WAgN: Sustainable ag network by and for women producers

The project will facilitate the development of a peer-to-peer information sharing and support network and create educational programs and events for women farmers and agricultural professionals in sustainable agriculture to increase their knowledge about sustainable agriculture practices, business management, entrepreneurial strategies, and leadership. Milestones: 1) 50 women farmers will participate in 5 regional focus groups to express their topics of interest and preferred learning formats for network events and activities. 2) The statewide steering committee and the project team will meet to plan the activities for the yea including field days, network events and the annual conference. 3) 3 leaders from each of the five regions will participate in a leadership training workshop to build networking capacity in five regions. 4) Regional steering committees will work with the project team to hold farm-field days/networking events in at least 2 regions during year 1 and all 5 regions by years 2. Approximately 50 women farmers and agricultural professionals will participate in each field day/event. 5) 150 people will attend the annual WAgN conference associated with the PASA meeting. Participants at the conference will respond to needs assessment surveys for the purpose of continually assessing and improving the network. 6) 500 farmers who have participated in network events will respond to a email/mail survey to report changes in knowledge, skills, attitudes, intentions, and behaviors relating to sustainable production practices, business management, entrepreneurship, leadership, and involvement in the network. Performance Target: Of the 500 farmers who have participated in network activities, 300 will become members of the network, 100 will report changes in their production systems to become more sustainable and 100 will report changes in their business-planning. At the regional level, 3 of the 5 regions will have viable regional networks.

Performance targets from proposal:

Performance Target
7) Of the 500 farmers and agricultural professionals who have participated in network
activities, 200 will become members of the network, 100 will report changes in their production systems to become more sustainable and 100 will report changes in their business-planning. At the regional level, 3 of the 5 regions will have viable regional networks.

Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture or SARE.