A Distance Learning Approach to Whole Farm Planning

A Distance Learning Approach to Whole Farm Planning

Summary

2015 goals for this program were to have 30 agricultural educators training 2-3 agricultural producers each on a course or module of whole farm/ranch planning for a total of 70 agricultural producers reached by the end of the program. Currently we have reached 152 producers through support of this program and the educators in it.

Objectives/Performance Targets

In 2015, HMI focused on mentoring and supporting the agricultural educators in our program to help them work with agricultural producers. We have 34 active participants in the program.

Our goal was to have 34 agricultural educators training 2-3 agricultural producers each on a course or module for a total of 70 agricultural producers reached. However, we pursued additional funding for 5 more educators who were trained in Whole Farm/Ranch Planning so we trained 40 agricultural educators in the whole farm planning process. From that 40 we now have 34 who continue to learn from each. Of that 34 we have 11 agricultural educators currently having trained/co-trained152 agricultural producers in various aspects of Whole Farm/Ranch Planning during which those producers actually developed plans or tested whole farm/ranch decisions, and they were given feedback by the agricultural producers on those plans/decisions. We have another 9 agricultural educators (for a total of 20 educators) who have committed to completing 2 plans each with producers before the end of the grant.

In 2015, our agricultural educators had the opportunity to train several agricultural producers and in the process they were able to further their own learning. Once tasked with creating plans with agricultural producers, our agricultural educators began to see the different challenges in creating whole farm/ranch plans. We facilitated peer and mentor support through our webinars, on our LMS Instructure Canvas though the discussion forum and through email correspondence. This allowed the agricultural educators to ask questions, share knowledge and learn how they were going to complete their tasks with agricultural producers.

Our agricultural educators are from several different states, see the table below:

Our agricultural educators are associated with many different agencies which can be seen in the table below:

We surveyed all the agricultural educators in our program in early 2015. Here are the results:

Here’s what the agricultural educators had to say about the program:

“The program has me seeing all applications of agriculture, and in some cases life in general in a different way. I am constantly analyzing pastures as I drive by for their brittleness, how much rest have they seen, what would I do as a treatment for a problem, etc. The financial aspect of what do you really need, and being able to apply the testing questions and be comfortable with the result is great. Biological monitoring far surpasses any other monitoring that can be done over time on a given landscape in my opinion. As far as land planning I hope to bring that more into play on my own as I transition into the family ranch and have the opportunity to help neighbors with [their] future land goals as well.”

“I understand the holistic process more fully now. It has opened doors to tools and strategies I didn’t have before”

“It has made me look at farm management in a whole new way. Really looking at entire farm and all the components the make it work. Extremely powerful and helpful.”

“It has given me tools I can use to improve my business and help others to think and work more holistically in their businesses.”

“I enjoyed the different teaching methods used (videos, fact sheets, conversations, webinar) and I have used many of the resources with farmers and ranchers.”

“The information covered in the program is so useful to use personally as well as to be as an agriculture and natural resource educator and consultant. I believe this information will be very valuable to share with other producers to help them reach their goals and be more profitable while better managing the resources they have.”

“I find I am observing, thinking, and communicating differently-.this course has changed the way I listen to my producers and I find I was liberated somehow and ask more questions. I feel more confident in planning.”

“I see [things] in a whole new way. It has changed the way decisions are made, there is a process involved now.”

“We need to revise to include ag educators by name and how we are using this format of assistant teaching to deepen the educators experience. Also more detail from your spreadsheet here or from the plans that people have sent.”

“I see HMI as a resource that can help put me in touch with professionals that can help me as well as producers that could demonstrate the concepts to producers with whom I am working. I also met many professionals through the course and will continue to get to know them better while we complete our farm plans.”

“I have been able to work with more producers by understanding better how to communicate with them about their business.”

“I have a whole list of natural resource professionals I didn’t know before AND I learned more about those people that I did know but not as well.”

In 2016, we will survey the participants to see how they have progressed over the last year, and see what opportunities we can provide. Our agricultural educators will continue working with agricultural producers to complete plans. Also in 2016, 9 more agricultural educators have committed to further their learning and train/co-train a minimum of 2 agricultural producers. We will continue our peer and mentor support using our LMS Instructure Canvas though the discussion forum and through email correspondence.

Accomplishments/Milestones

The breakdown of courses and/or modules the agricultural educators taught/assisted/coached is as follows:

Throughout the year we used Instructure Canvas and Adobe Connect as our mentoring distance learning platform. We made sure that all webinars and mentor meetings were interactive, and anyone who handed in completed work from their agricultural producers received feedback. We recorded all webinars and mentor meetings and archived them for those who couldn’t make the sessions. The recordings allowed our trainer trainees to watch and listen and to be able to email mentors or peers with questions and provide input.

Overall response to surveys shows that there was high satisfaction rate among agricultural producers for these courses and modules ranging from 90-100% satisfaction. Actual behavior change in terms of created plans/drafts varied depending on subject.

Increased knowledge or confidence in developing plans remained high throughout the year as noted below:

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

Below is greater detail of the results from the different Whole Farm/Ranch Business Planning Series that some of the agricultural educators were involved in.

Whole Farm/Ranch Business Planning Series in Colorado, California and Oregon

Four of our agricultural educators co-taught with HMI Professional Certified Educators in the Whole Farm/Ranch Business Planning series that we had in Colorado, California and Oregon. The HMI Whole Farm/Ranch Business Planning Series is designed to help both new and experienced farmers and ranchers learn business skills. Participants developed a draft business plan, a whole farm/ranch goal, as well as both financial and marketing plans. The agricultural educators had opportunities to present portions of the training and review producer plans in small groups and do follow up work with some of the producers.

Whole Farm/Ranch Business Planning Series Colorado

Here’s what the participants had to say:

“I learned how to implement decision making tools.”

“I intend to set a goal and following through with it, making my life better.”

“I intend to include my family in decision-making, taking more time to evaluate decisions before implementation.”

“I’m going to start with writing goals and then see if actions serve that goal.”

“I learned we are not alone.”

“I learned a new approach to defining goals and pursuing them.”

“I learned that there is a means that allows me to improve – get smarter. That I can have a successful farm without so much commercial inputs.”

“I learned how Holistic Management can be applied to all aspects of our lives.”

“The most valuable thing I learned was how to delineate between different categories to extract more data from the situation.”

Evaluations showed the following results:

Whole Farm/Ranch Business Planning Series in California

Here’s what the participants had to say:

“Really enjoyed working through real life examples with the other farmers.”

“How to work these spreadsheets into my financial plan.”

“Creating an effective system of monitoring my weak link.”                      

“How to breakdown the complexity of financial planning into digestible parts.”                       

“Clarity on the spreadsheet – leading backwards to revising goal statement and rephrasing test questions.”

“Financial planning can be fun!”             

“The framework/spreadsheet! Love!”                 

“That you need to revisit the plan every month!”             

“Framework of financial planning.”                     

“Brainstorming, planning, creative financial sheets, practical/actual.”

“More confident in executing any plan.”

“More confident in matching mktg/biz planning to Holistic Goals.”             

“I intend to refine & practice my “elevator speech” to describe the product/service being offered. Good ideas for using webpage to showcase.”           

“In intend to create promotional materials and change the way I explain what I am doing.”                    

“I intend to take more time to plan and assess doing more market surveys.            “

“Walking/talking thru marketing & business planning together, critiquing a business plan.

Utilizing others to critique your biz plan.”

“Networking & clarifying weak spots in management & biz plan & development.”

“How to structure a business plan & derive digestible action plans from it.”

Evaluations showed the following results:

Whole Farm/Ranch Business Planning Series in Oregon

Here’s what the participants had to say:

“I intend to update my website and develop better strategy.”

“I intend to do more homework and look at repricing.”

“I will explore added-value & local marketing.”

“I liked looking at the pros & cons of various marketing methods.”

“Examining example of successful marketing helped me see how I might approach it.”

“I learned how to write a business plan for a bank.”

“I learned about setting up a good booth and knowing our market really well.”

“I have a better understanding of marketing.”

“How to use our local resources to develop a group of products.”

“Making time to plug in the #s is going to pay off in the long run.”

“I intend to develop better planning & monitoring practice.”

“I will be looking at investments & planning for profit.”

“I intend to have better record keeping.”

“I learned resources for assistance in making business plan.”

“I learned the need for a good executive summary.”

“I have a better understanding on how to create a business plan.”

“Importance of business plan to have when presenting to financial institutions.”

Evaluations showed the following results:

• Oregon Whole Farm/Ranch Planning
• California Whole Farm/Ranch Planning

Collaborators: