Progress report for SNE24-007-ME
Project Information
Nine Maine agricultural service providers will use improved foundational skills to conduct needs assessments, develop engaging, effective, and goal-oriented programming, and improve sustainability of farms via whole farm analysis, ultimately benefitting 78 producers.
Community Engagement
Opportunity
As of the 2022 Census of Agriculture, there were more than 7,000 farms in the state of Maine with an estimated 13,416 producer-operators. Approximately 40% of these farmers are considered beginning producers using the USDA definition of less than ten years’ experience. Women and veterans make up 42% and 9% of producers, respectively, and about 5% of Maine farmers identify as BIPOC.
Reflecting the farming community, many of Maine’s ASPs are also new to their roles. In a 2024 survey of ASPs (49 respondents total), 67% of respondents could be considered new to their roles when using the same USDA definition (less than ten years). Nearly half (44%) had been in their roles for less than three years. Many of these ASPs have arrived at their roles from academic backgrounds and lack prior formal outreach or program development experience, limiting their ability to help farmers ensure the sustainability of their operations. This professional development plan proposes to address this gap by providing ASPs with training in the fundamental components of program development.
Community Support
Maine’s agricultural service providers span many organizations:
- University of Maine Cooperative Extension and several University of Maine academic departments
- Federal agencies, including USDA’s NRCS, Farm Service Agency, and Risk Management Agency
- State agencies, including the Department of Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry as well as the Soil & Water Conservation Districts
- MOFGA
- Many other non-profit organizations, including Cultivating Community, Land for Good, Coastal Enterprises, Inc., Maine Farm Bureau, Maine Farmland Trust
- Industry groups
- Crop advisers
The Project Team (PT) represents and connects many of these organizations, and three PT members are program leaders within their respective organizations who supervise service providers and who are familiar with the skills that best empower ASPs to effectively serve farmers. Altogether, the PT directly represents providers who work with a diverse array of farming communities, including new and beginning (eg, Maine New Farmers Project), BIPOC, New American (eg, Cultivating Community’s New American Sustainable Agriculture Project), women, and veteran farmers. They also serve producers who operate in urban settings, on traditional land-based farms, and in Maine’s aquaculture industry. Engaging these ASPs will improve underserved farmer groups’ access to equitable needs assessments, culturally appropriate programs, and holistic sustainability planning.
The proposed programming will be available and advertised to all ASPs listed above; currently, more than 200 individuals are signed up to receive SARE emails regarding professional development and grant opportunities, and many more are further reached through listservs. Fifty-six ASPs participated in the previous state professional development plan as a result of engagement through these channels. Additionally, the PT will directly encourage ASPs in counties with the greatest number of new farmers (Aroostook, Cumberland, and York) to participate, especially those who are new service providers. Professional development for this group has the potential to impact 1,481 new producers in these three counties alone, or approximately 32% of the state’s farmers with less than ten years of experience. Similarly, additional direct recruitment efforts will be made to engage ASPs who serve Penobscot and Androscoggin counties, home to the greatest number of Native American (18) and Black/African American (90) producers in the state.
Better Serving Farmers
Effective programming involves a three-part cycle of assessing needs, developing targeted programs to meet apparent needs, and evaluating programs (Seevers et al., 1997). In the same survey referenced in the Opportunity section above, respondents were asked to rank how valuable ten possible training topics would be for them in their role as service providers. Topics were chosen from brainstorming sessions and one-on-one conversations with both established and new ASPs. Most of the topic options were based broadly on foundational ASP skillsets related to the core steps of program development, or were direct subtopics of these steps. In this plan, we propose integrating these core components with topics that were ranked as valuable in the survey. All training topics that were chosen, described in the Education Plan, were ranked as being somewhat or very valuable by at least 95% (46 of 49 respondents) of all survey respondents, as well as the subset of respondents who were new to their role. This professional development program will bolster the ability of ASPs of all experience levels, and especially new ASPs, to develop programs that meaningfully engage with and assist farmers.
Seevers, B, D Graham, J Gamon, and N Conklin. 1997. Education through Cooperative Extension. Albany, New York: Delmar Publishers.
Advisors/Cooperators
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- (Educator)
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- (Educator)
Educational Approach
Engagement
In the fall of each training year, an annual cohort target of 15 ASPs will be assembled. Thirty-five individual ASPs are expected to participate in these programs in total. Trainings will be open and advertised to all ASPs through recruitment emails to groups listed above and announcements during events. In the PT meeting prior to each recruitment session, the team will review the outreach list to ensure all relevant ASPs are listed, especially those who are new to their roles and/or who work with historically underserved farmers, and update it as needed. Direct invitations may be sent in some cases, to ensure that service providers who work with underserved farmers are supported. Program advertisements will provide specific training details and outline expectations and incentives for full participation. A new cohort will be formed each year, although some ASPs may participate in more than one year of the program.
Relevant fact sheets and publications (SARE and otherwise) will be provided to participating ASPs to support their learning, and working groups will be formed at the start of each year’s training. Groups will be organized to reflect a diversity of area expertise and experience. This team approach will be leveraged to encourage participants to support one another through trainings, and to provide feedback as they implement new skillsets after completion of annual training programs.
Learning
Three annual professional development programs will be delivered, each with a distinct training topic. As described in Community Engagement, topics were selected based on relation to foundational program development steps and survey respondent interest, and are set as follows: Year 1: conducting needs assessments; Year 2: designing engaging, effective, and goal-oriented programming; Year 3: whole farm analysis. Approaches will vary slightly by year and corresponding training topic, but commonalities are described below:
- Fall Meetings. Each fall (Oct-Nov), a 2-4h in-person meeting will be held at a farm to introduce participants to one another and the program. This will include an overview of the program trainings, expectations, and overall goals, and working groups will be formed.
- Winter Trainings. The bulk of educational activities will be delivered in winter trainings (Jan-Feb, two in Y2 and Y3, one in Y3). Trainings will be a mix of virtual and in-person to suit participants and trainers’ capacity, and run 1-2h in length. These will provide participants with context and knowledge to develop skillsets specific to each year.
- Spring Workshops. In Mar of Y1 and Y2, and Jun/Jul of Y3, a full-day, in-person workshop will be held for groups to develop their projects. Trainers will be present to assist trainees. Participants will generally be encouraged to develop outputs for use in their own programs in Y1 and Y2, although this may not be suitable or timely for all. Participants who do not seek to develop their own outputs can help working group teammates develop theirs, while groups with all members working on individual projects can provide feedback for one another. In Y3, this will take place as a full-day “Reading the Farm” exercise in which participants are guided through the program to holistically analyze farms.
- Summer Check-Ins. A virtual check-in will be scheduled for Jul/Aug of each year to wrap up the annual program. Participants will be able to provide feedback, optionally share information about their projects, and formally evaluate the program. Groups will also be encouraged to develop lasting lines of communication that extend beyond the annual training year, to continue working toward farmer engagement via implementation of new skillsets.
- Integrating DEIJ Trainings. A DEIJ consideration will be incorporated as a subtopic into each annual program. Several PT members have demonstrated experience in leading DEIJ-conscious trainings (Dennett, ENE21-167; Ginakes, ENC15-145). An example of a subtopic might be integrating leased land considerations into the whole farm analysis training to ensure that ASPs are familiar with unique challenges faced by farmers who do not own their land.
Evaluation
Learning plans are flexible and will be adapted as needed to address the entry skills and goals of the cohort. In summer check-ins at the end of programs, participants will be surveyed to quantify changes in their knowledge and confidence in using skills specific to each training year. They will also be asked for open-ended feedback on the program to optimize subsequent years’ trainings. Cohorts will additionally be surveyed annually for two years after the completion of their trainings to identify longer-term impacts of the program on their professional development and farmer engagement.
Milestones
- Engagement (October 1, annually): Project Team will review engagement strategies and discuss opportunities for recruiting underserved producer and ASP communities for upcoming professional development programs.
- Engagement (October 15, annually): 75 service providers will learn about upcoming ASP skill-building trainings via email, newsletters, listservs, and direct invitations. Webpage visits to the information page linked in newsletters and direct inquiries will be used to validate awareness goals.
- Engagement (November 1, annually): 15 ASPs sign up to participate in each year’s training cohort (35 ASPs total).
- Learning (August 1, 2025): Of the 15 ASPs who enroll in the needs assessment training program, 12 will participate in at least 75% of needs assessments meetings and trainings. The Project Coordinator will keep track of participant involvement.
- Evaluation (September 1, 2025): Of the 12 ASPs who participate in 75% or more of the needs assessment training program, 10 will complete program evaluation surveys to indicate increased knowledge of, and confidence in ability to create and administer, needs assessments.
- Learning (August 1, 2026): Of the 15 ASPs who enroll in the program design training, 12 will participate in at least 75% of program design meetings and trainings. The Project Coordinator will keep track of participant involvement.
- Evaluation (September 1, 2026): Of the 12 ASPs who participate in 75% or more of the program design training, 10 will complete program evaluation surveys to indicate increased knowledge of, and confidence in ability to create and administer, effective, engaging, and goal-oriented programs.
- Learning (August 1, 2027): Of the 15 ASPs who enroll in the whole farm analysis program, 12 will participate in at least 75% of whole farm analysis meetings and trainings. The Project Coordinator will keep track of participant involvement.
- Evaluation (September 1, 2027): Of the 12 ASPs who participate in 75% or more of the whole farm analysis training program, 10 will complete program evaluation surveys to indicate increased knowledge of, and confidence in ability to, holistically analyze farms.
- Evaluation (September 15, 2027): 3 ASPs will conduct needs assessments to engage 15 farmers each (45 farmers total).
- Evaluation (September 15, 2027): 3 ASPs will engage 10 farmers each with newly designed or improved goal-oriented programs (30 farmers total).
- Evaluation (September 15, 2027): 3 ASPs will holistically analyze a commercial farm and provide sustainability recommendations to each (3 farmers total).
Performance Target Outcomes
SARE Outreach
The Maine SARE State and Outreach Coordinator will:
- Provide SARE educational materials and grant information to ASPs and producers at up to five farmer meetings, field days, and twilight meetings per year. Annual opportunities for these displays include the Maine Agricultural Trades Show (January – Augusta, ME), the Maine Vegetable and Fruit School (March – Augusta, ME), Highmoor Farm Field Days and/or Twilight Meetings (July and September – Monmouth, ME), and others. Each display will result in at least ten contacts with increased knowledge of SARE resources. This will include specific efforts to reach historically excluded communities, such as tribal ASPs and community members.
- Maintain a Maine SARE Outreach list of ASPs and producers, and update as needed with new contacts from outreach event sign-up sheets.
- Use outreach list to remind agricultural community of upcoming SARE-sponsored events and grant opportunities.
- Highlight relevant resources and upcoming grant opportunities for ASPs and producers at professional meetings, field days, farm tours, and presentations.
- Provide guidance for people interested in applying for SARE grants by responding to inquiries about choosing grant programs, meeting criteria, what expenses are allowable, and proposing suitable ideas. Ten in-depth discussions regarding grants expected per year with ASPs, students, and producers.