The Northeast Climate Adaptation Fellowship to Support Vegetable and Fruit Farmers

Solicitation for applications was sent out through the USDA Northeast Climate Hub listserv and Newsletter (3x), through the Northeast Extension Directors association (NEED), the Northeast Research Station Association (NERA), the national NRCS Climate Adaptation in the News listserv, NOFA-CT and NOFA-NJ listservs, the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board client list, to all NRCS State Conservationists in the Northeast, to all leads of Soil and Water Conservation Districts in the Northeast, to the New Jersey Natural and Working Lands Group, to the Maine Organic Farming and Gardening Association list (3x), New Jersey 4-H educator lists, the Maine Vegetable and Berry Growers listserv, the Vermont Vegetable and Berry Growers Association listserv, through multiple Extension networks, through the Northeast Farmers of Color listserv, through the EMASSCRAFT listserv, and through Northeast Certified Crop Consultants lists.  

23 vegetable and/or small fruit farmers and 31 agriculture advisors from 9 northeast states applied to the Climate Adaptation Fellowship program. 17 farmers, 15 agricultural advisors, and 8 individuals who consider themselves to be both farmers and agricultural advisors from 9 northeast states were accepted as Fellows. Participants who are agricultural advisors are currently employed in university-based Extension programs, private consultancies, non-profit organizations, and/or NRCS. Information collected through the applications allows the project team to assess baseline participant information: knowledge about climate change and its effects on northeast agriculture, management and outreach skills, and goals related to adaptation management and outreach. 

The workshop was held virtually due to COVID-19. Dates for the workshop were January 11-15th, 2021. The workshop included 40 participants, 9 members of the CAF education team, and 4 outside guest presenters. Presentations and interactive sessions were organized around five themes: (1) climate change science, (2) observations and localized impacts, (3) trends and tools, (4) mitigation, and (5) communication and integration. Each pair or team of fellows was paired with a member of the education team, who helped them to develop a farm-risk assessment and adaptation/outreach work plan. Focal topics of these work plans included erosion control, heat management, mitigation, soil health and management, tillage reduction, cover cropping, and water management. Fellows learned from each other both during the workshop, and throughout the year through engaging in a supplementary workshop on soil moisture monitoring, several virtual networking sessions, and an active listserv. The original curriculum from which we developed this program is available on the Climate Adaptation Fellowship website: https://www.adaptationfellows.net/vegetable-small-fruit

At the end of the program, 26 fellows submitted 13 final reports. This represents the work of 12 farmers-advisor pairs, and one report submitted by a single agricultural advisor. In these reports, Fellows demonstrated their knowledge about climate change and adaptation. They did this through describing the specific climate risks faced by the farmer, identifying adaptation practices that would address these risks while also helping the farmer meet their management goals, and prioritizing specific practices.

Most reports included a financial analysis, and all included a farm-specific climate adaptation plan. Though we anticipated that each pair of fellows would complete two financial analyses, in practice most pairs produced only one. While this was fewer financial analysis than we originally anticipated, but the exercise still accomplished its intended goal. Additionally, seven pairs of fellows conducted on-farm trials or demonstrations, on topics including: (a) spraying kaolin clay to reduce temperature during pollination periods in cucurbits; (b) exploring the effects of mulching to conserve soil moisture; (c) using soil moisture sensors to time irrigation; (d) tracking nitrate release rates in cover cropped no-till vegetable production systems; (e) comparing no-till and conventional strawberry yields. It should be noted that on-farm trials and demonstrations were not required; those who completed them went above and beyond CAF program requirements at their own expense.

The following is an example of how a risk assessment, adaptation plan, and economic analysis tied together for one pair of Fellows. This pair identified erosion and soil lost from increasingly heavy seasonal rain events as a major risk. They sought to refine the farms cover crop no-till system to reduce erosion, as well as drought concerns. Additional benefits of the effort would include increasing insect habitat and improving soil health. They prioritized a project to monitor and evaluate their current system (with tweaks), including tracking soil nitrate after cover crop termination, and tracking the costs of equipment fabrication and labor associated with cover crops. They conducted a cost benefit analysis that showed an increase in net income of $530 with the new system, as well as social and ecological benefits.

A summary of CAF Fellows and their projects can be viewed here.

NOTE: 7 of the individuals counted as agricultural advisors in the above tally reported that they also were commercial farmers.

Fellows completed climate-focused outreach at a much higher rate than we anticipated. We used a standardized form to ask Fellows to report on the type of outreach activity they completed, and how many non-Fellow farmers and agricultural advisors their efforts reached. Based on these reports (which we know are incomplete and do not capture the ongoing efforts the Fellows are engaged in related to climate outreach), we have documented 82 separate outreach activities including 2 one-on-one consultations; 4 curricula, fact sheets or other educational tools; 7 on-farm demonstrations; 1 online training; 22 published press articles or newsletters; 1 tour; 34 webinars, talks, or presentations, 6 workshops or field days, and 5 "other'' outreach activities. Fellows estimated that these efforts reached a total of 2,800 farmers and 200 agricultural advisors. It should be noted that these large numbers were skewed by a few outreach efforts that reached large mailing lists. The mean number of farmers reached for each outreach activity was 94; the mean number of agricultural advisors reached was 12. Outreach activities were targeted towards both audiences equally: 39 outreach activities reached farmers, while 40 reached agricultural advisors.

Examples of the topics addressed through Fellows's outreach included:

• Testimony to ME state legislature in support of LD 437 "An Act to Establish Maine Healthy Soils Program"
• Presentation about their adaptation project as part of a panel at the New England Vegetable & Fruit Conference 2021
• A presentation at NOFA's farm beginning program on whole farm planning, including planning for climate-based threats.
• Presentation at MOFGA's Farmer to Farmer Conference: Presented on transferred mulch system and our assessment process.

We also asked Fellows to categorize their outreach activities using predetermined categories. Together, the Fellows reported 53 outreach activities that focused on "climate change adaptation", 22 focused on "climate change mitigation", 25 focused on "climate change communication", 9 focused on "climate science", and 14 that focused on "planning tools and resources". Note that outreach efforts could be classified using 1 or 2 of the categories listed above.

Lastly, the Fellows consulted with members of the CAF "education team" several times over the course of the program. All Fellows had at least one virtual or in-person consultation with their education team point-of-contact, and many had more frequent meetings as they developed their adaptation plans and conducted their outreach activities. In some cases, the education team member assigned to a pair of Fellows was able to do a site visit - though this was rare due to COVID-19 concerns. In addition, the program coordinator (PI-Schattman) held 3-virtual networking sessions where Fellows connected informally with members of the leadership and education teams, as well as with one another.

The workshop was held virtually due to COVID-19. Dates for the workshop were January 5-7th, 2022. The workshop included 37 participants (Fellows), 8 members of the CAF education team, and 3 outside guest presenters, and 1 member of the advisory committee. 

The 3-day virtual workshop was organized to maximize the amount of time Fellows could learn from one another, supplemented with talks by outside guests. Each pair of Fellows gave a lighting talk to share their risk assessment, adaptation plan, and any additional CAF-related activities from the past year. We also facilitated interactive sessions, including:

• An activity where Fellows wrote "future headlines about agriculture in the Northeast 50-years from now", to initiate discussion about what type of food system the group would like to see.
• A "digital fieldtrip" where Fellows submitted photos that show a farm-related climate risk, adaptation, or communication approach that they find compelling.
• A "message box" activity to hone Fellows' climate communication skills.

Guest speakers included: Sara Bay Nawa ("Soil health benchmarking: What is it, and how can we use it to be more climate adaptive?"), Andrew Carpenter ("Agriculture and the global carbon cycle"), and Sandra Guzman ("Making sense of soil moisture data and practical implementation of sensors in the field").

The initial Fellows application to the CAF program (which Fellows filled out in fall 2020) included questions about applicants' knowledge about climate change and its effects. Specifically, we asked Fellows to rate their own level of knowledge about climate science, climate impacts on agriculture, climate-related decision support tools, climate mitigation, and climate communication. Fellows were asked to rate their level of knowledge on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being unknowledgeable and 5 being very knowledgeable. These questions were repeated on pre- and post-workshop evaluations completed by Fellows in Jan 2022 and Jan 2023, meaning we asked them to conduct this self-assessment at four points-in-time throughout the program. In addition, we asked Fellows to rate their level of knowledge about climate science on their application to the program, giving us five points in time to observe changes in this domain.

The results of these self-assessments show that Fellows believed themselves to be highly knowledgeable at the beginning of the first workshop (across all five knowledge domains), but that by the end of the first workshop Fellows reported lower levels of knowledge on average. This depressed level of self-reported knowledge was consistent through the beginning of the second workshop (in January 2022) but reported level of knowledge rebounded to by the end of this second workshop. Detailed average ratings are reported below:

1. Knowledge about climate change science: Fellows came into the CAF program with the perception that they were highly knowledgeable about climate change science, rating their level of knowledge at 4 (average) out of 5 at the point they applied to the program, and in the pre-workshop knowledge assessment in 2021. The mean knowledge rating dipped by the end of the first workshop, and stayed below 4 until after the second workshop, when the mean knowledge score rose to 4.32.
2. Knowledge about climate impacts in agriculture: Fellows assessed their knowledge of climate impacts on agriculture highly (mean score of 4.5) on the pre-workshop questionnaire in January 2021. By the end that workshop, the average self-reported level of knowledge in this area had dropped to 3.8. It was lower still at the beginning of the 2022 workshop but rebounded to an average of 4.7 by the end of the 2022 workshop.
3. Knowledge about decision support tools:  Examples of decision support tools include the NEWA network, or the Cornell Climate Smart Farming tools. Fellows reported a high mean level of knowledge about these tools (4 out of 5) in the 2021 pre-workshop questionnaire, dropping to a mean of 3.3 at the end of this workshop and at the beginning of the 2022 workshop. This self-assessment improved by the end of the 2022 workshop, as Fellows reported an average level of knowledge of 4.4.
4.  Knowledge about on-farm climate change mitigation options: On average, Fellows ranked their knowledge of climate change mitigation highly at the beginning of the 2021 workshop (mean = 4.3), but this self-assessment dropped to 3.7 by the end of the 2021 workshop and to 3.5 by the beginning of the 2022 workshop. By the end of the 2023 workshop, Fellows again reported a high degree of knowledge about climate change mitigation; the mean self-assessment score in this knowledge area was 4.5.
5. Knowledge about climate change communication: Finally, Fellows ranked themselves highly knowledgeable about climate change communication at the beginning of the 2021 workshop (mean = 4.2), but this self-assessment dropped to 3.2 by the end of the 2021 workshop and to 3.1 by the beginning of the 2022 workshop. By the end of the 2023 workshop, the mean rating in this knowledge area was 4.3.

Fourteen Farmer Fellows reported that, based on their participation in CAF, they did something different on their farm in 2022. An abbreviated list of the reported activities included:

• "(I) Changed irrigation practices, reduced and better-timed watering events."
•  "(I) Developed a new cropping system to reduce tillage and grow with high residue."
• "I've never done a trial before, and I trialed three different mulching techniques with soil moisture sensors. I was also motivating to change the timing of my cover cropping to increase the amount of cover crop that I went into the winter with."
• "So many things! Left fields out of production to prevent erosion, cover cropped more, pursued no-till and interseeding trials, and installed solar panels on our farm, and applied for CSP funds for hedgerow and pollinator meadows."
• "We piloted biochar and soil moisture monitoring in collaboration with UNH Extension and NRCS."

Meanwhile, fifteen Farmer Fellows reported that they had plans to change something on their farm in the coming year (2023), because of their participation in CAF. Many Fellows listed more than one thing that they planned to change. For example:

• "Continuing all of the above and pursuing agroforestry and integrating more perennials into our annual systems."
• "Developing a new well, adding some kind of zone tillage/broad forking/dibbling to make no-till strawberry planting for efficient/easier"
• "First we will write a Climate Emergency Response plan. We will continue with our soil moisture monitoring practices. We will implement our pollinator habitat plan."
• "More thoughtful selection of cover crops and continual focus on minimizing tillage."

Twelve AA Fellows reported that CAF caused them to alter their outreach programming in 2022. Specifically, they reported:

• "(I) spoke to different audiences about research results related to climate change adaptation strategies."
• "I did more outreach than I would have otherwise and spent more time with my farmer partner, which improved the quality of outreach that was organized."
• "We published two articles in my program's newsletter. Searching the newsletter archives, I realized we had only put out one article previously that was specifically focused on climate change. The topic was just on my mind a lot and I did a lot of reading, both of the resources provided through the fellowship and other papers and presentations. Because I was thinking and talking about it, my colleagues and I all tended to have more of a lens of climate change on all of the outreach we did this year."

Fourteen AA Fellows reported that, because of their participation in CAF, they planned to alter their outreach programming in 2023. For example, they said:

• "(I plan to add) climate-related risks to business planning workshops, more information on on-farm practices, and providing further resources to farmers that were identified and shared throughout the fellowship."
• "Awareness of climate change will likely impact everything we're working on, including variety trials and pest management recommendations. We're also looking at new projects, specifically related to water availability and soil moisture. I think we'll be using soil moisture sensors more routinely in our work with growers."
• "All of my work around soil health will include more communication about climate risk and adaptation. Also, I now feel confident in working with farmers to assess their climate risk and start developing a concrete adaptation plan."

Outreach conducted by Fellows is captured in the milestone above.

Fellows were offered funds to offset travel costs for farm visits, or for other educational opportunities. Participants engaged in learning opportunities like attending the Rodale Institutes Organic Field Day and completing online courses in ecological restoration. One farmer reported learning about how coulters can be used to effectively manage cover-crop mulch, which he plans to use to improve soil health and manage both excessive and deficient precipitation. He indicated that "We are continuing to investigate other coulters that might help with planting into cover-crop mulch. We will definitely use coulters when planting into leaf mulch." Another farmer indicated that lessons learned through site visits would "allow me to efficiently apply fertilizer" in new, no-till zones of his farm. One AA Fellow reported that knowledge gained through these opportunities "allowed me to expand my knowledge of ecological restoration, site engineering and native plants in the Northeast."