Organic Ag. Academy - SARE Grant Management System

Agronomic: clovers, grass (misc. annual), grass (misc. perennial), medics/alfalfa, sunflower
Fruits: apples, berries (brambles), berries (strawberries)
Vegetables: artichokes, asparagus, beans, beets, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbages, carrots, cauliflower, celery, cucurbits, garlic, greens (leafy), greens (lettuces), onions, peas (culinary), peppers, radishes (culinary), rutabagas, sweet corn, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, turnips
Additional Plants: native plants
Animals: bees, bovine, goats, poultry, sheep, swine
Animal Products: dairy, eggs, meat
Miscellaneous: Herbs

Practices

Animal Production: grazing management
Crop Production: beekeeping, food processing, high tunnels or hoop houses, low tunnels, nurseries, nutrient cycling, organic fertilizers, pollination, pollinator habitat, pollinator health, row covers (for season extension), season extension, seed saving, varieties and cultivars
Education and Training: networking, technical assistance, workshop, youth education
Farm Business Management: whole farm planning
Natural Resources/Environment: habitat enhancement, riparian buffers
Pest Management: biological control, competition, cultivation, cultural control, mulches - killed, mulching - vegetative, mulching - plastic, physical control, row covers (for pests), soil solarization, weed ecology
Production Systems: organic agriculture, organic certification, Herb production
Soil Management: organic matter
Sustainable Communities: local and regional food systems, new business opportunities, sustainability measures, urban agriculture, Herbal remedies

Abstract:

The Organic Ag. Academy will give high school and technical college teachers in-depth training to increase their knowledge and awareness of sustainable and organic agriculture and the tools to teach this topic to their students. The long-term impact will be more student exposure to sustainable and organic agriculture and the career opportunities in this field. This will expand the pool of workers skilled in sustainable agriculture practices.

To achieve these outcomes, the Academy project will develop 15-hour training sessions around six sustainable and organic agriculture topics. High school agricultural science and environmental studies teachers and technical college instructors from Horticulture, Farm Business Management, Agronomy, and Dairy Science programs are the audience for in-depth two-day sessions held over three summers. Participating educators will receive lesson plans, curriculum guides, lectures, assessments, teaching tools, and lab ideas to incorporate into their educational programs. Follow-up surveys will measure educator knowledge and awareness gains, as well as how content is being integrated in the participant classrooms/programs. Project results will be disseminated through SARE for potential replication in other geographic regions.

Further, content and deliverables for the six sustainable and organic agriculture topics will be developed with guidance of NCR-SARE (North Central Region-Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education) to ensure they meet SARE quality standards, setting the stage for development of a SARE Teaching Certificate for successful completers of the six training sessions.

Project objectives:

Outputs of the Academy project include:

Updated curriculum for six, 15-hour sessions. The curriculum will include six hours of classroom content and seven hours of field work at farm sites, with two hours allocated for travel to/from/between farm sites. Ms. Dantoin, SAFS instructor, will develop the curriculum and share with NCR-SARE to ensure alignment with SARE quality standards.
Six curriculum guides with lectures, assessments, and suggested teaching tools and labs are created for participant use post-training. Ms. Dantoin, SAFS instructor, will develop the content, including typical lesson plans with timelines outlined, course competencies, learning objectives, PowerPoint lectures with notes, worksheets and quizzes, lab instructions, and lab supply needs.
Three surveys developed to measure impact of the training (see Evaluation). Ms. Dantoin, SAFS instructor, will develop the surveys with guidance of NWTC’s Institutional Research staff.
Two, two-day training sessions conducted annually, reaching ten educators (i.e., high school agricultural science and environmental studies teachers, and technical college instructors from Horticulture, Farm Business Management, Agronomy, and Dairy Science programs) at each session. Ms. Dantoin will deliver the course content, reaching a duplicated total of 60 educators over the three-year period.
SARE Teaching Certificate developed, in coordination with NCR-SARE.

Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture or SARE.