Facilitating Change: Reducing the Risks of Transitioning to Organic through a Comprehensive Farmer-and Extension-Based Training Program

Facilitating Change: Reducing the Risks of Transitioning to Organic through a Comprehensive Farmer-and Extension-Based Training Program

Summary

Inadequate domestic supply of organic food and feed grains presents a viable economic opportunity to U.S. row crop farmers. However, transitioning to successful organic production requires rapid acquisition of production, marketing and financial management skills.

The goal of this project is to increase farm income by compressing the management skill acquisition time needed to successfully adopt organic row crop production.

Sixteen 3-hour trainings were organized in 2009 to be broadcast from January to May 2010 from Iowa State University, using experts from Iowa State University and various branches of USDA: NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Services), NASS (National Agricultural Statistic Services), AMS (Agricultural Marketing Service), and ARS (Agricultural Research Service). In addition, experts from the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and eight organic farmers were recruited as presenters in the trainings. Training in both Adobe Connect™ and WebCT™ was accomplished by the coordinators to facilitate maximum dissemination of this training throughout Iowa.

Objectives/Performance Targets

The goal of this project is to increase farm income by compressing the management skill acquisition time needed to successfully adopt organic row crop production.

Objectives:
(1) Determine perceived organic production adoption barriers
(2) Develop a responsive web-based (Adobe Connect™) and face-to-face Extension-led training program
(3) Train and support interested producers, private and public agriculture professionals and organic farmer-mentors in the Iowa Organic Association, in maintaining good organic farming practices and prudent production, marketing, financial and risk mitigation strategies
(4) Evaluate the training through surveys and personal interviews with participating audiences

Accomplishments/Milestones

During the 2009 planning year, contact was made with 20 regional Extension offices throughout Iowa to determine barriers to transitioning to organic production and interest in hosting the “Transitioning to Organic Farming” trainings supported by USDA-SARE. The trainings were designed to address a broad range of production, marketing, finance, and federal and state opportunities supporting organic production. Sixteen 3-hour trainings were organized through a series of meetings with project coordinators. This organization included determining the sequence and content of each of the 16 trainings, and locating experts from Iowa State University and various branches of USDA: NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Services), NASS (National Agricultural Statistic Services), AMS (Agricultural Marketing Service), and ARS (Agricultural Research Service). In addition, experts from the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and eight organic farmers with a history of working with Extension were recruited as presenters in the trainings. Arrangements were made for broadcasting from an Iowa State classroom/studio, and coordinators attended training in two internet programs, Adobe Connect™ and WebCT™, to utilize for the organic trainings. Following the preparation, the training course was advertised to begin in January 2010.

Table 1 lists the topic names and speakers identified to lead each training session.

• Table 1

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

The main impact of the 2009 planning year included receiving input from Extension educators regarding the perceived barriers to organic transitioning, and educating Extension staff in Iowa regarding the upcoming training in 2010. The primary beneficiaries of the planned training will be the course participants, as they will be exposed to 48 hours of comprehensive training by experts from Iowa State University, Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, USDA offices, and farmers in each of the various subjects.

Facilitating the transition to organic production will educate producers in the benefits of long-term crop rotations and slow-release nitrogen sources, the result of which will be better soil tilth on the farm and cleaner water downstream. Additionally, because few, if any pesticides are used, the larger ecosystem will benefit from increased plant and animal diversity. Improved profitability of producers who have successfully transitioned to organic row crop production will result from the farm-gate premiums offered by the market. Associated agricultural businesses will also profit through increased revenues and employment by servicing organic producers, buyers and processors.

Collaborators: