2025 Training Extension Agents and Other Agriculture Professionals in TN about Sustainable Agriculture Practices, Concepts and Ideas

Commodities

Practices

The University of Tennessee looks to continue the sustainable agriculture training the SARE program offers to Extension agents, specialists and other agriculture professionals. In meeting training needs we gather input from regional agriculture program leaders, Extension agents, program partners, producers, other state co-coordinators and our advisory committee.

The program assistant will promote awareness of the SARE program, along with a secondary focus on the SARE grant programs, encouraging utilization and promotion of this program while tracking grant recipients within the state. The state co-coordinators working with the program assistant will seek to provide opportunities for more in-depth training related to sustainable agriculture. This will help to develop training with a more direct program focus. All training opportunities provided will be in-line with the overall mission of SARE. We will work with agriculture professionals that find other training opportunities to participate in as long as these trainings relate to the mission of SARE. These will be treated on a case-by-case basis and the determination of these trainings in meeting the mission of SARE will be determined by the state co-coordinators and the program assistant. All trainees will be required to report on their training opportunities so program impact can be determined and reported. Impacts will be provided in the annual SARE report and Extension reporting areas. Department information sheets will be developed on major program impacts/research. A recent change in the make-up of our advisory committee will assist in planning educational trainings sessions and increase outreach for the SARE program.

Budget Narrative:

• Train up to 54 Extension Agents in three areas of our state on sustainable agriculture looking at "Value-Added Agriculture, Agritourism and Direct Marketing Enterprises: A Practical Approach to Supporting and Enhancing Farm Enterprises in Tennessee." A variety of value-added agriculture topics will be discussed and include discussions on live animal sales, sales tax, business licenses, farmers markets, food regulations, budgets and farm enterprises. The teaching team will be composed of value-added marketing specialists, TN Department of Agriculture Staff, Food Science Department Specialists with the University of Tennessee and other interested partners. The training will be held in three different locations across the state in order to be more accessible to Extension Agents. A post-evaluation will be completed at each session to gather information on what was learned, what could be improved and to gather interest for other sustainable agriculture trainings to be conducted.
• Sustainable Agriculture Trainings for Agriculture Professionals will provide an opportunity for up to seven agriculture professionals to attend sustainable agriculture trainings. These trainings could be identified by SARE personnel or by the agriculture professional wishing to attend an event that fits the mission of SARE. Travel expenses will be covered for those attending and a report provided to SARE on what was learned and how the trainer can use that information in an educational setting.
• Sustainable Agriculture Training opportunity for the TN SARE Advisory Committee. A training for committee members would be organized to visit sustainable farms in one area of our state or attend a training or field day offered for professional development through the University of Tennessee or Tennessee State University. Topics for educational sessions for committee members could be soil health, farm management/business and forage management practices among others. These topics were taken from a survey of our SARE Advisory Committee. The committee would also have an advisory meeting to evaluate, plan and provide an outlook for the TN SARE program and look at ways to market the SARE program in Tennessee.