Educational Curricula and Professional Development Training for Energy Efficient Production Practices.

Educational Curricula and Professional Development Training for Energy Efficient Production Practices.

Summary

A shift in agricultural focus from producing food and fiber to food, fiber, and energy can have adverse effects on agricultural sustainability. During the past year efforts have focused on contacting potential authors, editing and reviewing manuscripts, and holding workshops, and giving presentations. The curricula will consist of case studies where the importance of the topic area is discussed, and the authors walk the reading through the problem. The focus of the book is on improving energy efficiency.

Objectives/Performance Targets

Develop educational modules and case studies that illustrate how cropping rotational diversity, whole farm management, and precision N and conservation management increase energy efficiency; and train agronomic professionals at 4 workshops on production practices designed to increase energy efficiency and how to conduct a whole farm energy assessment.

Accomplishments/Milestones

Authors were identified and several chapters reviewed. In addition a number of presentations and workshops were held.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

The short term impact of this project is to development of training modules on bioenergy production, energy efficient production practices that can be used for self-learning or integrated into workshops, classes, and training seminars. This outcome has not be achieved.

Collaborators: