Final report for SNC24-001
Project Information
NC SARE promotes sustainable agriculture through North Carolina State University by supporting sustainable agriculture professionals with the ability to participate in opportunities for sustainable agriculture trainings. These travel scholarships are made available to North Carolina Extension Agents, mentor farmers, NGO's and other professionals supporting the agriculture community. Ag professionals may apply for scholarships to trainings that best suit their service regions, county needs and resources, as well as their own level of expertise. Applications for educational trainings/workshops /conferences in any area that impacts or advances the knowledge and skills to better service the sustainable agriculture community may be submitted. NC SARE will consider all requests for both in state and out of state training opportunities. Possible training opportunities might be, but not limited to, the annual Carolina Farm Stewardship Conference (CFSA), NC Choices' Carolina Meat Conference, the Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS) workshops, the Organic Livestock and Commodities workshop, NC Aquaculture Development Conference, NC State Beekeepers Association workshop, NC Agrotourism Conference, SE Sustainable Ag Conference, etc. Guided by the Advisory Committee, NC SARE provides for a variety of training areas and topics and helps promote these training opportunities available to North Carolina's sustainable agriculture professionals. NC State University and NC A&T University work closely together to promote and make available as many appropriate opportunities as possible to the North Carolina professionals supporting NC sustainable agriculture.
We provide travel funding so that extension agents and other sustainable agriculture professionals have the ability to attend trainings relevant to their subject area in order to better serve their communities. We also support programming so that it can be enhanced to help be more robust in presentation for the educator in attendance. This year our board discussed new area's of training and conferences and training programs available to broaden out reach and support of sustainable ag communities. Possible new trainings to include the multifaceted avenue to support sustainable agriculture in the state, include but not limited to: Aquaculture Conference, Bee Conference, Agrotourism Conference and Tour, SE Sustainable Ag Conference.
Advisors
Education
With this program we directly supported 37 professionals with funds to attend a conference or workshop.
With the funds that supported presenters, speakers, farm tours - the benefit is to hundreds of attendees.
73% of respondents plan to use information in their media outlets.
94% of respondents will use knowledge gained to address client/producer questions
86% of respondents plan to develop new programming based on knowledge gained. Of these 44% will be field days, 19% will be on-site training programs, 19% consultations with growers, 13% other programming, and 5% for factsheets, curricula or educational tools.
94% plan to incorporate new ideas and information into their regular programming and events.
Education & Outreach Initiatives
We support agriculture professionals in North Carolina by providing funding so that they may have the opportunity to attend and benefit from conferences and workshops.
NC SARE is first focused on travel scholarship for extension agents and ag professionals by covering registrations, lodging, relevant travel costs. Additionally, we support their continued learning by funding expert speakers and community presenters, for specialty sessions, hands-on workshops, and farm or facility tours at appropriate learning events.
The outcomes extend across North Carolina, as the knowledge gained at these conferences and workshops is shared and applied throughout the farming and agricultural communities of NC.
Educational & Outreach Activities
Participation summary:
Learning Outcomes
Project Outcomes
We were able to support multiple programs.
Due to the abundance of support from Georgia, we only supported 2 North Carolina folks to attend the SOWTH conference. Overall feedback is that the conference was "outstanding". It was relevant and provided great information to enhance future programming.
A new program for us to support was the Ag Tourism Conference. We supported attendance of 2 extension agents and 4 mentor farmer/industry professionals. 100% of the respondents felt it was appropriate training and 100% of respondents will use information gained to assist others in their respective communities.
We supported the Southern Cover Crops Conference this year by providing presenter/speaker for the conference. The benefit for all who attended. Having an engaging presenter will not only support our agriculture professionals but also inspire them to share that knowledge and have a greater impact with the communities they serve.
For the Carolina Farm Stewardship Conference this year we supported a total of 29 attendees. Of these 14 were community/mentor farmers and producers, 6 were associated with community organizations/non-profits supporting food security in their communities plus 9 extension agents. Additionally, we provided funding to support presenters/farmers to provide hand-on training and other enhanced educational programming.
Face of SARE
Our programming is to provide travel awards for agriculture professionals and extension agents to attend conferences/workshops and other appropriate learning opportunities that will give them the ability to continually provide a high level of support to their agriculture communities. Additionally, we provide funds to provide presenters or support for hands-on learning opportunities or farm tours in conjunction with larger well attended conferences. These engaging sessions not only support our agriculture professionals, but also inspire them to extend that knowledge and positively impact the communities they serve.