Developing Technical Skills of Service Providers in the Northeast to Assist Farmers with Production of Industrial Hemp

The Industrial Hemp Training Program’s curriculum plan was completed and reviewed by the advisory board. The board determined common obstacles to implementing a successful hemp program, addressed these issues through field-proven technical knowledge, and developed a training plan that will best enable the ASPs to support their farmers in sustainably growing industrial hemp. Advisors also brainstormed potential speakers for each topic and planned for contacting those individuals. The full webinar schedule was finalized by the advisory group and an advertisement flyer was created by the UVM team which included logos and information on how to register. The UVM team pulled together and organized hemp-related resources, and built the Industrial Hemp Training Program’s online platform via Extension’s online campus at campus.extension.org. The direct link to the Industrial Hemp Training Program’s webpage on eXtension: https://campus.extension.org/course/view.php?id=1849.

Recruitment began by advertising to participants from the current PDP No-Till Training Program (79 ASPs), 2020 UVM Industrial Hemp Conferences (139 ASPs in 2020). Additionally, Certified Crop Advisors (338 CCAs), and other ASPs engaged with our program’s social media, listservs, and newsletters (1,350) were contacted. Recruitment resources (advertisement flyer, emails, website postings) were detailed and enabled the participants to learn about the project, its goals, the schedule/expectations, and performance objective. The Hemp PDP Course Recruitment advertisement was shared through the aforementioned distribution channels.

There was considerable interest in the Hemp Course from around the globe. Parties from Vermont to Australia applied to participate in the program. Interested participants applied for the Industrial Hemp Training Program though Eventbrite.com. Through registration we collected basic information about the students as well as their ability/interest in attending the complete and participate in the entire training program. Registration for the training program was advertised as previously mentioned. Although the training was clearly advertised for service providers many farmers contacted our program interested in the attending the type of program being offered. Clearly there is a demand for high quality hemp information from a large variety of stakeholders. Participants that indicated their ability to participate in the entire program were registered for the program. There were a total of 103 individuals that met the criteria.

There were 103 participants registered to participate in the Hemp PDP Training Program. The project expected some attrition and allowed more than the planned 75 participants.  All of the 103 participants completed the Pre-Training Survey hosted through SurveyMonkey.com. This survey set a baseline which was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the training program, and gathered more-detailed information about individual ASPs. A 4-page ‘Welcome Letter’ was created by the UVM team and emailed to participating ASPs. This comprehensive document contains course contacts, funding credits, expectations/requirements of participants, training program schedules, and directions on how to access the training program’s webpage. The pre-course survey and the 'Welcome Letter' can be viewed at the following links:

Pre-course Survey for Hemp Professional Training

Welcome Letter Industrial Hemp Intensive Training Program

The pre-course survey results indicated that the ASPs were working with a total of 925 farms that were currently or considering growing hemp. The majority of the farmers were growing hemp for flower production. Nearly 40% of attendees were independent consultants and the remaining fell among a range of other sectors including university, bankers, organic certifiers, fertilizer dealers, and government or non-governmental organizations.

• Registered TSPs:  103
• Number of farmers participating TSPs worked with that grow hemp: 925 farmers
  • Grain hemp farmers: 47 farmers
  • How many acres does this represent? 2,884 acres
  • Fiber hemp farmers: 36 farmers
  • How many acres does this represent? 1,594 acres
  • Flower hemp farmers: 468 farmers
  • How many acres does this represent? 59,300.95 acres
• Number of farmers participating TSPs worked with that are considering growing hemp: 359 farmers

Participating ASPs attend the online hemp training course through active participation in a live winter webinar series. The ASPs were required to complete at least 7 of the 13 modules held over a 4-month period. There are brief surveys after each webinar to document knowledge gained by the ASP. At the end of the online training portion, ASP knowledge will be re-assessed, and additional learning needs recorded. This information will help further shape the in-field intensives.

As of January 15, 2021, the first seven webinars in the series have been hosted live. Business Planning & Economics on 11/3/20 had 89 live participants, Agronomics on 11/10/20 had 82 live participants, IPM on 11/17/20 had 58 live participants, All Things Organic on 12/1/20 had 66 live participants, Propagation & Seedling Production on 12/8/20 had 59 live participants, Modern Hemp Policy on 12/15/20 had 54 live participants, and Resinous Hemp Production on 1/5/21 had 53 live participants. The remaining course webinars offered in 2021 are listed below. Participants were able to attend all of the webinars below but were required to attend at least 6.

All webinars are recorded, edited, then posted on the training program website within one week of the live presentation.

Each webinar has accompanying hemp-related resources for added education opportunities and a forum to promote networking and discussion amongst ASPs. The webinar series was completed on February 16, 2021.

The 2021 Hemp Conference had to be held virtually due to the pandemic. Attendance was much lower than the in-person conferences.This was a day long conference hosted through a virtual conference platform. The platform allowed attendees access to on-demand presentations and handouts one week before the conference. All recorded presentations were made available for two weeks following the conference.

The hemp conference allowed for significant knowledge gain with over 25 presentations. There were both live presentations allowing for Q&A. Each of these sessions were one hour in length. There were also 13 on-demand presentations that ranged from 20 to 30 minutes each. The flyer can be accessed here   Hemp Conference Brochure -2021.

The virtual scouting tool was not completed for the 2021 hemp conference. The virtual tool will be demonstrated at the 2022 hemp conference.

The advisory group met to determine framework and topics for the in-field intensive portion. Due to the pandemic the meetings were scheduled for in-person and also online participation.  In-person events were hosted in Maine, Vermont, and New York with supplemental virtual offerings.

In person events were as follows:

1. July 8, 2021—University of Maine Rogers Farm, Old Town, Maine—John Jemison, University of Maine Cooperative Extension Professor of Soil and Water Quality, hosted an in-person field day. Demonstration of the roller crimper to lay down a winter rye cover crop, see results of that compared to sickle bar mowed rye, powered cultivation and traditional black plastic for weed management. Demonstration of cultivation tools with Eric Gallandt’s team. Discuss crop rotation, disease reduction, and common insect pests. The hemp team (Mary Yurlina and Gary Fish) at the Department of Agriculture will discuss the latest legislation, and the future of Maine’s licensing program.
2. July 23, 2021—SUNY Morrisville, New York—Jennifer Gilbert Jenkins, SUNY Morrisville Division of Animal & Plant Sciences & Agricultural Business Assistant Professor, hosted an in-person field day looking at a fiber variety trial as well as hemp for extracts, focusing on in-season management decisions and variety comparisons in both the fiber hemp as well as extract hemp fields. NOFA-NY covered organic certification requirements.  We started at our CBD field and talked about how the growing season was going and what in-season decision making changes were made to account for the excessively wet season.  We then travelled to our fiber crop field and discussed how the growing season impacted the 5 varieties that we were growing.  While it was a positive experience and folks were happy, it was a small hemp meeting. We believe that was due to a very wet summer and 2 beautiful sunny days around the event, keeping everyone out in the fields.
3. August 10, 2021—Borderview Research Farm, Alburgh, Vermont—Heather Darby, University of Vermont Extension Professor: Agronomy Specialist, and the Northwest Crops and Soils team hosted an in-person field day. We toured the research farm visiting many CBD, fiber, and grain trails while hearing about the most up-to-date research happening in Vermont. Trials included: variety, fertility, pest & disease scouting, harvest date, and more. We then went into the barn for hands-on demonstrations of the oil press, spinning fiber hemp for yarn with Laura Sullivan of UVM, and paper making with Steve Kostell of UVM.
4. September 10, 2021—Sheepscot General Store & Farm, Whitefield, Maine—Caleb Goossen, Maine Organic Farmers Association Organic Crop and Conservation Specialist, hosted this in-person field day through MOFGA’s farmer-to-farmer events at Sheepscot General. Mary Yurlina scheduled a complementing SIGME (stakeholder information gathering meeting) before the tour, sharing information about Maine's current hemp program, and informing and gathering information about how the legislature and the Dept of Ag, Conservation and Forestry (DACF) may attempt to move forward (i.e., USDA licensing requirements or standalone program). The host farmer, Ben Marcus then gave a walking tour of his pick your own (PYO) production area, with conversation ranging from production techniques, fertility, variety selection (and variety trialing), to PYO marketing and the history they've had with it (pros and cons), and some conversation on how he's setting his price.  Multiple farmer-to-farmer connections were made, with discussions ranging from cooperative marketing, and cooperative purchasing of biocontrol insects, etc.

Due to the ongoing pandemic continued education was also offered through virtual events. Webinar topics were chosen based on PDP participant feedback after completing the course. The webinars were also made available to a broader audience.

All PDP participants were provided access to the 2022 Hemp Conference held virtually on March 15, 2022. The Hemp Conference remained virtual due to the ongoing pandemic and the quick downturn in the hemp market. The crash of the CBD market led to a severe reduction in registered growers. Many of the individuals involved in the PDP course had already exited the industry and some asked to be removed from your list. However, there were many PDP participants that agenda conference. Since the conference was virtual, PDP course participants were not able to sit as a group and develop plans collectively. Communication happened regular with participants and requests to keep track/monitor their work and impact with growers. 

The conference agenda can be found: 2022 HempConfAgenda FINAL

As part of attending the PDP online course, all project participants were given access to all course materials through the online course platform. The online course platform provided a means to communicate with other course participants via a listserve and forum feature. Through forum feature, topics were started and others can chime in on the topic. There was an active forum disease control and fertilizer management as examples. The listserve allowed participants to communicate with the larger group on broad topics and also communicate directly with instructors/organizers. The project team used it to distribute surveys, alert participants of news, and post new resources or events.  Reminders were sent to complete surveys to document performance target. 

Project participants were supplied a final survey to record the impact that their work with farmers has had on the farm's hemp operation. The online survey was sent to PDP participants for a final time in December of 2022.  

Dats was summarized from the participants and highlighted the work that they were able to achieve with the farming community.

Post program survey indicated that most participants were working with a minimum of 2 farms and a maximum of 38 farms on industrial hemp production. Total number of farmers that were currently growing hemp and receiving technical support was 117. The majority of these farms were growing for flower production (75%) with remaining growing grain (20%) and fiber (5%). The total number of acres being managed by these farms was reported to be 4,389. Established farms were primarily provided technical service in the area of pest management, variety selection, fertility management, and post harvest handling strategies. Participants also reported that they were working with 463 farmers (representing 9,679 acres)  that were interested in growing hemp. These interactions appeared to require a slightly different set of information with more technical service provided in basic agronomics, variety selection, plant propagation, regulation, compliance testing, processing, and marketing. The ASPs indicated they provided technical advice in the field, through phone calls, and emails.