Reading the Farm: Discovering whole-farm interactions

Reading the Farm: Discovering whole-farm interactions

Summary

Agricultural professionals are often trained in specialized sub-disciplines of agriculture such as agronomy, business management, animal health and management, or environmental resource management. Because of this specialization, agricultural professionals often make recommendations about one part of a farm system without full knowledge or full consideration of how that recommendation may affect other parts of the system. For example, heavy potassium fertilization of silage or forage crops can lead to a nutritional imbalance in the feed for dairy cows. In the “Reading the Farm” project, twenty agricultural professionals with diverse areas of expertise will participate in a 3-day workshop in the summer of 2010 that focuses on how interactions between components of the farm system influence farm sustainability. In the workshop, participants will conduct an integrated assessment of two dairy farms led by a team of specialists. Through the farm assessment process and discussions among the farm families and participants, the workshop participants will increase their knowledge of how the components of a farm system interact. During and following the workshop, participants will engage with project leaders to develop content for educational materials on interactions within the whole-farm system that include case studies, a website, and power point presentations.

As a result of the project:

Objectives/Performance Targets

15 agricultural professionals from Cooperative Extension, government agencies, and non-profit organizations will deliver educational programming on how interactions between components of a farm system affect farm sustainability to 15 other agricultural professionals, and at least 400 of their clientele will receive this information.

Accomplishments/Milestones

Our accomplishments in 2011 focused on communicating with workshop participants and facilitators about the challenges and successes of integrating knowledge on whole-farm system interactions into their programs with ag service providers and farmers (ie, Milestone 7 and Performance Target). We distributed a survey in December 2011 that was answered by 18 of the 32 workshop participants (facilitators included). Six participants used knowledge and experience gained at the “Reading the Farm” workshop in educational programs they delivered to other ag service providers and 6 participants used knowledge and experience from the workshop in educational programs they delivered to farmers. The educational programs delivered by the workshop participants reached a total of 732 ag service providers and 754 farmers. The whole-farm system components that were most frequently included in the educational programs delivered by workshop participants were crop management, livestock management, and environmental quality (6 or 7 participants included these components). Business management and social issues components of whole-farm systems were only included in programs delivered by 1 or 2 participants.

Milestone 1: One hundred fifty potential project beneficiaries become aware of the workshop opportunity.

Milestone 2: Forty potential project beneficiaries submit applications to participate in the workshop.

Milestone 3: Twenty beneficiaries attend the workshop and increase their knowledge of farm system components that are outside their primary discipline and discover at least two ways that components of the whole-farm system interact.

Milestone 4: Twenty beneficiaries learn at least 3 ways that recommendations from their own discipline affect other components of the farm system.

Milestone 5: Twenty beneficiaries learn at least 3 ways that recommendations from other disciplines affect their own component of the farm system.

Milestone 6: Twenty beneficiaries outline how they will use new knowledge on whole-farm interactions in their educational programming and contribute to the development of new educational materials that meet their programming needs.

Accomplishments towards milestones 1 through 6 were described in the 2010 Annual Report.

Milestone 7: Fifteen beneficiaries communicate with project leaders and other participants the successes and challenges of incorporating content about whole-farm system interactions into their educational programs. (August 2011)

Accomplishments: We distributed a survey in December 2011 that was answered by 18 of the 32 workshop participants (facilitators included). The survey asked workshop participants to describe the successes and challenges they encountered in incorporating whole-farm system interactions into their educational programs. The survey also asked questions to help evaluate progress towards our performance target.

Eight of the survey respondents were from Cooperative Extension or University, 6 were from NRCS, one was from the Chesapeake Bay Program Advisory Committee, and one was from Penn State Public Broadcasting.

Three participants described successes using knowledge about whole farm systems in their programs:

• “In my role as Chair of the Chesapeake Bay Program Science and Technical Advisory Committee, the knowledge was instrumental in assisting me to fund appropriate workshops and reviews on agricultural issues. During this phase of TMDL planning, this knowledge was critical to the committee.”“Getting a better understanding of Organic Farm Systems has given me a better understanding of challenges that Organic Farmers face and considerations that I previously had not contemplated.”

  “I had a much better understanding about looking at the farm as a whole after the training. I use the knowledge learned, everyday, but no specific stories.”

One participant described challenges using knowledge about whole farm systems in their programs:

• “The main challenges are the intensity of the process with limited resources and other commitments. We have made a plan to use this process more with a farm visit approach but it has not really happened yet.”

In addition to these comments, 13 of 16 participants responding to the survey indicated that the workshop had moderately or significantly improved their ability to help farmers implement aspects of sustainable agriculture during the last year.

Other comments that survey respondents made about the impact of the workshop included:

• “One of the best parts of the workshop was the informal discussions and exchanges among the farmer hosts and other participants. I gleaned numerous tips about forage based cropping systems which I now regularly include in my extension programs related to cover crop use on small dairy farms.”

• “I thought the workshop was very good compared to other trainings I have attended in the last year. I enjoyed comparing each of the farms and seeing what could work for each. I think adding an additional day would be beneficial because topics were crammed in at times. Very good training overall.”

• “It was an exceptional experience. It was well-organized, focused, and almost overwhelming in the amount of substantive content. Excellent job.”

• “For many who have spent years working with farmers, many of the concepts that were shared during the RTF workshop were not new;. However, it was great to have the opportunity to spend time with colleagues from other disciplines to learn some of the new ideas within that discipline, to improve our understanding of concepts that we know at least something about, or to receive some reinforcement that the many concepts/ideas that we’ve known and shared with our farmer and ag professional clientele remain current.”

• “Great program. Thanks to all the folks that put it together.”

• “The Reading the Farm workshop has positively impacted my understanding of all of the variables that farmers need to consider and contend with on a daily basis. The experience plays a role in how I approach and interact with farmers and the questions I pose to them to understand their experiences.”

• “The course was extremely helpful and changed my understanding of how to work well with my farmer colleagues. I think it has changed my approach more than the content of my work.”

• “Really good training to learn about inventory and evaluation of resources and concerns.”

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

We distributed a survey in December 2011 to gauge progress towards completing our performance target. Eighteen of 32 workshop participants (facilitators included) responded to this survey. Six participants used knowledge and experience gained at the “Reading the Farm” workshop in educational programs they delivered to other ag service providers and 6 participants used knowledge and experience from the workshop in educational programs they delivered to farmers. These educational programs delivered by the workshop participants reached a total of 732 ag service providers and 754 farmers.

The whole-farm system components that were most frequently included in the educational programs delivered by workshop participants were crop management, livestock management, and environmental quality (6 or 7 participants included these components). Business management and social issues components of whole-farm systems were only included in programs delivered by 1 or 2 participants.

Topics of the specific educational programs that workshop participants delivered to ag service providers and/or farmers included:

• Using cover crops as a forage source on small dairy farms

• Organic farming case studies

• Potential for rolling vertical tillage in Mid-Atlantic cropping systems

• Dry poultry manure injection equipment for environmental sustainability

• Best management practices for livestock health and management and the water quality and soil quality benefits associated with those practices

• Whole farm planning for new organic vegetable farmers, including how farmers’ goals fit the environment and markets.

• Integrating animal feeding systems with land use and matching animals to land opportunities

Educational products that workshop participants developed using knowledge and experience gained at the “Reading the Farm” workshop included:

• Powerpoint presentation about organic farming systems using one of the “Reading the Farm” host farms as a case study

• Handouts and powerpoint presentations about the forage quality of cover crops

• Powerpoint presentation about cover crop management in forage based cropping systems

• Newsletter articles about on-farm cover crop trials, with an emphasis on forage quality

• Videos on poultry manure injection equipment and community-based watershed planning

One of the most notable achievements towards the performance target was the development of a whole-farm systems training program for new conservation practitioners in Pennsylvania. The training program, called ‘Ag 101: Understanding Pennsylvania Farm Operations,’ was coordinated by a “Reading the Farm” workshop participant and featured instruction from 4 other “Reading the Farm” workshop facilitators. The philosophy and goals of the ‘Ag 101’ training program were inspired by the “Reading the Farm” workshop but the training format was slightly modified. The training consisted of a series of webinar presentations to provide background information on production practices followed by facilitated farm visits. A series of webinars in the winter of 2011 covered the topics: Introduction to Pennsylvania Farms, The Pennsylvania Farmer, Livestock Production Systems, Equine and Specialty Species, and Visiting a Farm. A series of webinars in the summer of 2011 covered the topics: Field, Forage & Grains, Pest Management, Specialty Crop Operations, Agroforestry and Woodlot Management, Nutrient Management, Organic Farming, and Water Resource Management. Following each webinar series, participants in the training conducted a facilitated farm visit to 1 of 4 farms in various regions of Pennsylvania in February and again in July. Portions of the ‘Ag 101’ training program were attended by 174 ag service providers from 14 different organizations. Over half of the participants were from Pennsylvania NRCS or Pennsylvania Conservation Districts. The ‘Ag 101’ program offered 30 hours of training in total, with 60 participants attending 10 or more hours of training and 30 participants attending 20 or more hours of training. Webinars conducted in the ‘Ag 101’ training program are available online at the website http://extension.psu.edu/aec/conservation-training/ag-101. A brochure that describes the training program in further detail is attached as a supplemental document.

• Brochure for the ‘Ag 101’ training program developed for conservation practitioners by ‘Reading the Farm’ workshop participants
• 2011 Project Beneficiary Form
• Results of the follow-up survey distributed to workshop participants in December 2011.

Collaborators: