2018 Oregon State University PDP Project

The Commercial Beekeeper Workshops had a successful year in 2018. They had two events with 50-60 commercial beekeepers participating in each of these workshops. The first event was a summer field day at a commercial beekeeper’s operation. They invited commercial beekeepers from all over the state and distributed a survey after the field day and had participants rate each educational topic using a scale of “not useful”, “ok”, “good”, “great”, and “excellent”. For each topic, the average rating was “great”. They asked if participants anticipate making any changes to their current business practices after learning information from the workshop. They were given a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 representing “not at all”, and 5 representing “absolutely!” The average rating was a 4. The second event was a formal presentation-style gathering at the Salem Convention Center in October.  It was a day full of diverse and important education for commercial beekeepers. Survey findings from the fall workshop showed a mixed response.Participants were asked if each speaker was informative and if they anticipate making changes to their operation, using a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 representing “not at all”, and 5 representing “absolutely!” Though the average score for speakers ranged from 3.5to3.9, the scores varied wildly among the 21 respondents. The average score for anticipated changes was 3.5. They received some good comments from attendees and we hope to make improvements on selecting topics and speakers for future workshops. In 2019, they planned workshops on pest and disease identification, and  plan to have separate events in Russian, Spanish, and English to include as many commercial beekeepers as possible.

The Irrigation pasture project resulted in the following outcomes: Participants in our series of workshops were primarily small farmers with irrigated pasture from the central Oregon area. They collaborated with Mylen Bohle, Oregon State University (OSU) Agronomist, Clare Sullivan, OSU Agronomist and Toni Stephan, OSU Horticulture/Small farms Extension agent.They organized the pasture management workshops as a three part series. They taught all topics with an emphasis on conserving water through pasture management, not overgrazing, and establishing windbreaks to reduce evaporation from wind. In order to assist landowners with pasture management techniques, they purchased pasture-grazing sticks with the SARE funds and gave them to attendees. These grazing sticks are an important management tool as they are used to determine the following information: When grazing should be started, when livestock should be moved to another pasture to prevent overgrazing, how to calculate average pasture growth rates, pasture rotation lengths, and number of days when pasture is not being grazed. Surveys collected at the end of our programming included a 208% increase in knowledge and awareness for the farmscaping classes. A 268% increase in knowledge of how to complete a pasture condition score sheet was recorded. In order to complete these scoresheets, an overall knowledge of beneficial pasture management techniques is required.

The pollinator mini-grant resulted in four infographics outlining proper pesticide use around pollinators as well as produced 8 episodes of PolliNation talking about the connection between agriculture and pollinator health. We used infographics for face-to-face training with growers. They conducted pre-and post-training tests and determined that: a) Applicators were largely unfamiliar with existing Extension tools, particularly OSU’s longstanding (since 1990) “How to Reduce Bee Poisoning from Pesticides” publication (PNW 591)(76% of applicators indicated they had never seenthe publication) and b) most could not interpret Environmental Hazard language on pesticide labels around pollinators (pre-course test: 74% could not interpret the bee toxicity language and 82% could not translate the residual toxicity statement into whether a product could be applied in the evening or not during bloom). They were able to put the postcards into all of the growers hands following the training and were able to consistently raise the ability of applicators to correctly interpret the pollinator directions on pesticide labels to above 95%.

The Meat Producers mini-grant resulted in the “MEATing in the Gorge”, Hood River,OR. Co-sponsored by Gorge Grown Food Network, OSU Extension, and WSU Extension to discuss pastured livestock production and processing in the Columbia River Gorge region. Provided information about inspected meat processing, regulations for marketing meat, and handed out the Beginner’s Guide to Local Meat Processing. About 40 people in attendance. In April 2018, they hosted the “Northwest Meat Processors Association(NWMPA) Convention”, Coeur d’Alene, ID and facilitated a round table discussion with meat processors and conducted video recorded processor interviews. About 100 people were in attendance. In July 2018, they hosted “OSU Small FarmSchool”, Clackamas, OR with panelists and workshops around direct meat marketing. They spoke about regulations for red meat and poultry, identifying and working with your meat processor, and general tips for marketing niche meats. About 50 people were in attendance. In September 2018, OSU Extension livestock agents annual meeting was held Prineville, OR where they gave a 45-minute presentation on the status of meat processing in Oregon. About 35 people were in attendance. They uploaded a slideshow  to the NMPAN website under Oregon resources. Presentations have been given at several events to a mix of farmers, ranchers, meat processors, extension agents, NGOs, and other agricultural professionals. Over 50 of The Beginner’s Guide to Local Meat Processing fact sheets have been handed out to participants at the events.Videos of the NWMPA roundtable and of 9 small processor interviews have been made and posted to the NMPAN YouTube channel. These videos have been viewed 809 times thus far. New content has been added to the NMPAN website