Northeast Train-the-Trainer Program for Farm Vector Safety and Vector-Borne Disease Prevention

Commodities

Practices

• Education and Training: extension, technical assistance, workshop
• Pest Management: disease vectors, integrated pest management

Project Focus

Vector-borne diseases (VBDs), including tick- and mosquito-borne diseases, are an increasing and under-addressed risk for farmers, farm workers, livestock, and agricultural landscapes across the Northeast. Volatile weather, changing land use, and expanding wildlife-livestock interfaces are increasing the risk of VBDs for farmers and farm animals.

Cooperative Extension educators are trusted advisors for farmers on animal health, worker safety, and farm management decisions. However, recent focus groups and key informant interviews conducted by the project team with Extension educators across the Northeast reveal a clear professional capacity gap. While educators recognize VBDs as a concern, they report limited time, insufficient subject-matter confidence, and a lack of farm-specific, actionable materials that can be readily integrated into existing outreach and advisory roles [1]. Educators consistently reported being willing but not adequately prepared to address farmers' questions about risks to livestock, vector habitat management around barns and pastures, worker protection protocols, and wildlife-livestock interactions. High-risk agricultural audiences, including livestock handlers, farm families, and forestry and logging workers, were repeatedly identified as needing support.

A complementary analysis of national Extension VBD resources [2,3] further underscores the gap in vector education. Despite the growing relevance of VBDs to agriculture, most Extension materials nationwide target the public rather than farm systems. Of more than 1,400 Extension VBD products reviewed, only 18% were designed specifically for agricultural workers or livestock operations, with particularly limited coverage in the Northeast. This leaves service providers without the applied, agriculture-specific resources needed to support sustainable farm decision-making.

Solution and Approach

This project addresses a critical professional development gap through a train-the-trainer workforce development program for Extension educators and agricultural service providers. The program builds educator confidence, practical skills, and decision-making capacity, enabling participants to integrate vector-borne disease (VBD) prevention into existing outreach and advisory roles.

The project will deliver five regionally distributed, hands-on workshops tailored to Northeast agricultural systems, including livestock, multi-crop farms, agroforestry, and peri-urban farms. Workshops will use problem-based learning, allowing participants to apply vector habitat assessment, livestock risk evaluation, and worker safety planning to realistic farm scenarios.

Participants will receive ready-to-use, farm-specific educational tools, including field identification cards, biosecurity and worker safety posters, bilingual (English/Spanish) materials, customizable slide decks, and short instructional videos, all designed for immediate application and reuse across Extension programs.

All materials will be compiled into a Northeast Farm Vector Safety Toolkit with lesson plans, case studies, example protocols, risk-mapping guidance, and referral flowcharts linking Extension, veterinary, and public health services. By strengthening educators' capacity to deliver prevention-focused, farm-appropriate guidance, this project advances SARE's priorities in worker safety, animal health, reduced reliance on pesticides, and long-term agricultural resilience in the Northeast.

75 service providers will self-report and verify, with supporting documents, that they have changed the way they work with farmers as a direct result of their participation in this project.

Verified changes will include one or more of the following:

• Proactively integrating vector and vector-borne disease (VBD) risk reduction into existing Extension programming on animal health, IPM, biosecurity, farm safety, or other relevant programming,
• Using project-developed tools (e.g., field ID cards, decision guides, worker safety materials) in direct farmer consultations or educational events
• Providing farm-specific guidance on vector habitat management, livestock exposure risk, and worker protection
• Making informed referrals or coordinating responses with veterinary and public health partners

Collectively, these service providers will reach at least 2,600 farmers and farm workers across the Northeast during the project period. A substantial portion of these producers manage livestock, poultry, or mixed systems, representing an estimated >150,000 animals influenced by improved vector risk communication, prevention planning, and biosecurity decision-making.