SOK17-001

A.)The impact and outcome from the Oklahoma Native American Agricultural Coalition has the opportunity to be profound in the long term.  This is the first year for the initiative and thus far, the Trainers have been impacted as much as the Participants.  These are small informal events held at the local level.  There have been some unanticipated protocols that must be observed by those in attendance in order to show proper respect for the earth. The purpose of these trainings is to bring traditional food systems back to the lower SES Native American populations  in the state.  Topics covered include heirloom varieties, pest management, fertility management, seed saving, food safety and nutrition.  These topics have major impact on the health and nutrition of the served communities in an effort to combat hunger and diseases such as diabetes.  

B.)The Winter Crop School continues to be a very popular event for the Agriculture Educators and other NRCS personnel.  This event allows for continuing education for the Certified Crop Advisor and Applicator licensing that is required of all of these individuals.  This year there has been an uptick in the requirements for Advisors and Applicators due to the tightening of federal guidelines regarding the use of DiCamba, therefore, these meetings have been quite popular this year with the professionals as well as the Producers.

C.)The 2018 Canola College was once again quite well attended.  The production of Canola in the southern portion of the great plains has proven to be quite challenging.  Reports indicate that approximately 1 in 4 years have proven successful.  One of the important issues that we stress to our Producers to that crop rotations provide such an effective means of weed and insect control, canola can play a significant role in such a rotation.  This enables other commodity crops to potentially be easier to manage and therefore more profitable.  

A.)The topics covered at the 2017 Organic Oklahoma Conference included the organic production of fruits and vegetables for market growers and backyard gardeners.  Special emphasis was given to pest management and variety selection for disease resistance in both the hoop house and open ground production.  One of the most well received presentations involved the introduction of 'Banker Plants' in the hoop house.  These can be used to introduce beneficial insects or to attract harmful pests and allow ease of their removal.  Attendees had the opportunity to hear speakers actively involved in Organic production in Oklahoma as well as from Minor Morgan from North Valley Organics in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  We heard from Mike Appel and Emily Oakley who currently serve on the North American Organic Standards Board and farm in eastern Oklahoma.  

B.)The IPM Training Initiative for Extension Personnel has been developed by the Entomology and Plant Pathology department and partially funded by the OkSARE PDP.  This new program is geared toward enabling the county personnel to be able to go out into the field and directly diagnose potential insect and disease presence without the need for collecting samples and sending them to laboratories for identification.  This process has historically proven time-consuming and requires financial input that many producers are unable or unwilling to  commit.  If the local educator has the skill and the simple tool with which to diagnose the issue, a significant amount of time and money could be saved.

A.)The HIS has consistently provided growers and the public with the latest information on vegetables, fruit, Christmas trees, farmers market crops and public gardening issues. The public and growers from Arkansas, Oklahoma and surrounding states attend.  

A.)The OSU Biological Control Workshop the following covered topics designed to reduce the amount of pesticide and herbicide employed in the production of fruits, vegetables and cut flowers.  This will accomplish several targeted objectives.  It would reduce the need for synthetic chemical amendments;  thereby protecting soil health, water quality and reduce costs for the producer.

B.)The OSU Winter Crop School stresses the need for the efficient use of nitrogen in the production of both cereal grains and vegetables.  The judicious application of nitrogen puts the nutrient exactly where it is needed precisely when it is needed.  This greatly reduces the amount of nitrogen applied and subsequently available as run-off into surface water. 

C.)The first Dicamba Training covered the recent controversial topic of Dicamba application.  Producers have experienced decimating losses due to Dicamba drift in recent years.  The  state and federal government have mandated new protocols for it's use.  In order to be able to purchase and apply it, the applicator must have completed this new training regardless of the status of their current certification.   There were a limited number of trainings scheduled as well as a limited number of seats available at each training. 

D.)The following is the electronic file for the above mentioned publication:   2017-Field-Guide_Small

A.)The Oklahoma Market Gardening School covers topics from business planning through facility construction, best management practices for production, food handling and safety and marketing direct to the consumer through csa's, farmer's markets, farm-to-school and direct to restaurants.  It is an extremely popular program and OkSARE is pleased to be able to sponsor attendance for new educators, provide educational materials for the program as well as sponsor speakers and presenters.

B.)The Native Horticulture Conference focuses on the cultivation of species native to Oklahoma in fruit, vegetable and cereal grain production.  The discussion includes the suitability of these varieties to our local climates and their ability to withstand disease and pest pressure and be drought and weather tolerant.  

C.)The requirements for the Food Safety Modernization Act Trainings have been anticipated for the last few years.  The Oklahoma training team has been partially supported by OkSARE in order to make this program available at our sponsored trainings.  The training is not mandated for many of our small-scale producers, however, the information on the safe handling and storage of fresh fruits and vegetables is always a major topic for inclusion in any of our programming for the grower of fruits and vegetables. 

D.)The Oklahoma Women in Ag and Small Business Conference offers an energizing and dynamic lineup of speakers and presentations for the attendees at this meeting.  This year's event featured Pamela Ronald who is a distinguished professor in the Department of Plant Pathology and the Genome Center at the University of California, Davis. Ronald was part of a team of experts who were instrumental in identifying genes in rice that control the grain’s response to infection and tolerance to stress. The co-author of “Tomorrow’s Table: Organic Farming, Genetics and the Future of Food,” Ronald was named by Grist magazine in 2016 as one of 50 innovators and visionaries who will take the lead in creating a more sustainable future.

“This conference draws women from all backgrounds and we’re always trying to bring in interesting speakers who can emphasize commonalities. We believe Dr. Ronald has that kind of unifying message,” said Sara Siems, Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension assistant specialist and conference coordinator. The conference featured four educational tracks: Agricultural production, alternative enterprises, business and finance and beginning farmer. There were also  exhibits providing helpful resources designed to enhance attendees’ farming or small business efforts as well as a mini mall, where vendors will be selling Made in Oklahoma products. Concurrent post-conference workshops on Quicken record-keeping software and the Beef Quality Assurance Program were offered, as well.

“I consider myself a farmer, not a ‘farm woman,’ so for years I didn’t see the need to attend a conference targeted at women. But, after attending these conferences, I realized there is so much value,” said Karen Eifert-Jones, a farmer near Waukomis, Oklahoma, who also is a member of the conference’s organizing committee. “What is unique about the Women in Ag and Small Business Conference is the camaraderie; the drive to build one another up and the excitement that comes from seeing other women succeeding at their business.”

A.)The Extension Demonstration Training was developed through a cooperative effort of OkSARE and the Dean of Agriculture and Extension's office.  A curriculum has been put together to equip the county educator in how to encourage, recruit and work with their local clientele to conduct on-farm research work and to establish demonstration plots both at the county office facility and on producer farms.  There was one successful SARE grant that has been a result of this effort.

B.)The Southern SARE Administrative Team met with the Administration and staff of Extension at both OSU and LU.  In total, 120 people were presented with the information on the various grant opportunities available through SARE as well as brainstorming on suggestions for keeping sustainable agriculture moving forward across Oklahoma.  

A.)The 2019 Oklahoma Commodity Conference is a joint effort between OkSARE, the NRCS, the Oklahoma Wheat Commission, the Oklahoma Soy Bean Commission, the Oil Seed Commission, the Oklahoma Wheat Growers, Oklahoma State University Extension and the Great Plains Canola Association.  These organizations have come together in an effort to streamline the programming for Educators and Producers.  Historically, each group has held separate conferences to present their programming and yearly trainings.  This is always an expensive endeavor and extremely difficult to schedule for each group.  Additionally, for the producer this presents a problem as it means they will be away from the farm several different times and can become very expensive for them.  Most have reported that they usually pick and choose just one or two meetings to attend for efficiency.  With this new collaborative effort, there will be one larger meeting held.  This will reduce the costs for each organization and producer as well.  One single conference eliminates the need for picking and choosing which event to attend.  They will all be held in one location over a two day period.  As the different commodity groups will be sharing the expenses, they are able to conserve funds while still accomplishing their desired training efforts.  This will keep costs down for the producers and educators.  OkSARE is providing the administrative function for this conference and will be facilitating the attendance for Educators, NRCS and cooperating producers.  

A.)The Market Gardening School covered the topic of composting for vegetable and fruit production.  It covered the proper procedure for ensuring safe clean composted materials prior to application for food production.  This program was discussed previously under Objective #5

B.)The Extension Demonstration Training included information on the establishment of compost piles for demonstration purposes particularly at the county offices.  It should be mentioned that this is a topic of considerable interest both to the organic fruit and vegetable producer and the master gardener participants.

A.)The LU AI Workshops have become very popular through the years as it makes it possible for the small-scale producer to improve the quality of their meat goat or dairy goat herd through artificial insemination.  The agenda and registration information can be found at:

http://www.luresext.edu/sites/default/files/Artificial_insemination_registration_Langston_Oct_6_2018_0.pdf

Participants learned how to synchronize and detect estrus and how to artificially inseminate does. 

B.)The Langston University Goat and Hair Sheep Field Day this year was focusing on "Preventing Loss".  The conference agenda is attached.

Langston-University-Goat-and-Hair-Sheep-Field-Day-Program

C.)The Meat Goat and Dairy Goat Production Handbooks have been extremely well received by the county educators.  We received favorable feedback on the quality of the information contained within the book as well as the quality of the book itself.  

The following is the ordering information and table of contents for the Meat Goat Production Handbook: http://www.luresext.edu/sites/default/files/handbookorderform-1.pdf

The following is the ordering information and table of contents for the Dairy Goat Production Handbook:http://www.luresext.edu/sites/default/files/DGPHorderform_1stEdition_case_spiral.pdf