What's Old is New Again - an on the Ground Needs Assessment for New York

Commodities

Practices

• Education and Training: display, extension, focus group, networking, other

Project Focus:

This project is a broad, one‑year needs assessment of NY agricultural service providers and the farmers they support and will inform the development of a multi‑year SARE project. The assessment will be conducted through direct interviews, focus groups, and in-person and online surveys of farmers and service providers, as well as conversations and analyses focused on the needs of the wider New York agricultural industry around supporting sustainable agriculture practices.

Groups reached by this project include agricultural educators within the Cornell Cooperative Extension system, as well as other organizations, agencies, and commercial providers who work with producers. Farmer interviews and surveys will emphasize engaging with a wide range of producers across crop types, geographies, and technical needs.

Solution and Approach:

This needs assessment will closely integrate with SARE outreach activities and attendance at local and regional agricultural events across NY. These events will serve as key venues for in‑person engagement, allowing the project team to directly recruit farmers and local farm organizations to participate in surveys, focus groups, or interviews, while also raising awareness of SARE resources among new groups of producers and service providers.

The assessment will clarify what each group now prioritizes in their work and identify the tools, resources, and training needed to strengthen producers. Created resources will include a final needs assessment report shared with participants and the broader agricultural service provider community, and an open-source document mapping organizational and programmatic resources that support agricultural service providers.

Success in this project will be measured by translating the needs expressed by NY's agricultural service provider community into a tangible multi-year project that enhances professional development opportunities for service providers supporting sustainable and resilient production systems.

150 service provider participants will participate in the needs assessment process overall.

800 service providers will be made aware of the needs assessment through direct email outreach, tabling at events, in person outreach, and through media outlets like Morning Ag Clips. Of these, 120 will participate in the survey tools.

35 service providers will participate via in person or online interviews or focus groups.

100 farmers will participate in the needs assessment process through in person survey tools at outreach events or as project stakeholders offering direct feedback.

10 of these farmers will participate through in person or online interviews or focus groups.

300 service providers will access the system overview wiki, as evidenced by page impressions, and 50 providers will review the closing needs assessment document.

Overall, a regionally broad group of 150 service provider participants will participate in the needs assessment process to share the information, skills, or support they want to better serve their farmer clients. An additional 100 farmers will participate in the process to share what they want from service providers and how they prefer to interact with this information.