Professional Development for Ohio Farmers Market Managers and OSU Extension Educators on Creating a Culture of Data Collection for Sustainability Planning for Markets and Farmers

Education and Training: decision support system, extension, networking, participatory research, workshop
Farm Business Management: farmers' markets/farm stands
Sustainable Communities: sustainability measures

Abstract:

This project will train Ohio farmers markets, including those in Ohio’s 32 Appalachian counties, in all areas, sizes, ages, and levels of capacity on dynamic data collection and analysis to gain economic and ecological data that can increase their sustainability. Extension professionals and farmers markets managers will be trained in the use of the materials for their work with direct-to-consumer farmers. The materials will be paired with case studies featuring Extension staff and sustainable farmers on farm-level data being collected and the complementary market-level data needed to grow these businesses. This training will be conducted through the new Ohio Farmers Market Network (OFMN)'s managers certification program, other existing networks, and regionally with new, small or rural markets not yet aligned with networks. The project will result in a database of markets and their use of data systems, actionable strategies for aiding vendors with business and product development, a permanent data system curriculum for market trainers and Extension Educators, and case studies that highlight the different data needs of sustainable farmers. Through this project, a shared culture of data collection that benefits farmers, increases consumer awareness of the value of sustainable production and builds aggregated messaging will be gained. Extension will be able to better partner with farmers markets on projects that serve farm businesses. The materials will be shared with neighboring states to increase the regional availability of data.

Project objectives:

Activity	Product	Action	Audience
1.	Database of farmers markets formed between OFMN, OSUE, and FMC. Project summary sheet Baseline market data created	Project summary sheet shared online (through database) and in articles to raise awareness of the project.	120 market managers 150 Extension Educators
2.	Conference attendance Schedule	Project team members presented at 1 conferences throughout Ohio in Year 2020 to create awareness. The conferences were not held due to the Pandemic. Year 1, 2020 OSUE Annual Conference (Virtual) Year 2, 2021 OSU Extension Family and Consumer Sciences Conference (Virtual) Farm Science Review Ohio Ecological Food & Farm Association (Virtual) Ohio Farmers Markets Network (Virtual) OFMN Market Managers Certificate Program (Virtual) Year 3, 2022 OSUE Community Development Conference (Virtual) Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association (Virtual) OFMN Market Managers Certificate Program (Virtual) Year 4, 2023 OFMN Annual Conference OFMN Market Managers Certificate Program (Virtual)	225 managers, vendors, and extension educators learned about the need for data collection and how this project can assist them.
3.	Train Market Managers through OFMN certification program	Market Manager Certification Training and Networks	125 Market Managers receive training on data collection and use
4.	Train Market Managers that are not aligned with networks	Travel of project team members to non-networked markets and train in person	28 Market Managers in non-networked markets received training on data collection and use
5.	Conduct interviews of DTC vendors to gather input on the data they use and/or need for business level sustainability planning and decision making	Project team members interview 10 DTC vendors to gain insight on their data needs and develop case studies of these vendors to be included in the curriculum.	15 DTC vendors share input on the data they use and/or need to make business decisions
6.	Data collection systems for markets and DTC vendors is created and the developed database of markets and their data systems will be shared statewide.	Data collection systems developed. Curriculum developed. Train-the-trainer materials developed.	25 Farmers Market managers and 47 Extension professionals learned how to to train farmers market stakeholders on data collection and use.
7.	Train-the-trainer Extension Educators Training	Training to be held online and in-person to train OSU Extension Educators.	20 OSU Extension Educators working with DTC vendors are able to train these vendors and their local farmers markets on data collection and use.
8.	Train-the-trainer presentations on data collection systems	Present at Michigan, Indiana, and West Virginia Farmers Markets Conferences on the tools developed through this project.	Travel to other state conferences was not done due to the Pandemic which delayed many conferences. And while the project has officially ended, market managers and stakeholders in surrounding states will be trained on data collection systems developed through this project. Once trained, these trainers can train markets and stakeholders in their states.

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.