2014 Annual Report for ONE14-206
Farm-to-glass Classroom
Summary
Through the Farm-to-Glass Classroom, the Carey Institute for Global Good sought to address the need for programming to improve farmers’ technical capacity to grow hops and malt-grains to meet increasing demand for these crops by NYS craft brewers and distillers. The long-term goals of the project are to enable more farmers to take advantage of this emerging market opportunity and increase the supply of NYS hops and small grains.
The Carey Institute proposed to engage local and statewide experts in the fields of brewing, malting, crop production and farm enterprise planning to develop and deliver three educational workshops for partnering farmers. To date, one farm-to-glass classroom workshops has been offered, engaging 10 experts and 40 farmers who are either considering or currently producing hops. Three more workshops are in development for early 2015. One new farmer partnership was established with Helderberg Hops Alliance.
November 8, 2014 Hops Workshop I
January 31, 2015 Farm Enterprise Planning
February 14, 2015 Small Grains
March 28, 2015 Hops Workshop II
Objectives/Performance Targets
Objective 1: To improve farmers’ knowledge about growing, harvesting and marketing malt-grade barley, other specialty grains and hops in New York State.
Methods: Provide educational opportunities to partnering farmers to learn more about malt grain and hop production, harvesting, processing, storage, marketing, licensing and business planning.
Accomplishments: To date, one workshop has been hosted (Starting a Small Scale Hop Yard). Based on evaluations administered after the workshop, the information presented was effective at increasing farmers’ knowledge of producing hops. More information was desired on business planning and marketing of hops.
Objective 2: To increase supplies of New York State grown malting barley, other specialty malting grains and hops.
Methods: It is hypothesized that providing information about malt grain and hop production, harvesting, processing, storage, marketing, licensing and business planning to farmers will improve their knowledge of, and confidence to enter, the malt grain and hops growing industry, in turn increasing ingredient supplies New York State’s licensed farm breweries.
Accomplishments: To date, one workshop has been hosted (Starting a Small Scale Hop Yard). A follow up survey will be administered to assess whether it helped contribute to an increase in the production of hops.
Accomplishments/Milestones
|
Proposed Milestones Timetable |
Actual/Projected Accomplishments |
|
Seminar planning will commence in March 2014 |
Started in June 2014; on-going |
|
Workshop 1: Starting a Small Scale Hop Yard, With HopRidge Farms
|
Took place on November 8, 2014 |
|
Written evaluation administered pre- and post-workshop |
Written evaluations were administered at after the workshop |
|
Follow-up evaluations will be administered in April 2015 to measure change in # of hop hills planted. |
Follow-up evaluations will be administered in June 2015 and November 2015 |
|
Workshop 2: May 2014 Barley and other specialty malting grain production |
Postponed to a February 14, 2015; three panelists secured; continuing outreach to other experts and creating materials to publicize event. (*Note: will be updated to reflect collaboration with Cornell Coop Extension on their Feb 6 workshop. Will request approval for any changes in use of funding.) |
|
Written evaluations administered pre- and post-workshop |
Post-workshop evaluations will be administered at the workshop |
|
Follow-up evaluations will be administered in November 2014 to measure the change in supply of small grains |
Follow-up evaluations will be administered in June 2015 and November 2015 |
|
Workshop 3: October 2014 Business planning and marketing
|
Postponed to January 2015; currently outreaching to Cornell Small Farms Program to secure panelists. |
|
Written evaluations pre- and post-workshop to measure the effectiveness of the business planning and marketing workshop |
Post-workshop evaluations will be administered at the workshop |
|
Follow-up evaluations will be administered in June 2015 to measure participating farmers’ progress in business planning and marketing activities |
Follow-up evaluations will be administered in April 2015 and October 2015. |
|
Workshop 4: Intermediate Hops Wokrhops |
Re-scheduled for April 2015; outreaching to partnering farmers to refine topics and ask for suggestions on panelists (e.g. who would they like to learn from?) |
|
Written evaluations to measure the effectiveness of the hops growing workshop will be administered immediately before and immediately after the seminar. |
Post-workshop evaluations will be administered at the workshop. |
|
Follow-up evaluations will be administered in November 2015. |
Follow-up evaluations will be administered in October 2015. |
|
A final report detailing the project, including its evaluation results and findings will be assembled and published in the fall of 2015. |
First workshop evaluation results tabulated and reviewed preliminarily in December 2014. Final Report to come. |
|
Surprises & Changes to Work Plan |
|
|
Later start and reorganizing of workshop schedules due to personnel changes within the program |
|
|
Administering two evaluations in one workshop session—is it practical? (Seems like we’re lucky to get people to fill out one!) |
|
|
The introductory level hops workshop (Starting a Small Scale Hop Yard) was added to the work plan based on feedback from participating farmers and the need to set the stage for a more advanced workshop as proposed in the grant work plan. |
|
|
RE: Objective 2–Increasing supplies of hops and small grains: Harvesting and processing infrastructure is critical to this objective. The relative lack of infrastructure in NYS must be taken into consideration when carrying out and evaluating Objective 2. We should track how many partnering farmers enter into hops and small grain production and adjust timing, number and focus of follow-up evaluations to track longer-term changes in supply as infrastructure becomes more available. |
|
Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes
Raising awareness and providing educational opportunities are key steps leading to increased supplies of hops and small grains. Further, providing farmers with information on appropriate cultural practices and quality control measures will help reduce the risk of crop failure and ensure a successful crop. Anecdotal feedback suggests that past Farm-to-Glass workshops have spurred a number of decisions to enter into hops or small grains production (or not enter production). The workshop evaluations will help document the short- and long-term impact of these workshops and refine future offerings.
A few highlights from the post-workshop survey of “Starting a Small Scale Hop Yard,”
Of the 34 survey respondents:
-10 are currently growing some hops; 24 are not growing hops;
-After the workshop, 28 are still interested in growing hops and 1 was no longer interested in growing hops; (5 did not answer);
-12 participants plan to start hops yards in 2015;
-Follow up: Two participants continued their exploration of hops (at 2014 NEHA Hops Conference), after which, they decided that hops production was not for them.
Collaborators:
Small Grains Transition Coordinator
63 Huyck Road
Rensselaerville, NY 12147
Office Phone: 5187975100