Expanding Profitable Perennial Peanut Applications in the Southeast U.S. through Stakeholder Training and Capacity Building

Commodities

Practices

Few southern U.S. commodities rival perennial peanut for its diverse application in Ag systems, Return On Investment (ROI), and overall sustainability. Although this species has been commercially available for a few decades, agricultural adoption has been slow, in part, because establishment failure poses high economic risk due to high establishment costs. Additionally, there is a general poor understanding by farmers regarding proper land preparation and early management requirements. The University of Florida, along with Auburn University and University of Georgia propose to develop and deliver to county Extension faculty and Ag professional stakeholders clear, standardized, and easily accessible sources of information and training on how to establish and manage this valuable crop. A series of in-person training events held across the tri-state region will cover establishment scenarios under different agricultural systems. A Perennial Peanut Establishment and Management manual will be developed to provide actionable guidelines to ensure county Extension faculty and Ag professionals educational materials they can use and share with their clients to increase their establishment success rate and longer-term profit. The manual, along with timely information and educational resources will be hosted on a web site developed and dedicated to perennial peanut management. By project's end, a well-trained and confident workforce armed with the latest information and a network of experts at their disposal will result in greater perennial peanut establishment success and client ROI. A combination of in-person event participation tallies, online visits, survey responses, and interviews comprise most of the proposed evaluation methods.

The overall goal of this project is to develop training activities and educational materials addressing sustainable crop establishment requirements and management challenges for perennial peanut (Arachis glabrata) under various land-use. Specifically, we will demonstrate and train our stakeholders in land preparation, propagation material selection, sprigging, and early management requirements and concerns that cover hay production, pasture grazing, alley cover crop in orchard systems, and for wildlife-enhancement and as vegetative cover on solar voltaic farms, including 'solar grazing'. Our proposed project has the following Objectives:

1) draft a perennial peanut establishment manual and assign chapters to co-author leads, 2) develop an online, multimedia establishment decision tree for stakeholders and their clients considering perennial peanut, based on soil type, timing, irrigation availability, soil fertility, use, etc., 3) develop demonstration activities for an in-person training series (Alabama, Georgia, and Florida), and 4) evaluate project effectiveness through follow-up train-the-trainer interviews and surveys that will provide feedback for developing additional educational materials. Objective 3 training series requires in-person participation. However, demonstrations and event-related activities will be recorded and documented, which along with program core concepts and descriptions will be covered in the manual (Objective 2) and we will make on-line learning and training available if emergency restrictions limit in-person attendance.

Objective 1: Draft a perennial peanut establishment and management manual. The expected outcome is to have contained in one document enough information for trainers and their clients to determine if perennial peanut is a valid choice for their operation.

1a: Develop and populate the perennial peanut manual subcommittee, develop chapter topics, formatting and assign content leads (people responsible for identifying co-authors and ensuring chapter completion).

1b: Complete the manual first draft and deliver to carefully selected content reviewers for editing and to provide helpful feedback.

1c: Complete manual and have it ready for distribution as an electronic manual through the Perennial Peanut website (Objective. 3) and solicit it to SARE Outreach Steering Committee.

Objective 2: Develop a dedicated website and an online multimedia perennial peanut establishment decision tree for stakeholders and their clients. The expected outcome is to have an online location that provides timely updates on perennial peanut and visitors can use it as a hub for connecting to related information, associations, and service providers.

2a: Identify and design the topic sections and subsections to house at the website using our advisory committee (researchers, extension, producers, and Perennial Peanut Producers Assoc. representative).

2b: Identify and hire a web developer to create the web site based upon our identified needs (Objective 2a). Develop a decision tree using information from Objective 1 and advisory committee input.

2c: Beta-test the website and decision tree with multi-state extension agents and perennial peanut sprigging operations. The completed decision tree will reside on the new website.

Objective 3: Develop demonstration activities for an in-person training series. The expected outcome from this Objective is for the trainers to greatly increase their knowledge about perennial peanut establishment and management requirements, along with troubleshooting. They should gain commodity confidence through networking at these events.

3a: Planning committee design agenda and timing of at least four major in-person, perennial peanut events as part of our in-person series.

3b: Design and prepare supporting demonstrations at event sites and solicit speakers, along with finalizing agendas.

3c: Promote and advertise to Georgia, Alabama, and Florida county extension faculty and Ag Service Providers to optimize attendance numbers at these events.

Objective 4: Evaluate project effectiveness through follow-up 'Train the Trainers' interviews and surveys. The expected outcome is for those trained through this project to demonstrate increased knowledge that translates to a greater proportion of good land preparation and management skills being displayed by their clients. This may also translate into cost savings by avoiding costly mistakes.

4a: Develop techniques for tracking and revisiting those who attend our in-person events and use the information to solicit interviews within a year of event attendance.

4b: Develop surveys for events and for visitors to the new website to gather feedback on how to improve their online experience.

4c: Follow up through emails and call with trainers one year after this project ends to determine if the information they gained is being used in their own education programs and if they value the website.

4d: Use producer county extension faculty surveys one year post-project to determine if clients have increased their knowledge of perennial peanut and the requirements for establishment preparations.