Progress report for WOR23-001
Project Information
We will provide three years of professional development programming on climate resilient agricultural practices to encourage good stewardship of natural resources, improve the quality of life of farmers, encourage a decrease in the use of toxic materials, and promote enterprise diversification. Professional development in climate change resiliency will be conducted in partnership with the Oregon Climate and Agricultural Network and a planning committee.
- Work with the Advisory Committee to identify statewide priority topic in sustainable agriculture
- Develop a strategy for delivering educational programming to address topic
- Increase knowledge, skills and technical capacity of agricultural professionals on this topic
- Increase knowledge, skills and technical capacity of farmers and/or ranchers on this topic
Growth of the organic food and agriculture industries in Oregon continues to increase every year. Organic food companies report that the limited supply of organic ingredients is restricting their growth and forcing them to purchase organic agricultural products from overseas. Market incentives, farmer values, regulatory pressure and incentive programs continue to enhance conventional and organic farmer’s interest in sustainable agriculture (SA). Leading farmers and other agricultural professionals seek ongoing opportunities to increase their knowledge of SA methods.
Our state stakeholder advisory committee will meet in May and discuss priority SA topics in Oregon. Based on the discussion, we will choose an SA topic to focus on for 2021 that can be applied throughout the state. Because Eastern and Western Oregon have very different climates and Oregon also has highly diverse farms, ranches and cropping systems, we will attempt to decide on a topic that is relevant to farmers and ranchers in all parts of the state.
The Oregon SARE Advisory Committee includes staff from Benton County Soil & Water Conservation District, Oregon Environmental Council, four OSU Extension faculty. Starting in 2015, the Advisory Committee was expanded to include at least one farmer or rancher. Committee members have expertise in conservation, small farms, field crops, livestock, horticulture, organic and other certification standards, marketing and Extension administration. Beginning in 2019, the Advisory Committee selected a priority topic for the year, which may be recurring over the course of two or more years. Once the priority topic has been decided, the AC and state coordinators will work together to come up with a strategy for delivering educational programming on the topic. In 2019, the AC chose the topic of hemp production in Oregon, and as a result, we organized a two-day training for agricultural professionals who will disseminate information to their counties during the spring and summer of 2020.
Timeline:
January-October 2023,’24, ‘25: Workshops, classes, conference, and farm tours in four regions of Oregon.
November-December 2023,’24, ‘25: Evaluate Program
Advisors
- (Educator)
Education
In 2020 we switched from a model of disbursing SARE PDP funds for mini-grants to more in-depth work on one priority topic in sustainable agriculture and delivering education on that topic in different regions of the state. By employing this new model, we hoped to increase our responsiveness to high priority topics that are currently relevant to agricultural professional, farmers and ranchers. Additionally, by deploying education on a certain topic in four different regions of the state, we hoped to encourage collaboration in different regions of the state in an effort to provide the highest-quality programming. In 2020, State PDP funds were used to develop and deliver a two-day state-wide training on hemp production for agricultural professionals at Oregon State University. Ag professionals, especially OSU Extension faculty, were woefully undereducated on the basics of hemp production and processing. Funds were also used to develop teaching materials, with the hope that at least four of the ag professionals will go on to offer programming in their home counties after the training. At the time of writing this grant narrative, the training is two weeks away and has been changed from an on-site event to a virtual event due to concerns about Covid-19.
Funds for 2021 and 2022 were used in a similar vein— the AC chose the topic of climate change to focus on. The Oregon SARE co-coordinators subcontracted the Oregon Climate and Agriculture Network (ORCAN)to form a steering committee and organize a three day conference of climate resilient farming for Ag professionals. The conference will be held in early November. Within four days of announcing registration for the program, 154 ag professionals have registered.
2023-25 funds will be used to hire a coordinator at .05 FTE and contract with ORCAN to develop a similar professional development program on climate resilient farming.
Resources to be contributed: Advisory Committee members will participate in two two-hour meetings to decide on the statewide priority and develop a strategy for offering education programming on the chosen topic. Depending on the topic and strategy decided on, various OSU Extension and other agricultural professionals will provide venues, outreach, and technical assistance for the education workshops/classes/farm tours to be offered.
Education & Outreach Initiatives
Host 2 webinars; promote 43 opportunities, events, and resources; and curate an updated resource webpage with 35 resources.
OrCAN hosted 2 webinars; promoted 43 opportunities, events, and resources; and curated an updated resource webpage with 35 resources. These resources were provided to inform 650 agricultural professionals and producers in OrCAN’s network about funding opportunities, educational events and resources, to increase their capacity to promote soil health on Oregon’s farms and ranches.
Greater understanding of soil health best management practices.