Progress report for WPDP22-023
Project Information
The project addresses a primary challenge to the sustainability of agriculture: heavy reliance on the extractive, open flow model of farming in the United States that treats land, water, minerals, microbiomes, and soil as free and unlimited goods, leading to their degradation and loss in the form of wastes disposed of as trash rather than treated as valuable resources. In the face of growing populations, climate change, transformation of peri-urban farmland to housing, demand for nutritious food, and low profitability of small farms, it is critical that farmers begin to “close the loop” of their agricultural economies through regenerative agriculture, recycling, and reuse of agricultural inputs and wastes.
This project builds on activities and results from 1 2021 SARE Farmer-Rancher grant (FW21-379). The project is to develop a training program for agricultural professionals to teach closed-loop, sustainable agriculture to operators of small farms based on the technologies, techniques, and best practices of farmers applying regenerative agriculture in the Monterey Bay Region of California.
Objective 1. Revise and refine curriculum materials on closed-loop agriculture for ag professionals to use in teaching small farmers
Objective 2. Develop a training program & workshops for agricultural professionals to teach and deliver closed loop curriculum to small farmers
Objective 3: Disseminate training, curricular & communication materials
Links for completed tasks in timeline below:
1. Learning needs assessment. Results of farmer interviews. Analysis of interviews.
2. Initial curriculum framework
This project will develop a training curriculum for agricultural professionals to teach small farmers how to implement closed loop agriculture could make significant contributions to fostering and facilitating the necessary transition. Small farms (less than 50 acres) are well-placed to implement closed-loop systems. Such operations, which comprise the majority of the Nation’s farms (USDA, 2017), are critical to urban food supplies but are often marginal in terms of sales and profitability. Moreover, their numbers are in decline, and closed-loop agriculture could increase their productivity increase their revenues and profits and improve the well-being and livelihoods of farmers, their families and their communities.
This project will target two related groups of learners: ag professionals and small farmers. We will undertake a professional development program that will prepare ag professionals to acquire the skills and knowledge to teach about close-loop agriculture. We will also carefully evaluate the target the needs of small farm operators themselves to produce a training curriculum. The agricultural professionals will be able to use this curriculum on an ongoing basis to teach operators of small farms the principles, techniques and practices that will allow them to recycle organic wastes, conserve valuable resources inputs, reduce operating costs and increase productivity and profits. The curriculum will include digital and hard-copy educational resources, including a handbook for farmers, training workshop modules, and short instructional video demonstrations. We will aim to foster a local community of practice around close-loop agriculture by offering experiential learning, educational tours and demonstrations at Whiskey Hill Farm that will be open to the broader community of small farms and ag professionals. Educational materials and workshops will be cocreated with Spanish-speaking farmers and professionals to ensure accessibility in English and Spanish.
The revised 2-year timeline for the project follows below
| Task | Description | Personnel | Updated Time Frame | Task Status |
| Overall Project Management | ||||
| Project planning, coordination of work, oversee project staff subcontractors, develop scopes of work, oversee budget | Molly (25%); Ronnie (50%); Ami Chen Mills (25%) | April 2022-March 2024 | ||
| Activity 1: Revise and refine curriculum materials on closed-loop agriculture for ag professionals to use in teaching small farmers | ||||
| #1: Learning Needs Assessment | Conduct interviews with farmers & ag professionals/ educators to identify topics, pedagogies, resources and materials to include in curriculum. | Ronnie: advise & interview (20); Molly: plan, coordinate, interpret, write up (30); Josefina: plan, input, connect with professionals (25); Jakki: interpret for producers (10); Dave: advise (20); Tom: advise (20) | April-December 2022 | completed |
| #2: Initial development of curriculum materials | Develop modular curriculum based on needs assessment, including review and revision of materials developed for SARE FW21-397, and compilation of existing on-line resources | Ronnie: develop curriculum map (10); Molly: map curriculum, module objectives, lesson plans (50); Josefina: curriculum development (15); Jan: evaluation (10); Kevin: review (10); Dave: development and review (25) | Sept.-Dec. 2022 | completed |
| #3: Develop training workshop curriculum & review resources | Consult with ag professionals & farmers on training format, materials, content hands-on exercises & create training workshop curriculum | Ronnie: outreach to & interviews with ag professionals (20); Josefina: outreach to farmers (20); ; Molly/Ami: collect, collate & evaluate results (20) | Jan.-June 2023 | in progress |
| #4: Prepare printed and virtual bilingual handbook | Draft handbook of workshop content, including revised materials & modules, as well as relevant materials from external sources | Ronnie: draft handbook outline & contents, write sections as needed (50); Josefina: draft handbook outline & contents, write sections as needed (25); Ami: review, edit, support (25); Jakki: translation (25); Jan: evaluation (10 | June-Sept. 2023 | to be done |
| #5: Edit videos from 2021-22 & create new videos & podcasts | Videographers will create short videos to match modules & also turn into short podcasts | Videographers: Edit footage, film short videos (100); Dave: outline, demonstrations, review (30); Molly: outline, script & review of video modules (10) hrs; Josefina: outline, script & review of video modules (10) hrs | Jan.-June 2023 | to be done |
| Activity 2: Develop a training program & workshops for agricultural professionals to teach and deliver closed loop curriculum to small farmers | ||||
| #1: Create Beta test teams of 6 farmers & 6 ag professionals | Solicit participation of workshop participants & agricultural professionals to propose, assess, review curriculum materials; Collect feedback for continuous quality improvement. | Ronnie & Kevin: outreach to ag professionals (10 each); Josefina: outreach to farmers (10); Ami: Preparation of beta test materials & coordination (15); Jakki/Marisela: translation as needed (10) | Oct. 2022-April 2023 | in progress |
| #2. Conduct beta test workshops with ag professionals & farmers | Workshops to review & comment & identify materials to be added and deleted; show completed videos | Jan: advise on process (5); Josefina: present materials (10); Ronnie & Ami: coordinate, conduct, write up results (20); Dave: delivery, review (40) | April - Aug. 2023 | to be done |
| 3. Curriculum revision | Revise curriculum & content based on reviews & evaluations; re-edit videos | Ronnie: (10); Ami: (20); Josefina: (10); Kevin (10); videographers (50); Dave (10) | Aug - Dec. 2023 | to be done |
| 4. Send out revised curriculum for second review | Participants in first review workshop conduct second review of curriculum materials & training program, individually or in group | Josefina: Interviews (10); Jakki: interviews (10); Ami: coordinate, conduct, write up results (15); Jan: evaluation (5) | Jan-Feb 2024 | to be done |
| 5. Final revision | Revise the training curriculum as necessary; finalize videos & podcasts | Molly: (10); Ronnie: (10); Josefina: (10); Jan (5); videographers (50) | Feb -March 2024 | to be done |
| 6. Training materials finalized | All materials printed and uploaded onto open access website | Ronnie & Kevin (10); Intern: (20) | Sunday, March 31, 2024 | to be done |
| Activity 3: Disseminate training, curricular & communication materials | ||||
| #1. Dissemination | Connect project website with other agricultural sites, agencies and organizations; announce website going live | Kevin (40); Ronnie (25); Molly/Ami (30); Dave (10); Josefina (10); Marisela (10) | Sept 2022-Jan. 2024 | in progress |
| #2. Public outreach & communications | Interviews with journalists, conference papers, public talks, radio broadcasts and other similar activities | Dave (40); Ami (25); Kevin (25); Ronnie (15); Josefina (20) | March 2023-March 2024 | in progress |
| #3. Academic & popular outreach (January-March) | Prepare academic articles for to ag education journals; write & submit informative articles to ag magazines | Ronnie (80); Kevin (80); Ami (50) | June 2023-March 2024 | to be done |
| #4 Farm Tours | Organize and conduct tours of Whiskey Hill farm to facilitate community engagement and education | Dave (10) | Aug. 2022-Feb. 2024 | in progress |
| #5: Assessment | Review & assessment of project | Jan: (30) | April -May 2023; Feb.-March 2024 | to be done |
| #6 Prepare final report | Molly (30); Kevin (30); Ronnie (30) | Mar-24 | to be done | |
Cooperators
- (Researcher)
- (Educator)
- - Producer (Educator)
- (Educator)
- (Educator)
- (Educator)
Education
The "Training the Trainer" curriculum being developed through this project is organized around two pedagogic principles. First, farmer-to-farmer peer learning through social networks has been found to be both effective and favored by farmers seeking technical assistance. Second, it is critical to meet disadvantaged farmers on their own terrain, both physically and culturally, and to frame pedagogy and learning on their terms.
Education & Outreach Initiatives
Revise and refine curriculum materials on closed-loop agriculture for agricultural professionals to use in teaching small farmers
This objective includes the following tasks:
| #1: Learning Needs Assessment | Conduct interviews with farmers & ag professionals/ educators to identify topics, pedagogies, resources and materials to include in curriculum. |
| #2: Initial development of curriculum materials | Develop modular curriculum based on needs assessment, including review and revision of materials developed for SARE FW21-397, and compilation of existing on-line resources |
| #3: Develop training workshop curriculum & review resources | Consult with ag professionals & farmers on training format, materials, content hands-on exercises & create training workshop curriculum |
| #4: Prepare printed and virtual bilingual handbook | Draft handbook of workshop content, including revised materials & modules, as well as relevant materials from external sources |
| #5: Edit videos from 2021-22 & create new videos & podcasts | Videographers will create short videos to match modules & also turn into short podcasts |
As the first step in this project, the staff has conducted interviews with Latinx operators of small farms and with agricultural trainers who advise and work with these farmers. The goals of these interviews is to:
- Better understand the specific topics areas in which farmers experience difficulties and the instruction and assistance they would find most useful;
- Learn how agricultural trainers approach their clients in terms of technical assistance and instruction, and what they regard as the shortcomings of their methods; and
- Identify and clarify those topics and issues that would be most helpful in teaching and learning.
Project staff has, to date, conducted 7 interviews, 4 with Latinx farmers and 3 with agricultural trainers.
For the farmers, there are numerous "technical" challenges in caring for the land, growing the crops and marketing them. For the trainers, their education tends to be science-based and relatively formalistic; it assumes a certain degree of farmer socialization into the American agricultural system. Farmers need technical assistance with business and regulatory requirements, and the trainers have limited expertise in these areas and little time to provide help. More interviews will be conducted.
- The curriculum will emphasize cultural sensitivity in pedagogy and technical assistance, farmer-to-farmer learning, hands-on activities and demonstrations and continuing feedback from learners to trainers;
- The curriculum will address broad areas of regenerative agriculture (e.g., soil health, irrigation, etc.), however, there is an enormous amount of material already available on these topics, on which we will rely;
- The curriculum will emphasize business and management skills, since these are in demand and are required for any type of farming, whether regenerative or not.
Develop a training program & workshops for agricultural professionals to teach and deliver closed loop curriculum to small farmers
This objective includes the following tasks:
| #1: Create Beta test teams of 6 farmers & 6 ag professionals | Solicit participation of workshop participants & agricultural professionals to propose, assess, review curriculum materials; Collect feedback for continuous quality improvement. |
| #2. Conduct beta test workshops with ag professionals & farmers | Workshops to review & comment & identify materials to be added and deleted; show completed videos |
| 3. Curriculum revision | Revise curriculum & content based on reviews & evaluations; re-edit videos |
| 4. Send out revised curriculum for second review | Participants in first review workshop conduct second review of curriculum materials & training program, individually or in group |
| 5. Final revision | Revise the training curriculum as necessary; finalize videos & podcasts |
| 6. Training materials finalized | All materials printed and uploaded onto open access website |
The tasks under this objective are in progress or remain to be done.
Disseminate training, curricular & communication materials to a wide audience
This objective includes the following tasks:
| #1. Dissemination | Connect project website with other agricultural sites, agencies and organizations; announce website going live |
| #2. Public outreach & communications | Interviews with journalists, conference papers, public talks, radio broadcasts and other similar activities |
| #3. Academic & popular outreach (January-March) | Prepare academic articles for to ag education journals; write & submit informative articles to ag magazines |
| #4 Farm Tours | Organize and conduct tours of Whiskey Hill farm to facilitate community engagement and education |
| #5: Assessment | Review & assessment of project |
| #6 Prepare final report |
The tasks under this objective are in progress or remain to be done.
Educational & Outreach Activities
Participation Summary:
Project Outcomes
Not applicable at this time.
Not applicable at this time