Final report for ONC23-134
Project Information
Building on our previous SARE grant (ONC21-097) Farm Education for core curriculum, we request funding to conduct an online, 21 video, conference for farmers and teachers interested in partnering to build school farm programs as a tool for growing a resilient and sustainable local food system and environment in the NCR. This conference will market heavily to small farmers, both urban and rural in the NCR, and provide curriculum and training to encourage whole systems approaches to education using the farm lifecycle as the foundational tool. By doing so, we can address a number of looming insecurities experienced by small farmers in our region including land access, ready markets, quality of life issues, and we can promote farming careers while helping future generations understand the relationship between agriculture and environmental health.
During the conference, local farmers, agriculture professionals, and teachers will participate as expert instructors. Each participant will receive all handouts via a link to drop box online for each presentation. All conference activities will aim to inform and inspire the development of unique farm programs across the region.
- To include young adult interns in pre and post-conference development and data collection as an educational experience
- Plan and execute a recorded 3-day professional conference for training and consulting to advance farmer/teacher partnerships in farm educational programming. This conference will be /marketed and available on the gsms.org website and SARE Data base for a $10. fee and agreement by purchaser to complete 1 pre and 2 post surveys.
- Provide each conference attendee an excerpt from the manuscript Food, Farming and Sustainability: A Curriculum Guide for Home, Schools, and Farms for participating conference attendees(product of SARE grant, ONC21-097). This handout will accompany the keynote video presented by Theri Niemier titled, Lessons of 25 Years of Farm and School Experience
- Collect and evaluate surveys: pre and post-conference (6-month and 18-month) to measure conference and curriculum success regarding attitudinal and conceptual changes of participants and development of new farm-to-school programming.
- Prepare SARE reports
Cooperators
- (Educator and Researcher)
- (Educator and Researcher)
- (Educator)
- (Educator)
- (Educator)
- (Educator)
- (Educator)
- (Educator)
- (Researcher)
- (Educator)
- (Educator)
- (Educator)
- - Technical Advisor (Educator)
- - Technical Advisor
Research
Educational & Outreach Activities
Participation Summary:
We had 20 in person participants during filming of the online conference and 49 people register for the online conference.
The numbers above reflect the finished online video conference that is available on you tube with a link access.
This is the link to subscribe to the conference https://www.gsms.org/food-farming-and-sustainability/.
Learning Outcomes
School teaching practices
On farm teaching practices
Methodology for sustainability education
Project Outcomes
We had 49 people sign up for the online conference and complete the pre-surveys.
We were pleased that our attendees represented different components of farm and school programs. Our attendees came from mixed vocations, with 42 percent being teachers/ educators, 32 percent farmers (mix of urban and rural), and the remaining 26 percent made up of school administrators, coordinators, and extension agents. There was an even mix of urban and rural dwellers (47 percent each), and .05 percent suburban.
Most attendees (63 %) selected three or more reasons for wanting to access the online conference. There was a range of reasons selected, and percentages for each are listed below:
- 63 % were looking 'to learn more about starting a farm and school program at a school'
- 53 % were looking for 'landscape ideas for farming and teaching'
- 47 % were 'looking for written resources such as lesson plans'
- 47 % wanted 'to learn more about starting an educational component on a small farm'.
- 42 % wanted 'to learn practical skills related to farming'
- 42 % wanted 'to network with other interested farmers and teachers'
- 21 % were 'looking to expand an existing program on a farm or at a school'
After ~13 months, we sent follow-up surveys to participants. Our response rate was 49%. Respondents said that 'school teaching practices' and 'on farm teaching practices' were the areas of the conference they found most helpful, with 96% saying the latter and 79% the former.
Ranking their overall learning experience, the average score was 4.1 out of 5. The overall quality of the conference was 3.9 out of 5. In regards to the question of if the respondent has or will implement changes in their farming/gardening education programming as a result of the conference, 71% indicated they would or already have.
We are pleased with the overall interest and responses, although we intended to reach more participants. At the end of this grant we will post the online conference series publicly on our YouTube channel, with the goal of continueing the mission of supporting those who seek to learn more about what a successful farm & school program can look like and the impacts it can make.
I will share a general consensus: Mentioned by many participants, from all backgrounds, is the value of seeing what others are doing that works. This was a common comment mentioned during farm tours especially.
Because this is a niche market, I could have used more help with marketing venues.