell University received funding to do additional training.  This second round included 23 Ag Service Providers. 3 of them are also farmers. 1 additional farmer participated making the total 24 additional trainees in 2020 and 2021.  The second round of workshops were modified from the original curriculum due to feedback from the original beneficiaries and COVID-19 restrictions. Therefore the original Workshop 3 was condensed and combined with Workshops 4 and 5 and held on April 8 and 9, 2021. The reported numbers  are reflective of including attendees of all workshops  for the second round.

Workshop 4 and Field Day:

Due to the postponement of the workshop originally scheduled for March 2019, Workshop 4 actually became workshop 3, and was held August 6^th and 7^th, 2019 in conjunction with the New York State Empire Farm Days soil health programming and demo plots, as originally planned. The curriculum was led by Cornell’s Soil Health Team. See attached agenda and photos:

12 SARE AFT WS 3 EFD FINAL 080219

Day one included a discussion about the history, geography of soil health and opportunities specific to New York State (video) and no-till management of pests and diseases in corn and soybeans.  A highlight of the day was the producer panel of three NYS farmers – Dave Magos, Jay Swede and John Kemmeren – with a facilitated discussion on nutrient management in no-till systems.  This session was recorded and the video was posted on the Cornell Soil Health webpage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLJ04aCSrjI&t=187s.  Project beneficiary Rod Porter planned and led a tour of cover crop demonstration plots.

Day two shifted towards discussing the developing technology of planting green, which is the practice of no-till planting a cash crop into a living or recently terminated cover crop. There was a presentation on research from Penn State on Planting Green and there was a farmer panel with three farmers – Donn Branton, Jim Hershey and John Macauley – on the successes and challenges they’ve had with planting green. This session was recorded and the video was posted on the Cornell Soil Health webpage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKlie78tEHA. There was a presentation on managing for healthier soils and cleaner water by Jim Hershey, President of the Pennsylvania No-Till Alliance (video) and a presentation on the effects of reduced tillage on beneficial arthropods. Two field-related events were scheduled. We had an in-field demonstration of tillage and manure spreading and we had scheduled a tillage equipment field tour. However, there was a severe downpour/thunderstorm and the equipment tour was canceled. All of the presentations and demonstrations were open to the public and most of the presentation were recorded and made available online. For example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLJ04aCSrjI&t=187s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKlie78tEHA

As previously stated, these talks were planned and held in conjunction with the Empire Farm Days Soil Health Programming which is organized by the New York State Interagency Soil Health Working Group. This group is lead by project partners at Cornell University and American Farmland Trust is a long-time participant.  In addition to the presentation and equipment demonstrations, other soil health related activities were available to the beneficiaries such as the NYS Soil Health Trailer, NRCS and Cornell University Soil Health educational demonstrations and a third day of talks. Furthermore, additional farmers and Ag Service Providers benefited from the course because the public was welcome to attend all events.

Course materials are publicly available at http://soilhealth.cals.cornell.edu/workshops/american-farmland-trust/

A post-workshop survey was handed out at the workshop. See attachment for a summary of the responses.  Some highlights of responses include:

15_WS3 Evaluation_Summaries

“What I liked best about this workshop was the farmer panels. I always learn the most from listening to different practices and what works/what doesn't directly from the farmer’s themselves”

“I liked getting to walk around and see/learn about equipment, including the demonstrations.”

“I liked learning about planting green from the Farmer Panel. This was a new concept for me. I'd heard about it before, but only in very general terms.”

One lesson learned from hosting this event is that there are disadvantages of combining the Soil Health Specialist Training with an event held open to the public. It caused confusion in the audience and there were distracting moments as people not related to the training came and went as they pleased. In the post training interviews explained in another section of this report, participants consistently did not enjoy the program event hosted at Empire Farm Days because they felt it was chaotic, not geared toward them, and confusing.

Additional Cornell training series

As further explained in the "Additional Outcomes" section below, a second round of training was held due to the extension of the SARE grant and because Cornell University received funding to do additional training.  This second round included 23 Ag Service Providers. 3 of them are also farmers. 1 additional farmer participated making the total 24 additional trainees in 2020 and 2021.  The second round of workshops were modified from the original curriculum due to feedback from the original beneficiaries and COVID-19 restrictions. Therefore the original Workshop 4 was condensed and combined with Workshops 3 and 5 and held on April 8 and 9, 2021. The reported numbers  are reflective of including attendees of all workshops  for the second round.

Workshop 5 and Field Day:

Due to the postponement of one of the workshops until late October of 2019, workshop 5 was delayed until January 21, 2020 in Auburn, New York at the Cayuga County Soil and Water Conservation District. This course was limited to a one day, in-person meeting without a farm visit based on a few factors including, the time of year and the availability of beneficiaries and presenters.

The workshop included presentations on the economics of soil health practices using partial budget analysis (see Gary Swede Farm Economic Case Study), quantifying management changes, and decision-making tools available to use with farmers.  See NRCS Ag Economists Bryon Kirwan present on the NRCS economic cover crop tool: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mX4Pjiowt9c. We also spent significant time with how to communicate effectively with farmers for encouraging adoption of conservation practices. The communication piece included one and a half hours of interactive group activity.  See the attached agenda:

00 SARE AFT WS 5 Agenda Final

A post-workshop survey was handed out at the workshop. See attachment for a summary of the responses:

WS5 Evaluation_Summaries 013020

Some highlights of responses include:

“I liked the series of topics on partial budgeting from overhead to case studies to cover crop tool. That was fantastic!”

“The experience of these workshops over the last year and a half has been incredible. I appreciate the time and thoughtfulness of putting topics on, getting knowledgeable presenters and coordinating the hotels/accommodations! Great Job!”

“I think this information/workshop was excellent and I'm happy to have gotten to see the economic side as well as communication.”

Course materials are available at: http://soilhealth.cals.cornell.edu/workshops/american-farmland-trust/

Additional Cornell training series

As further explained in the "Additional Outcomes" section below, a second round of training was held due to the extension of the SARE grant and because Cornell University received funding to do additional training.  This second round included 23 Ag Service Providers. 3 of them are also farmers. 1 additional farmer participated making the total 24 additional trainees in 2020 and 2021.  The second round of workshops were modified from the original curriculum due to feedback from the original beneficiaries and COVID-19 restrictions. Therefore the original Workshop 5 was condensed and combined with Workshops 3 and 4 and held on April 8 and 9, 2021. The reported numbers  are reflective of including attendees of all workshops  for the second round.

Of the five workshops held, the first four had field days open to the public.  Thirty-seven additional farm advisors attended the field days in addition to the 20 original soil health specialist beneficiaries. It is estimated that fifty-seven farmers have attended the workshops and field days as well. 

After all of the trainings were completed, a press release announcing the ‘graduation’ of the Soil Health Specialists was posted to the AFT website on April 29, 2020 (see upload “Learning Through Education Program 1 - SHST Graduate Announcement 042920) and was picked up by other outlets, including Morning Ag Clips. (Learning Through Education Program 2 – Press Release Morning Ag Clips 052820). 

Additional Cornell training series

The workshops were held virtually due to COVID-19 restrictions so no additional audience participated in the Round 2 trainings.

The development of the tool kit was completed on August 27, 2021. The tool kit has a collection of presentations, handouts and references from all five workshops. These have been shared both in print and electronically. In addition, a web page has been developed to make resources available to the participants but is also open to the public -

http://soilhealth.cals.cornell.edu/workshops/american-farmland-trust/.

As the workshops were completed and participant evaluations were assessed, it was determined by project leaders that, in addition to printed/electronic media, the beneficiaries would also benefit from having physical tools in their “Tool Kits” to help conduct their own soil health educational and technical assistance activities with their clients. In the spring of 2020, the process of purchasing such physical tools was begun with materials to build a soil slake test demonstration kit. (See “Engagement to Support Action 1 - Cornell-Soil-Health-Slake-Test”). The slake test demonstrates a soil’s resilience to the breakdown of larger soil aggregates into smaller microaggregates when they are exposed to an extreme wetting event.  Furthermore, the project team purchased and shipped penetrometers, an instrument that measures the soil’s resistance to penetration (See “Engagement to Support Action 2 - Surface_Subsurface-Factsheet”).  The penetrometer is an easy and effective tool for both demonstrating soil compaction to beneficiary clients, but it can also be used to quantify that compaction to assist with management decision making. A total of 12 penetrometers were sent to beneficiaries who asked to receive one because they expected to be able to use it in their work with farmers. Finally, the project team purchased three key SARE publications for beneficiaries to use as references for technical assistance and planning their events. The references are Building Soils for Better Crops, Managing Cover Crops Profitably and Crop Rotation on Organic Farms. All beneficiaries who completed the program received copies of these publications.

Additional Cornell training series

Cornell had their own funding to support the second round of trainings and due to COVID-19 restrictions and other reasons, a toolkit was not made as a deliverable for round 2.

In order to be able to provide reimbursements for events, a number of activities had to occur. 1) A committee meeting was held in February 2019 to determine what qualified as an event. 2) a webinar training was held on May 23^rd to provide expectations to the beneficiaries on what qualifies as stipend eligible event.  During this webinar, we also discussed tips for hosting events. 3) A stipend request form was created in order to pre-approve stipends. See SARE AFT Stipend_Request_Form_052319-FILLABLE. 4) a reimbursement form was created the infrastructure for stipends. See SARE AFT Stipend_Expense_Form_052319_FILLABLE. 5) an outreach and technical assistance tracking tool was created and shared for beneficiaries to track their outreach. See SARE AFT Outreach and TA TrackingMaster. The training and resources are all  available online at https://soilhealth.cals.cornell.edu/workshops/american-farmland-trust/

Although several beneficiaries have conducted their own local soil health related education events, in the end there were just three stipend reimbursement requests.  Several events had been planned by beneficiaries but then canceled due to COVID-19 restrictions. Two workshops that requested reimbursement were held prior to COVID-19 restrictions so there are pictures of folks attending those events:

Engagement to Support Action 3 - T Kautz Pics

Engagement to Support Action 4 - Darleen K.M Stipen Pics

The third workshop, held in August of 2020, was virtual so a copy of the announcement is attached instead.

Engagement to Support Action 5 – Licover crop field day 082020

The virtual event was recorded and links were made available for future viewing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYMR64L1TDU  (Debbie Aller - summer cover crops) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZI0OSUKWEU (Joseph Amsili - cover crop roots)

Stipends were used for things like demonstration plot materials, transportation to and from demo plots and meeting room expenses for field days.  

Since only 3 of potentially 20 stipends were reimbursed, we conclude that, with this group of beneficiaries, the stipend was not as important to encouraging outreach events as thought during the development of the project. The stipend may need to be greater, but, in general, when beneficiaries planned their outreach, they had funding from other sources in place.

Additional Cornell training series

Cornell had their own funding to support the second round of trainings and due to COVID-19 restrictions and other reasons, stipends and beneficiary outreach was not made as a deliverable for round 2.

A Tracking Tool was created and a webinar training was conducted and recorded for how to use the template on June 20, 2019. Part of the tracking tool includes a section with 6 questions to be answered by the beneficiaries as part of a progress report. The rest of the tracking tool had tabs for event registration, event sign-in, and tracking for technical assistance and any media outreach that occurred. Requests for reports were due in August 2019 and March 2020. 17 of the 20 potential beneficiaries submitted at least one report.  Verification materials are available at:

http://soilhealth.cals.cornell.edu/workshops/american-farmland-trust/

A series of interviews were conducted with 14 of the remaining 17 beneficiaries between June 1st and 12th, 2020.  At that point, all project participants were a few months into the COVID-19 restrictions, and heading into the outreach season. The purpose of the calls was to check-in to see how the beneficiaries were holding up under the restrictions, and if they still held employment and expected to maintain employment. Given that everyone we spoke with were planning to remain employed, we furthered the discussion by going through their previously described and shared tracking tool to assess experiences gained and to track and report on their educational and technical assistance activities including: type of event or assistance, number of farmers/service providers attending, types of farms, acres farmed, and if the farmer conducts a soil health assessment, develops a soil health plan, and/or implements a soil health practice.  Since those interviews, there was little activity due to both the completion of the training courses and to COVID-19 restrictions. A summary of their tracking is in Performance Target Outcomes

Some highlights from the reports include:

“The trainings have made myself more aware of the benefits of no-till, cover crops, etc., and in return I am more open and comfortable talking to producers about trying more cover crops and no-till practices.”

“I was able to convince a large grower to seed 70 acres of prevented plant ground to crimson clover. The training gave me the confidence to recommend this. I focused on soil health and not strictly on dollars”

Additional Cornell training series

Cornell had their own funding to support the second round of trainings and due to COVID-19 restrictions and other reasons, tracking of beneficiary outreach and technical assistance was not made as a deliverable for round 2.

As part of the post-program assessment, we entered into a collaboration with Jenny Berkowitz, a graduate student at Cornell University. The goal of her collaboration was to collect exit interviews that assess the increased confidence and ability to adopt soil health practices as a result of the Soil Health Specialist Program. This collaboration was mutually beneficial, facilitating Jenny’s research in extension techniques related to soil health practice adoption. She conducted 24 interviews with both the participants and facilitators from the 2019 program, reaching all but four of the participants. The analysis of these interviews yielded valuable information about the aspects of the program that best enabled confidence in soil health knowledge and intention to adopt soil health practices, and the tools needed to better address future participants interests and needs.

Interviews covered topics ranging from general impressions of the program to the interviewees own personal and professional adoption of soil health practices. Questions surrounding general impressions of the program were focused on the relevance of information, effectiveness of information delivery, and the participants change in confidence in the subject. Questions about personal and professional adoption of soil health practices assessed changes in the perceived barriers to reduced tillage and cover crops on their own, or their client’s farms, before and after their participation in the program. As a whole, the interviews focused on characterizing the participant’s knowledge, skills, intentions and attitudes towards soil health.

The interviews were all transcribed and were coded qualitatively using Atlas-Ti  A summary of the report is below:

Program Summary

A total of 17 participants and 7 facilitators were interviewed for the post-Soil Health Specialist Program evaluation. The primary employment areas included government extension, company consultants/retailers, academia, farmers/farm managers, farmer associations, and nonprofits. Participants and facilitators worked in a wide spectrum of production models from organic small scale mixed vegetable production to large grain operations employing the use of chemical inputs.

Participants and facilitators characterized the program teaching methodology in three distinct ways. First, the program was perceived as practical and hands on; facilitators used field experiences, demonstrations, and farm visits to teach participants.  Second, the program was seen as collaborative and peer-oriented, exemplified in the use of group discussions and exercises. Finally, participants characterized the program as sequential; the material on soil health continually built on itself over a series of meetings.

All participants had a positive perception of the program. They admired the program for being social, holistic, comprehensive, straightforward, accessible, and interactive. The perception of the program differed depending on the background of each participant, experienced participants tended to focus on expanding their social network, whereas less experienced participants emphasized being able to speak confidently about specific concepts or practices.

Program Outcomes

Following the program there were clear outcomes for participants:

Increased participant confidence. All 17 participants interviewed noted increased confidence through participating in the program. Ten of these participants directly mentioned the result of this confidence boost saying they could now talk more in depth about the technical aspects of soil health. When asked to describe the nature of their increased confidence, one participant said:

“I was always like, ‘Please don’t ask me why.’ And now I’m like, ‘Ask me,’ because I wanna tell you” (Participant 4).

Participants consistently agreed that peer networks, diversity of backgrounds and immersive learning drove the boost in confidence. Moreover, for many participants with well-established backgrounds in soil health practices, the true value for them was acquiring the ability to communicate more confidently about these practices. In sum, the complex interaction of diversity, interactive teaching, and peer engagement drives the increase in participant confidence.

Expanded and enriching professional network. Six participants cited the professional network development as their top tool gained from the Soil Health Specialist Program and the rest cited professional network development and relationship building as an important method for learning and building confidence during the program. Participants and facilitators alike said they only knew between 0-4 people before starting the program, averaging 2.3, implying that this group did facilitate interactions with new people. Participants found the diversity of these new connections particularly enriching and broadened their professional networks.  

“I thought the program was a good mix of people, and it was all over the state, there were totally organic people, there were totally conventional people, Long Island, western New York, so I guess I liked – I liked the interaction with the other people as much as some of the trainings” (Participant 3).

Unclear link between participant intention and client adoption. This analysis did not assess the direct adoption of soil health practices as a result of participant advocacy. Given most participants were educators, not farmers, our analysis focused on adoption of new education techniques and communication efforts surrounding soil health. Most participants were already supportive of soil health before the program. Participants often discussed how the program changed the way they think in terms of exposing them to new ideas/perspectives, getting them excited about soil health, and making them more comfortable with practices. The program appears to promote and solidify positive attitudes about soil health and many participants expressed intentions to discuss soil health more often with their clients utilizing educational techniques promoted by the program, especially tactics for learning about their clients and practices used during field experiences.

“Working with customers, you might give them one direction, and now, I might give them different directions and not be so “well, this is what you need to do because of this.” Give them more options and let them choose. Because that, ultimately, is their farm” (Participant 7).

Issues and Challenges

Overall, participants and facilitators had a positive perception of the program. However, they did mention several ways that the program could improve.

Logistics. The most common issue was time management and logistics. Participants often found it challenging to make the time commitment necessary for the program and travel was not always easy for participants. At the same time many participants enjoyed traveling across the state and found the exposure to different geographic agricultural settings to be a great asset of the program. Continued program support for those traveling farther distance will help overcome this challenge and open opportunities for broadened networking and understanding of different farming systems.

“They allowed me to have one more night overnight if it was really far. So, I’d say they were fair at accommodating. The field work was –fun” (Participant 1).

Economic consideration. Several participants reported contradictory program biases. Some participants mentioned that the program favored organic production: “they did have a little bit of a slant towards organic” (participant 16), whereas others reported that the program tended to focus on larger production: “program heavily pursued to the row cropping industry” (participant 13). Additionally, two participants directly mentioned that the program tended to favor Cornell research, programming, and people. However, the only gap consistently mentioned by interviewed participants in the programming was for economic factors. Participants felt the need for more consideration for costs and the economics of adopting soil health practices. Essentially, they would like to know how to guide their clients to profitably adopt soil health practices:

“This was kind of my challenge with the program. I saw a lot of things they were talking about as being idealistic, probably best for soil health, but also, very difficult to implement at any type of scale or see an economic – mark an economic return on. What’s the economic return on planting radishes in July? I don’t know. This class didn’t answer that question” (Participant 10).

Teaching participants how to apply program content to their context. Generally, participants felt that demonstrations were not practical enough and that they need more instructions on how to apply this information to their own individual context. Individual attitudes largely dictated the degree of guidance participants requested, with some participants demonstrating clear ability to apply the concepts to their clients’ farming systems, yet many participants consistently requested explanation of tactics for applying practices in different settings.

Field experience. The majority of participants and facilitators greatly enjoyed the field experiences in particular digging the soil pit, the soil cart demonstration, and farm visits in the Hudson Valley. However, participants consistently did not enjoy the program event hosted at Empire Farm Days because they felt it was chaotic, not geared toward them, and confusing.

Program Conclusion

Participants and facilitators enjoyed and learned from the Soil Health Specialist Program. In particular, the program was valuable to participants because it had a diversity of people, programming, and places. The program helped build strong social connections, boost confidence, and solidify an interest in soil health. There were several challenges or issues associated with the program that can be addressed in future sessions including greater consideration for economic factors, more information on how to adapt these practices to specific contexts and improving certain field experiences.

By the Numbers

100% of participants interviewed mentioned improved confidence when discussing soil health.

21.7 people was the average number of new participants met through the program, with even more new connections made with facilitators and speakers.

86% of participants and facilitators interviewed only mentioned positive impressions related to field experiences.

65% of participants interviewed cited professional connections as an important method at the workshops for learning the topics, gaining confidence in talking about soil conservation at work, and improving soil conservation adoption.

17% of participants interviewed expressly mentioned that they were planning to adopt more soil health practices.

Additional Cornell training series

Cornell had their own funding to support the second round of trainings and did not include a survey as a deliverable for round 2.