1996 Annual Report for ENC96-001.1
North Central Sustainable Agriculture Training Program
Summary
The North Central Region SARE Administrative Council awarded a region-wide professional development program grant under the joint leadership of Charles Francis, University of Nebraska, and Clive Edwards, The Ohio State University. The North Central Sustainable Agriculture Training Program (NCSATP) grant was funded from September 1994 through December 1998.
During this time, NCSATP sponsored an initial planning meeting, 10 train-the-trainer workshops, and three year-end planning and review meetings. The number of participants at meetings and workshops was 853. This figure does not include the people who participated in events and tours sponsored by the NCSATP Minigrant Program. The audience background at meetings and workshops was variable, including Extension and university representatives, nonprofit organizations, state and federal agencies, producers, students and individuals from the private sector.
Two guiding principles emerged from the first planning meeting held in January 1995: 1) Sustainable agriculture must be viewed in a complex framework of social, economic, and environmental factors, and 2) Training must be inclusive, both in terms of trainers and audience. In reference to the second principle, 270 people presented at NCSATP workshops, meetings, minigrant events, and tours. The speakers’ backgrounds were Extension and university (47 percent), nonprofit organizations (11 percent), state and federal agencies (16 percent), producers (22 percent), and private sector (4 percent).
Also based on participants’ comments, workshops were not held on university or college campuses. People wanted a site away from distractions and one that would show an application of concepts, such as on farms or near conservation projects. Workshops were cosponsored by state teams in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Agendas always included touring farms or research stations and learning from producers. For instance, farmers designed discussions, prepared decision cases, and led pasture walks.
To reflect the need for a high degree of participation by everyone involved in education and training for sustainable agriculture, the title “Everyone a Teacher, Everyone a Learner” was chosen for 1995 activities. Workshops explored economic, social, and environmental aspects of sustainable agriculture, using a wide variety of learning methods and evaluation techniques.
Examples of subjects included Definition of Sustainable Agriculture, Social Issues Related to Agriculture, Integrated Crop and Animal Systems, and Decision Case Studies.
At the December 1995 planning and review meeting, participants identified coalition building, facilitation skills, and political and environmental issues as principal elements needed in future workshops. Therefore, the theme for the 1996 workshops was “Shared Leadership, Shared Responsibility.” Because an entire day was spent on training in transformational leadership, concurrent sessions were run on two afternoons. Most of the topics had been recommended at the December meeting, such as Approaches to Whole-Farm Planning, Financial Analysis for Sustainable Agriculture, and Using Study Circles in Sustainable Agriculture Training.
What is it about a natural ecosystem that lets it function year after year using only solar energy without degrading the resource base, while agroecosystems on farms and ranches require high fossil energy inputs and suffer from soil erosion and water contamination? This question was explored at the 1997 workshops, “Linking People, Purpose, and Place: An Ecological Approach to Agriculture.” The intention was to demonstrate how an understanding of ecological principles can help us design farms and ranches that provide commodities while retaining some of the beneficial processes of natural systems, such as clean air and water and biodiversity. Because agroecosystems include people, another goal was to explore characteristics of local communities that promote sustainability.
The title of the 1998 workshops, “Facing a Watershed: Managing Profitable and Sustainable Landscapes in the 21st Century,” reflected a primary interest of Midwestern educators. Everyone lives in a watershed, and watershed boundaries define natural management units for hydrological, water quality, and other environmental issues. Each workshop watershed was influenced by a different combination of land use pressures—urbanization, tourism, and large-scale row cropping. Sessions highlighted interactive and hands-on exercises tailored to regional problems. Participants went home with skills and materials they could use in local planning efforts.
Evaluations were used at the training workshops and planning and review meetings. Questions were quantitative and qualitative, and all forms had a comment section. The remarks provided insight into what worked and what areas needed improving. The responses were also used by the planning committees for organizing the next round of workshops.
A call for proposals was announced each year from 1995 through 1998. The two categories were Speakers for In-State Sustainable Agriculture Training and Special Topic Training Tours. These categories were identified in the NCSATP grant and given high priority by state sustainable agriculture leaders. The goals of the Minigrant Program were to: stimulate the exchange of ideas, information, and materials across states; test alternative learning methods; give educators on-farm experience with various systems; and provide in-depth training on sustainable agriculture issues
Recipients of the minigrants included Extension, farmers’ networks, and nonprofit organizations. Groups were encouraged to apply and work together, and the activity had to support the state strategic plan. Groups in all North Central states competed, except Minnesota and South Dakota. Thirty-eight proposals were received, and all were funded. A typical grant was from $1,000 to $1,500. Grants helped support 47 speakers and 17 tours. Principal investigators were required to submit a final report that included quantitative and qualitative evaluations and suggestions for other educators. Recipients commented that minigrants helped leverage funds or provided programming opportunities they could not afford otherwise.
The overall goals for NCSATP were: 1) to develop and implement a comprehensive education program for use throughout the region, and 2) to prepare a cadre of teachers to conduct innovative training in their own states. We met these goals by practicing shared leadership with diverse state teams to plan and conduct workshops, developing educational materials and evaluation documents, sponsoring a Minigrant Program, and hosting annual planning and review meetings. After four years, NCSATP has made a difference in state sustainable agriculture training and provided professional development for participants.
Impacts from the program include: 1) Materials, interactive methods, and speakers from the workshops have been incorporated into state training curricula; 2) More farmers are giving presentations; 3) Networks among educators in sustainable agriculture have broadened across the region; 4) Some participants have had a change in attitude regarding sustainable agriculture; 5) More people with different backgrounds are being included in planning and delivering educational events; and 6) The workshops instilled a sense of community and “recharged batteries” for those participants who feel isolated in their daily work environments.
The following comments help summarize the NCSATP:
“The NC Regional SARE Chapter 3 project has been a tremendous help to us in Missouri in getting our state professional development programs going. We have never sent anyone to a regional workshop that did not come back to Missouri more inspired and more dedicated to making something good happen for sustainable agriculture programs in Missouri.”
Missouri Sustainable Agriculture Coordinator
“In conjunction with our own continued efforts to increase cooperation between Extension and nonprofits, SARE trainings have provided us with a forum that has raised the bar for Extension and nonprofit collaboration.”
Ohio Nonprofit Representative
“The farmers I work with who attended this workshop have formed an even closer working relationship than they had before the trip. In addition to the information we learned at the workshops, traveling together gave us a chance to get to know each other better and discuss plans for the future.”
Michigan Nonprofit Representative
North Central Region SARE 1998 Annual Report.
See also ENC94-001.