Building the Capacity of ANNIES Educators to Help Women Farmers and Ranchers Improve Agricultural Sustainability

Building the Capacity of ANNIES Educators to Help Women Farmers and Ranchers Improve Agricultural Sustainability

Summary

Building the capacity of Annie’s Project educators in the NCR-SARE states is important due to educator attrition and development of new educator tools, curricula and collaboration opportunities. Emerging needs among the farm women who participate in educational programs provided by these educators is another factor necessitating on-going educator networking.

The Annie’s National Network Initiative for Educational Success (ANNIES), led by Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, held two Professional Development Programs (PDPs) in 2013. The trainings were in Noblesville, Indiana, May 14-16; and Sioux Falls, South Dakota on November 7. The events brought together 19 different educators serving women in agriculture from seven states including: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, and South Dakota.

The ANNIES team utilized the educator workbook and online resource materials developed with this grant in 2012 and improved in 2013. Educators accessed these materials when planning and delivering Annie’s Project risk management education courses for farm women. Those attending the conferences also shared their own best educational practices.

The team provided on-going support to educators by providing networking opportunities among peers, developing funding partnerships, providing additional training, developing new curricula, conducting educator webinars and conference topic calls, and increasing public awareness of risk management educational programs for farm women.

The mission of Annie’s Project is to empower farm and ranch women to be better business partners through networks and by managing and organizing critical information.

The ANNIES team at Iowa State Univeristy prodcued videos of Annie’s Project participants telling thier story on thier farms. A story and link to the videos can be viewed here: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/article/annies-project-four-iowa-women-share-their-stories.

Objectives/Performance Targets

The stated project objectives and performance targets for 2013 follow.

• Deliver a 1 ½ day professional development face-to-face conference for north central educators interested in teaching risk management education to farm and ranch women.

  • Indiana was selected for 2013 due to the continued strong interest in the state for delivering Annie’s Project.

• Encourage 40 people from the NCR to attend the event; including educators, farm and ranch women, and industry partners.

• Design hands-on activities to encourage educators to network and learn from each other.

• Conduct a focus group to help inform educators about the educational needs of farm women and emerging issues.

• Offer travel assistance to educators to help them attend the conference.

• Develop and share best education practices and methods focused on teaching sustainability through agricultural risk management in the areas of

  • Finance, human resource, legal, marketing and production.

• Provide on-going support, resources and collaboration opportunities to help educators improve sustainability through Annie’s Project courses that teach agricultural risk management skills and build community networks.

Accomplishments/Milestones

PDP One – Noblesville, IN, May 14-16, 2013:

The team delivered a 2 ½ day PDP, May 14-16, 2013, Noblesville, IN. The ANNIES team at Iowa State University Extension and Outreach (www.extension.iastate.edu/feci/annie and www.extension.iastate.edu/annie) worked with Kelly Heckaman, Purdue Women in Agriculture project coordinator, Purdue Extension,  (https://ag.purdue.edu/extension/WIA/Pages/default.aspx) and Ruth Hambleton, President and Founder at Annie’s Project Education for Farm Women Not-For-Profit (www.anniesproject.org) to plan and host a 20-hour Annie’s Project Professional Development Program.

The program was held in Indiana in Year Two of the grant because of continued strong interest in delivering Annie’s Project in the state, the need to update current educators and train new educators in the state, and the location of being on the eastern side of the region whereas last year’s program was on the western side of the region. Kelly Heckaman has been leading Indiana’s Women in Agriculture program, including Annie’s Project, since 2006. Educators in all NCR-SARE states were invited to attend.

There were 12 people attending the Noblesville, IN conference. The Annie’s Project educators were from five NCR-SARE states: Illinois (1), Indiana (7), Iowa (2), Michigan (1), and Nebraska (1). Among the attendees were four Annie’s Project state coordinators, three educators with no prior Annie’s Project experience; and three trainers with a great deal of Annie’s Project experience.

Travel assistance was provided to educators. This NCR-SARE grant provided travel assistance to help educators attend the conference in Indiana. There were 3 educators who requested about $300 each. There were 6 educators who did not request travel assistance. The grant provided travel funds for the 3 trainers from Iowa and Illinois to attend the conference.

PDP Two – Sioux Falls, South Dakota:

The team delivered a 1 day PDP, November 7, 2013, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The ANNIES team at Iowa State University Extension and Outreach (www.extension.iastate.edu/feci/annie and www.extension.iastate.edu/annie) worked with Robin Salverson, Extension Cow/Calf Beef Specialist and Annie’s Project state coordinator to organize the event which tripled their state Annie’s Project team from two to six during a 9-hour training.

This additional program for 2013 was held in South Dakota at the request of the SD Annie’s Project educator team to help expand their program. Funding was available due to less than full attendance at the May event in Indiana. Robin Salverson, along with Co-Coordinator Adele Harty, has been leading Annie’s Project in South Dakota since 2007. Their strong program suffered a set-back during South Dakota State University’s cost-savings and extension re-organization plan. Recent SDSU Annie’s Project news releases can be viewed here: 1) http://igrow.org/livestock/reports-to-partners/annies-project/, 2)  http://igrow.org/news/estate-and-farm-transition-planning-workshops/, and 3) https://www.facebook.com/sdsuextensionwesternSDbeef. In addition to SD, educators from Minnesota were invited to attend.

There were 7 people attending the Sioux Falls, SD conference. The Annie’s Project educators were from three NCR-SARE states: Iowa (1), Minnesota (1) and South Dakota (6). Among the attendees were the state coordinator and co-coordinator for South Dakota, five educators with no prior Annie’s Project experience; and one trainer with a great deal of Annie’s Project experience.

Travel assistance was provided to educators. This NCR-SARE grant provided travel assistance to help educators attend the conference. There was one educator who requested about $300. There were 6 educators who did not request travel assistance. The grant provided travel funds for the trainer from Iowa to attend the conference. Three attendees participated via technology, while others participated face to face.

For both the Indiana and South Dakota Programs:

The PDPs were designed to be valuable training for not only organizing and teaching Annie’s Project courses, but for offering other extension and outreach programs, as well.

Key agenda components included best educational practices for women learners, key principles and core values of Annie’s Project, explanation of risk management focus, networking opportunities, NCR-SARE goals and resources, how and why to hold a local listening session prior to courses, curricula selection, speaker selection, course budgeting, marketing and recruiting, course evaluation (standard pre-course and post-course instruments), synergistic programs for women or their family members, and fund seeking opportunities, and introduction to Managing for Today and Tomorrow – farm transition planning curricula. For the South Dakota training, the Women Managing Cattle curriculum was also introduced.

There was a wide range of experience among the conference attendees. Hands on activities and breakout sessions allowed educators to network with one another, to share best practices and learn about Annie’s Project in other states.

Best education practices were shared for teaching sustainability. Agricultural sustainability is enhanced when farm and ranch women contribute to good decision making and implement strategies to reduce financial, human resource, legal, marketing and production risks in their family businesses. During the PDP conference, the ANNIES educators discussed the Annie’s Project best education practices and how these are implemented to improve sustainability.

Annie’s Project is a methodology for delivering multi-session educational programs to farm and ranch women that leads to transformational learning. The methods include educator teamwork, needs assessment, curricula adaptation, local small-group delivery, local partnerships, program evaluation and participant follow-up. There are high expectations the courses will provide valuable management tools, encourage life-long learning and empower women to actively engage in managing risk. Annie’s Project is designed to be widely adaptable within guidelines.

Local ANNIES educators follow these key principles with every course taught:

• Teach all five areas of agricultural risk management: financial, human resources, legal, marketing and production.

• Allocate half of class time to discussion and hands-on activities.

• Invite local service providers to serve as guest instructors.

• Provide unbiased, research-based information applicable to local needs.

• Create a learning environment where mentoring is spontaneous.

Local ANNIES educators consistently apply the following core values:

• Guided Intelligence – to build on women’s natural tendency to share, teach and learn with other women.

• Connection – to create opportunities for connection to other farm women and to local service providers.

• Discovery – to help women make sense of topics through hands-on activities and discussion.

• Safe Harbor – to provide a comfortable and secure environment where all questions are welcome.

The ANNIES team provided on-going support. The ANNIES team at ISU and the Annie’s Project Education for Farm Women Not-for-Profit provided resources and educator assistance to Annie’s Project educators in other states. These activities were not funded by this NCR-SARE grant, but they contributed to the successful outcomes of this grant.

Resources, Curricula, and Assistance Offered in 2013:

• Monthly educator topic calls or webinars on issues such as program evaluation, curricula development, public value, marketing and outreach, collaborative opportunities, and gift and grant seeking.

• Bi-monthly educator newsletters with networking opportunities, news and information for educators plus success stories of both educators and farm women, and ANNIES national leadership team messages.

• Adaptation and development of targeted and new curricula.

• Maintenance of public and educator website and Facebook pages. The public website shares information like course dates and locations, written and video success stories and news, Annie’s Project background, and state contacts. The educator website shares resources for local course delivery, marketing materials, evaluation instruments, grant writing tips, speaker vetting tips, and learning objectives. The Facebook page shares current events, educator and participant commentary, success stories and questions.

• Marketing templates and assistance.

• Professional evaluation protocols, survey instruments, and reports.

• Training as requested by states.

• Development of state, regional and national industry, government and university partnerships

• Annual post RME conference meeting for networking and information sharing.

• Nov. 7, 2013 NCR-SARE PDP, Sioux Falls, SD – ANNIES
• May 14-16, 2013 NCR-SARE PDP, Noblesville, IN – ANNIES

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

The most important outcomes of the 2013 project year were:

1. Indiana and South Dakota, two strong collaborating states with ANNIES, were able to reinvigorate their Annie’s Project programs by increasing the number of trained educators and being updated on what is new with Annie’s Project.

2. The Michigan and Nebraska Annie’s Project state coordinators learned more to help them keep the teams in their states up to date and to become familiar with new resources.

3. Minnesota has been challenged in offering Annie’s Project due to job changes and other situations. The newly trained educator is working with the MN extension farm management team to consider ways to offer Annie’s Project in the state.

Learning Outcomes: Experienced and new Annie’s Project educators learned more about using the Annie’s Project methodologies to engage farm women in managing agricultural risk and sustainability. They were more motivated to deliver high quality Annie’s Project courses. These educators were better prepared to identify the current and emerging needs of farm and ranch women and to offer educational programs that meet those needs.

Behavior Changes Outcomes: Experienced and new educators delivered more agricultural risk management courses for farm and ranch women in the NCR-SARE; both the standard Annie’s Project courses, and special topics courses. Educators in the region (Iowa and Ohio) collaborated on an NC – RME grant project to develop a new course called “Moving Beyond the Basics,” focused on financial topics. The NCR-SARE states collaborated to offer 13 of the Managing for Today and Tomorrow courses in 2013 on the special topic of farm transition planning. Educators in Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota and the Western Region state of Wyoming collaborated for the second year through a partnership with FCSA to leverage financial support for Annie’s Project programs in those states.

Educators participated in ANNIES monthly conference calls and the annual RME post-conference meeting. They also called on one another for support and assistance in developing Annie’s Project programs in their state. These educators contacted local Farm Service Agency and National Resources Conservation Services professionals to help market educational programs and to serve as local guest speakers. They also used the Annie’s Project methods to utilize local listening sessions to customize and improve local course delivery in order to meet the identified needs. Educators did a good job of utilizing national evaluation methods and instruments.

Societal Outcomes: The increased numbers of educators, and the enhanced extension and outreach skills of educators contributed to more high quality courses being offered to farm and ranch women.

Educators participating in the PDP and influenced by the Annie’s Project state coordinators participating, fulfilled the Annie’s Project mission to empower farm and ranch women to be better business partners through networks and by managing and organizing critical information.

By utilizing the resources and network, these educators reduced the overall time and costs of planning, marketing, delivering and evaluating Annie’s Project courses.

The evaluation results demonstrated farm and ranch women improved their knowledge and made significant behavioral changes. They enhanced the financial viability of their family farms and ranches, planned for generational succession, contributed to rural communities, increased rural lifestyle satisfaction and improved agricultural sustainability as captured through the collection of impact stories.

The ANNIES team at Iowa State Univeristy prodcued videos of Annie’s Project participants telling thier story on thier farms. A story and link to the videos can be viewed here: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/article/annies-project-four-iowa-women-share-their-stories.

Collaborators: