Moving the NC Local Food System Toward Sustainablility: A Comprehensive Graduate course in Local Food Systems for Cooperative Extension Agents, Specialists, and other Educators

View the project final report

• 2014 annual report
• 2015 annual report

Commodities

Practices

• Crop Production: food product quality/safety
• Education and Training: extension, participatory research, workshop
• Farm Business Management: new enterprise development, cooperatives, marketing management, farm-to-institution, agricultural finance, market study, risk management
• Sustainable Communities: community planning, infrastructure analysis, leadership development, local and regional food systems, new business opportunities, partnerships, public participation, public policy, urban agriculture, urban/rural integration, social capital, social networks, sustainability measures

This proposal represents a collaboration of NC Cooperative Extension (NCCE) at NC State University (NCSU) and NC A&T State University, Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, Virginia and South Carolina Cooperative Extension, and individual growers. Consumer demand for locally grown food is increasing, and nationwide, represents one of the fastest growing segments of agriculture. Consequently, NCCE has named Local Foods its first Flagship Program. The project goal is to move NC toward a more economically and socially beneficial local food system. The primary objective is to build the capacity of Cooperative Extension in NC, and neighboring states, through development and implementation of a comprehensive graduate course in local food systems. NCCE requires county educators take a graduate course every five years. This proposed off-model course (six 2-day sessions over two semesters) has proven successful for in-depth Extension training (e.g. organic farming systems and others). The course will utilize interdisciplinary and systems approaches to local food education, including dialogue about environmental, societal, and economic impacts. Demonstrations/tours will reinforce each session. Students successfully completing all sessions will receive NCSU or NC A&T SU graduate credit; however, additional agents also will be encouraged to attend sessions outside the graduate course format. 

An important course output will be session-based locally adaptable training modules, available to all participants and others via the NCCE Local Foods Web Portal. Evaluation will include formative evaluation of course materials and implementation; summative evaluation to measure knowledge, skill, and aspiration changes related to local food systems; and a 6-month follow-evaluation to ascertain project impacts on the target audience.

The following behavior-based objectives support the project goal of equipping Extension agents and other educators with the knowledge and programming materials to effectively train others in building sustainable local food systems which respond to community needs and community assets. 

Project success within the project time period is defined as an increase in knowledge and aspirations among those attending the graduate course sessions (both Extension agents and other educators) and the successful development of training modules and distribution of these via the web. 

The project's training objectives are to increase the capacity of Extension educators to work with and educate growers, buyers, and community members in the development of high performing local food systems. At the completion of the project, the following objectives will be met: 

(1) Objective: Extension educators can knowledgably explain the benefits and challenges of localized food systems to a variety of audiences, including farmers. The inclusion of agents and community stakeholders, including growers, in both the graduate course session Planning and Advisory Committees and as trainers in the sessions ensures that agents will be exposed to the concerns, needs, and assets as perceived by stakeholders. 

Evaluation of outcomes: Outcomes evaluations will document Extension Agents’ and other participants’ knowledge improvement, skill development, and levels of aspirations related to local food system programming. A pre and post-test survey method will be used. The pre-post test will evaluate learning outcomes in the areas of benefits and challenges of local food systems, types of local food system initiatives and ways to create and implement initiatives that span Extension programming areas.  

Outputs: Training modules provided through the NCCE Local Foods Web Portal containing the information presented at all the course sessions, a description of the demonstrations/site tours, template program evaluation materials, and relevant contacts for additional support. Recorded course lectures will be available in perpetuity, multiplying outputs beyond NC, SC, and VA over time as new agents and community stakeholders access the training and implement local food programs and training in their communities. Graduate credit through NCSU and NCA&TSU will be offered to Extension agents and others who participate in the entire series. Professional development credit will be offered to agents who attend individual sessions.

(2) Objective: Extension educators can identify the structure and components of food systems and lead a collaborative process of aligning these with agricultural and general community strengths for local food system expansion. 

Participatory problem-solving sessions will be used to train participants in the process of aligning identified community assets with local food system components. These sessions will also convey methods for training community members to design food system initiatives. Course sessions will include guidance on how to design programming that develops food system leaders in the community and that can be evaluated for success over time. 

Evaluation of outcomes: Outcomes evaluations will document Extension Agents’ knowledge improvement, skill development, and levels of aspirations related to processes for evaluating community assets and connecting these to particular components of building a localized food system. A pre and post-test survey method will be used. The pre-post test will evaluate learning outcomes related to methods to successfully engage community partners and conduct community meetings around local foods initiatives.

Output: Training modules provided through the NCCE Local Foods Web Portal containing the information presented at all the course sessions, a description of the demonstrations/site tours, template program evaluation materials, and relevant contacts for additional support. Recorded course lectures will be available in perpetuity, multiplying outputs beyond NC, SC, and VA over time as new agents and community stakeholders access the training and implement local food programs and training in their communities. Graduate credit through NCSU and NCA&TSU will be offered to Extension agents and others who participate in the entire series. Professional development credit will be offered to agents who attend individual sessions.