Building the Capacity of Educators to Help Women Farmers and Ranchers in Southern States Improve Agricultural Sustainability Using ANNIES Methodologies

Building the Capacity of Educators to Help Women Farmers and Ranchers in Southern States Improve Agricultural Sustainability Using ANNIES Methodologies

Summary

Extension educators trained in two professional development programs provided through this project used skills and methodologies gained to offer Annie’s Project courses for farm and ranch women in their states and local communities.  New state coordinators in Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina, and South Carolina were added to the national Annie’s Network.  Annie’s Project courses were held for the first time in Alabama, Arizona, and Louisiana.  In Mississippi, Extension educators from Mississippi State University and new educator partners from Alcorn State University provided Annie’s Programming in local areas.  Women farmer and rancher participants of local Annie’s Project programs became a part of state and local networks, and were recognized for their agricultural contributions (http://msucares.com/topics/index_womeninag.html)

• See Southern Region articles in Annie’s Project Newsletter

Objectives/Performance Targets

Educators demonstrated knowledge gained about how to teach risk management techniques to women farmers and ranchers, Annie’s Project target clientele, by delivering basic Annie’s Project courses in their local areas.  At least one advanced Annie’s Project course, Managing for Today and Tomorrow, a farm transitions program, was also taught as a result of additional training provided to Extension educators from five states.

Accomplishments/Milestones

Face-to-face professional development sessions were completed and reported in the first year of this project. Year two has been devoted to building capacity of educators through technical assistance for local implementation and building the regional and national network of Annie’s Educators.  Results are being collected and will be reported soon in the final project report.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

1. New state coordinators participated in national network phone calls, and the 2014 national Women in Ag training held in Indianapolis.
2. Annie’s Project courses were held in each of the four regions of Mississippi, as well as in new states, including Alabama, Arizona, and Louisiana. 
3. Alcorn State University held their first Annie’s Project training in partnership with Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana (see photos in uploaded files)
4. Farm and ranch women participants of Annie’s Project programs in Mississippi continued to learn together, engaging in other learning opportunities, including quarterly programs now being offered for MS Women for Ag.

• Katrina McLin Alcorn Annie’s Partner at LSU tour
• Alcorn Annie’s Participants at Southern U. Baton Rouge

Collaborators: