Spawning a Network of Northeast Mushroom Educators serving Urban and Rural Farmer Audiences

Recruitment to participate.
500 agriculture service providers are informed of the project though the existing NE Beginning Farmer Learning Network, our provider list (585 contacts), websites, and social media (May-June 2019)

Promotional video: https://youtu.be/n9uI8gShxk0

Recruitment website: https://smallfarms.cornell.edu/projects/mushrooms/cme/

Newsletter: Harvest-NY-2nd-quarter-report

The following was the outreach plan for January 2020:

Sent Mushroom Grower List-serve Email Announcement/Press Release
Sent FarmSchool NYC Online Mushroom Course Announcement through both Farm School NYC newsletter & Google Group
Sent Announcement through COMFOOD, NYFC chapters & Harvest NY website
Sent Announcement through Grow NYC & Just Food email newsletter
Include Announcement in Harvest NY Growers Update & Harvest NY Urban Ag social media
Sent Announcement through CRAFT NYC 2019 & NYC Farm Alliance list-serve
Sent Announcement through Cornell Small Farms email newsletter and printed quarterly
Sent Announcement through Mushroom meetups and Mycological Society
Sent Announcement through GreenThumb Events Guide
Sent Announcement through NYCCGC

The free and accessible materials on our website (41,387 pageviews for
mushroom project), monthly webinar series (over 11k views), online courses (81 participants) and in person workshops (108 participants) reached thousands of people interested in specialty mushroom cultivation.

100 participate in informational webinars (July-September 2019)

2019 Mushroom Webinar Series-The Cornell Small Farms Program and Harvest NY CCE hosted a webinar series focused on specialty mushroom farming enterprises, highlighting the latest research and stories from experienced growers around the region. The webinar was held from 3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. EST. Each webinar is also recorded and posted for later viewing on the Cornell Small Farms Program’s YouTube channel. A total of 167 viewers participated in seven webinars throughout 2019.

75 service providers apply to participate in the training and 60 are accepted (October-December 2019). We will be asking applicants who are interested in delivering direct mushroom education and who can identify audiences who they will be directly serving. In addition, we will be asking applicants to commit to participating in one of the three 2-day trainings in Albany, NYC, and Baltimore, as well as pre-course work. We will work to recruit this diverse cohort of both urban and rural educators by tapping into the wide-reaching networks of project partners.

The timeline for the Community Mushroom Educator (CME) Training application process shifted from October- December 2019 to January-April 2020. In the months of October through December 2019 the project team has created the website description, finalized the promotional video, application, and the following timeline: 

Week of January 6th 2020: Press Release 

January 10th 2020: Applications open 

January 28th: Informational Webinar

February 21st 2020: Application deadline  

April 6th 2020: Notification of Acceptance

April 23rd – December 3rd, 2020: 2020 CME Program (see below for schedule of events)

In early January 2020 the applications closed and the project team began to craft a criteria worksheet and a scoring sheet for a team of 12 reviewers from the urban farming community and mushroom industry to review and score applications.  We received 166 applications and had originally planned to accept 60 people for the online training and in person training sessions (estimating 20 participants per session).  Given the large number of applications, we increased the total amount of accepted participants to 76 and in early April CME participants were notified of their acceptance.                                                              

We opened applications on January 10th, 2020 and closed them on February 17th. Our target was to get 75 applications and accept 60 people into the program. With 2,747 views in the reporting period of the CME project page received 166 applicants from 14 states (we limited the pool to Northeast states) with affiliations of over 200 non-profit, farm, and community garden organizations. 57% of applicants indicated this professional development would be part of their professional duties. Over 56% who applied self-identified as non-white (15.4% Black, 11.5% Latinx, 8.1% Asian, 21.5% mixed race or other identity) and 30.3% indicate they speak a language other than English at home, with over 20 languages represented. A diverse team of 10
educators and partners reviews and scored applications in February and March, and near the end of March we accepted 76 people into the program, with a majority self identified as non-white. (18% Black, 11.8% Latinx, 9.3% Asian, 11.8% mixed). Due to COVID related fallout and challenges, about half (35) were able to actively maintain participation in the training.

Pre-training engagement.
60 trainees collaborate to clarify goals for promoting specialty mushrooms and explore popular education models through three team-led webinars, reading, and reflection. (April- June 2020)

CME Participants had access to previous recordings from the Cornell Small Farms BF 151 – Woodland Mushroom Cultivation and the BF 153 – Indoor Specialty Mushroom Cultivation Course starting from the last two weeks in April throughout the year. The new curriculum portion of the CME program started June 4th. 

Each of the 60 service providers completes a pre-course knowledge self-assessment and surveys their audience about educational needs using a survey provided by the project team. (April- June 2020)

A post-knowledge assessment was conducted in December 2020. 

As demonstrated in the graph below, 35 out of the 48 participants of the survey responded “Yes, a lot” to the question “Did the program expand your knowledge and ability to educate others about mushroom cultivation.” Another 10 out of 48 participants of the survey responded “Yes, some” and 5 out of 48 participants responded “Yes, a little bit.”

Learning through the education program.
60 rural and urban educators across the Northeast attend one of three 2-day trainings in Albany, NYC, and Baltimore. They pass knowledge quizzes in four main competency areas: Mycology 101, Cultivation Best Practices, Production Economics, and Teaching with Popular Education. Participants receive forms and a spreadsheet for recording contact and demographic information for the farmers they consult with throughout the project. (July- Dec. 2020)

The Project Team originally set out to carry out this project as a hybrid model of online instruction and in-person training sessions set to happen in NYC, Albany, and Philadelphia. Given the COVID-19 pandemic, we have adapted the program to be 100% online for 2020. Moving forward, the in-person component may be re-introduced as circumstances shift and it becomes safe to do so. 

The following is a timeline of the Community Mushroom Educator Program in 2020, including the intensive pre-course work, curriculum and Q&A webinars and guest speakers. A total of 42.5 hours of content was created and posted on a teaching platform called Teachable for the CME participants to access for future reference.

At the end of the 2020 CME Program, participants had the following comments to say:

“I basically started the course very excited about mushrooms but with very little knowledge about them apart from basic things like mycelial networks and a bit of anatomy (and how awesome they are!) So everything from morphology to growing indoors and outdoors to marketing––all of it was new
and I’ve learned so much in the past few months!”

“I gained enough knowledge about growing mushroom indoors and in the garden to give a presentation. My knowledge, skills and confidence regarding mushrooms all grew because of this class.”

“I knew very little about mushroom cultivation, and this course was packed with a ton of excellent information.” 

“The program is fantastic and the team really thought it through for folks to learn and share. I unfortunately could not take advantage of all the teachings as I would have wanted. I do appreciate having the access to the materials and I plan to get back to it.”

60 service providers receive a survey 3 months after they receive training to assess if further support is needed and reinforce commitment to teach farmers. (Mar. 2021)

16 participants (8 urban, 8 rural) continue to advanced level mushroom education throughout 2021 by: a) participating in one in-person event and five online meetings; b) teaching mini-lessons within our existing online mushroom cultivation courses, gaining practice and reaching 90 farmers; and c) completing two mushroom related electives such as visiting local farms and engaging with mushroom production in their local communities through activities that are self-determined as appropriate including for example volunteer workdays, site visits and further educational opportunities. (ongoing to Dec. 2021)

Each of the 16 advanced-level trainees organizes and hosts one hands-on cultivation event for farmers with support from an experienced lead instructor (Spring & Summer 2021). The educators will be incentivized to gain more hands-on teaching practice through a materials budget for workshops and ongoing mentorship from project partners. Upon completion of all requirements, 12 successful participants become certified as lead instructors.

Engagement to support follow-up action.
The 60 initial course trainees, including the 12 certified educators, officially become first cohort of NE network of mushroom educators. Certified educators report back to larger group through webinars sharing their experience and how they have applied what they have learned to the wider community. (Fall - Winter 2021)

All participants will receive ongoing support to use and transfer their learning and ensure collection of data on the provided forms via quarterly emails and two check-in calls, one at the beginning of the season and another toward the end. (ongoing to Dec. 2021)

Verification of actions or changes.
40 of 60 service providers report increasing their knowledge and confidence in offering support for specialty mushroom production, as evidenced by the difference in scoring from pre and post- training self-assessment (2019 and 2020).

In the final year of the project, 40 of the 60 service providers respond to a follow-up survey and report on their actions teaching or advising farmers. (Dec. 2021).

The 12 certified educators participate in exit interviews to share insights on their own progression and provide insights to improve the curriculum. Eight of these educators develop new curriculum resources, such as videos or new production techniques (Dec 2021 – March 2022).