Training Manuals and Professional Development Activities for Teaching Organic Farming and Marketing

Training Manuals and Professional Development Activities for Teaching Organic Farming and Marketing

Summary

In 2012 CASFS initiated a major effort to update and expand its two instructional manuals that were developed ten years ago and are now used worldwide. The two curricula, Teaching Organic Farming & Gardening: Resources for Instructors (TOFG) and Teaching Direct Marketing and Small Farm Viability: Resources for Instructors (TDM), are being revised and new instructional material developed for the print and online versions. This 2012 annual progress report outlines initial planning and development meetings, selection of and meetings with unit writers, and some unit revisions initiated between October 1 and December 31, 2012.

Objectives/Performance Targets

This project will result in online and print teaching resources for sustainable agriculture education and on-farm training for a wide range of audiences. The objectives and performance targets for this project all assume the completion of the revision and production of manuals for online and print publication in 2014, which we are on track to do. From our original timeline for this period we have accomplished all of our planned work for 2012.
Timeline for October 2012- December 2012
• Consult reviews and evaluations of manuals and detailed assessments of selected units (some from 2006-2010, others solicited in 2011-2012).
• Complete detailed work plan for revision and updating of existing manuals.
• For units not written by CASFS staff, contract original author or select another appropriate agricultural professional for revision.
• Begin revision of units for which planning is complete or for units that require simple updating.

The Objectives/Performance Targets included in proposal and in our Project Overview remain in place for our work in 2013 to 2015, including:
• Reach over 1,000 educators with mailed and online information about the manuals in 2014 and attract another 1,000 to view the manuals from links on other web sites such as eOrganic.org, Start2Farm, SARE, and other sites serving educators and producers by 2015.
• Disseminate the new manuals online and in print to over 2000 users by 2015
• Train 300 extension personnel and other educators in the three-state region through five one-day trainings, five conference presentations, and two webinars by 2015.
• Build in evaluation of project by tracking downloads of the materials from the UC eScholarship and CASFS websites, surveying those using the manuals, and collecting workshop evaluations.

Accomplishments/Milestones

With funding from Western SARE, the following work was undertaken from October 1, 2012 to December 31, 2012, the period reflected in this first annual progress report. The project team held five development meetings to plan for the revision, including the following steps:
• Review of overall revision needed for TOFG and TDM (content and format)
• Revision plan for content of TOFG, including work with original authors or new authors and CASFS instructional staff to revise units.
• Revision plan for content of TDM, including expansion to include more on business, social justice, and alternative marketing. Plan to work with original author or new author along with CASFS instructional staff
• Clarifying specific roles of CASFS instructional staff in writing and revising sections of the manuals (assignments for specific units).
• Developing a set of “case studies” for all units in Section 1 of TOFG to increase the breadth and social/geographic relevance of topics addressed.

Project staff received feedback on the curriculum from AEH staff and instructors, current students, and previous users of the curriculum manuals (through interviews). Web searches have been conducted to identify other marketing based instructional materials for use in this revision. There were no ‘classroom curriculum’ guides, but there are several documents written for farmers by university extension services, training programs, and federal and non-profit technical assistance programs that can be used to glean current information.

Project leaders have held meetings with and corresponded with authors to arrange assignments and clarify content for specific unit revisions and additions. For the TDM, approximately 7 authors are confirmed and 3 will start work this month on their revisions/new chapters. For the TOFG, all authors for units in Section 1 will start this month on their units and author assignments for Sections 2 and 3 will be finalized and revisions initiated. The revision of Managing Plant Pathogens has been completed by the unit author and a powerpoint presentation for this unit is being developed to serve as a template for others.

The work remaining to do includes completing the full revision of the 30 units to be included in the new version of the manuals, along with new units and new instructional materials. Following publication of the manuals we will carry out the other objectives listed in the section above.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

Once the revision of the training manuals is completed, educators nationwide will have access to these instructional materials, especially as free online resources. The main thrust of our targeted outreach will be to agriculture educators in California, Oregon and Washington, where we will involve Cooperative Extension and NRCS personnel; colleges and universities with programs in sustainable agriculture, student farms, and on-farm education programs; and urban agriculture and farm training programs. We will conduct outreach through mailed and online information as well as through web sites such as eOrganic.org, and Start2Farm, SARE, and other sites. We will directly train educators in Washington, Oregon, and California through the training developed to teach instructors about the manuals, including one-day workshops, conference sessions, and webinars.

Collaborators: