Progress report for WPDP22-015
Project Information
American Farmland Trust (AFT) will train a minimum of 40 agricultural professionals in the use of the San Joaquin Valley (SJV) Project Prioritization Tool (PPT) (https://sjvp.databasin.org/maps/c97f8b5597e24755b38716ebc207eeb9/active/) to target and prioritize conservation practices, easements and fee acquisitions, and strategic land retirement projects; implement Buy-Protect-Sell (BPS) and Option to Purchase at Agricultural Value (OPAV) projects to create affordable access to agricultural land for new and beginning farmers and ranchers; and to implement strategic land retirement and varying land management options for land retired from agriculture. Each project element will be taught to trainees within the context of water resource sustainability and climate change mitigation needs in California, focused in the geographic areas of the SJV and Southern California due to their significance to agriculture as well as relative aridity compared to other California regions. AFT will complete 8 training workshops – 4 in the SJV and 4 in Southern California. In the SJV, trainings will be as such: 2 focused on the PPT, 1 focused on BPS and OPAV projects, and 1 focused on strategic land retirement. Trainings will be as follows in Southern California: 2 focused on BPS and OPAV projects, and 2 focused on strategic land retirement. Trainees will be organized in four separate cohorts, defined by their region. SJV trainees will attend 1 of the trainings offered for each topic and Southern California trainees will likewise attend 1 of the trainings offered for each topic in their respective region. Trainings will enhance the capacity of trainees from land trusts, Resource Conservation Districts (RCD), county departments, University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE), California state agencies, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and other land protection entities to efficiently address water resource sustainability and climate change mitigation through optimized targeting of time and resources to priority sites and projects.
The project objectives are to:
- Build the capacity of agricultural professionals to identify, target, and prioritize agricultural lands for land protection projects that have high quality land, are at risk of land conversion, and provide high groundwater recharge potential.
- Build the capacity of agricultural professionals to carry out BPS and OPAV projects.
- Enhance strategic and collaborative land retirement and conversions from irrigated agriculture to alternative land management options that provide water resource, soil health, agronomic, economic, wildlife, and/or social benefits.
Please find a Gantt chart uploaded.
Project activities and methodologies follow:
- Develop curriculum and materials for 3 training topics: 1) PPT; 2) BPS and OPAV; and 3) Strategic Land Retirement.
AFT will refine existing and create new materials and curriculum on the PPT, including technical use and how land protection staff can use it to identify and prioritize land protection project sites in the SJV in ways that optimize water resources. AFT staff will review existing National Agricultural Land Network BPS webinar curriculum and modify as needed and integrate new curriculum on OPAV projects. AFT will consult with partners in strategic land retirement, including PPIC and The Nature Conservancy, to integrate previous research into curriculum that allows trainees to explore strategic land retirement considerations, alternative land management solutions, and how regional stakeholders can collaborate in a coordinated approach.
- Recruit 2 cohorts of agricultural professional trainees in SJV and 2 cohorts of agricultural professional trainees in Southern California.
Trainees will be recruited from land trusts, RCDs, county departments, UCCE, California state agencies, NRCS, and other land protection entities using existing networks. It is expected that a minimum of 80 eventual trainees will be able to participate given available dates and times selected for the trainings. AFT will offer 2 trainings on some topics in each of the two project regions, to better accommodate each participating trainee’s ability to participate in each training session. Prospective trainees from regions other than the SJV or Southern California will be welcome to participate as space allows, as topic concepts are applicable to other regions. AFT will cap space for each training session at 15 participants to ensure trainers are able to effectively train each participant with due attention.
- Train trainees.
AFT will train trainees on each of the 3 training topics in the SJV: PPT, BPS and OPAV, and strategic land retirement. Given that the PPT is only applicable to the SJV, AFT will exclude this training for Southern California trainees. AFT will administer Western SARE’s pre-approved survey at the end of each training as well as online post-surveys with trainees six months after each training to ask participants about their level of application of the trainings they received and ongoing support needed to successfully implement what they learned. AFT will provide ad hoc continued support to trainees as requested and allowed by the project budget.
Cooperators
- (Educator)
- (Educator)
- (Educator)
- (Researcher)
Education
American Farmland Trust (AFT) will be using a workshop model for its educational approach. AFT is in the midst of planning the project's first workshop.
Education & Outreach Initiatives
Increase awareness of, knowledge of how to use, and practical use of AFT and Conservation Biology Institute’s San Joaquin Valley Project Prioritization Tool (PPT) in order to optimize conservation resources towards acquisition projects that increase groundwater recharge potential on quality agricultural lands at risk of development as well as projects that achieve additional conservation goals of PPT users.
AFT is training agricultural and conservation professionals in the use of the PPT so that they may adopt use of the tool to achieve their conservation goals, with an emphasis on use to enhance water resources.
Trainees are learning about the PPT, what it can be used for, and how to use it for their purposes. Trainees receive emphasized instruction on how to use the PPT to target acquisition projects that can provide groundwater recharge benefits. The impact of this initiative will be that additional agricultural and conservation professionals will be able to better use easements and acquisition projects as a means to enhance water resources and increase their efficient use of limited time and funding resources to do so.
Increase knowledge amongst land protection professionals on how to effectively carry out Buy-Protect-Sell (BPS) and Option to Purchase at Agricultural Value (OPAV) projects.
Trainees will receive instruction on recognizing and taking advantage of opportunities to carry out BPS and/or OPAV projects. They will receive in depth knowledge of different methods and best practices for carrying out both approaches.
Trainees will be equipped with the ability to carry out BPS and OPAV projects. The impact of this initiative is that additional professionals in the field will be able to serve the needs of landowners and land seekers by providing potential acquisition terms and approaches that allow for financial sustainability and increase land affordability for those seeking land tenure.
Increase knowledge and effective collaboration amongst stakeholders on agricultural land retirement that is strategic in enhancing natural resources, keeping the best viable lands in production, prevents land abandonment and subsequent environmental and health issues (e.g. dust and air pollution; invasive plant encroachment, etc.), and provides ecosystem services (e.g. biodiversity benefits, carbon sequestration, etc.).
Trainees will become familiar with the current state of strategic land retirement efforts, when and why to take a strategic land retirement approach, methods for carrying out retirement of lands, and how to best work with existing strategic land retirement stakeholders to ensure mutual goals are being achieved and efforts are complementary and not duplicative.
Additional agricultural and conservation professionals will be able to effectively carry out strategic land retirement projects in the field and understand the intricacies of these projects and how to best collaborate with stakeholders. The impact of this initiative is that stakeholders will be better able to ensure inevitable land retirement, due to water resource shortages, will occur more proportionally on agricultural lands of marginal value and that retired lands can be repurposed for other beneficial uses.
Project Outcomes
American Farmland Trust (AFT) is still planning its first workshop.