A Bilingual Regenerative Agriculture and Farm O&M Training Program for Agricultural Professionals and Small Farmers

Commodities

Practices

• Education and Training: technical assistance
• Farm Business Management: financial management
• Production Systems: agroecosystems
• Sustainable Communities: community development

This project will create a bilingual training program for agricultural professionals to teach and Spanish-speaking farmers to learn how to implement practices of regenerative and sustainable agriculture as well as the needs and practices of farm operations, management and business (accounting, financing, recordkeeping, branding, marketing, distribution, etc.). Instruction and learning will emphasize in-the-field learning, activities and peer-to-peer exchange as a preferred pedagogical approach, respecting farmers’ knowledge and experiences in starting and running their operations. This project builds on activities and results from 3 years (2021-24) of bilingual workshops (with partial funding from WSARE) on regenerative agriculture and farm management conducted by SSRF and its partners for approximately 60 Latine operators of small farms in Santa Clara, San Benito, Monterey and Santa Cruz counties in California. These workshops were initially taught with a standard classroom pedagogic model, including both lecture-presentations and hands-on applications but pivoted to applied activities and practices, especially in the field. We found that farmer workshop participants knew how to farm (a number were ALBA graduates) but they had not learned how to farm as a “business.”

 Project objectives are to:

1. Increase the ability of  agricultural extension agents, educators and professionals as well as Latine farmers themselves to effectively adopt and implement practices of sustainable and regenerative farming in the field.  The curriculum will provide pedagogic tools, tactics and exercises needed for ag educators to collaborate with aspiring, new and beginning Latine farmers, employees, agricultural students and others. 
2. Validate the curriculum modules with ag professionals and farmers to ensure their utility and effectiveness. 
3. Revise modules and pedagogical approach to reflect validation, criticisms, suggestions. 
4. Make the finished modules widely available to agricultural educators, professionals, agencies and organizations.
5. Foster a community-of-practice by supporting farmers in peer-to-peer learning and knowledge sharing through workshops, meetings and public events.

Project Goal: To create a bilingual, modular training curriculum for agricultural professionals that recognizes the knowledge, practices and experiences of Latine farmers in California through hands-on and in-the-field instruction.

Project Objectives

1. Increase the ability of  agricultural extension agents, educators and professionals as well as Latine farmers themselves to effectively adopt and implement practices of sustainable and regenerative farming in the field and how to integrate these farming practices with farm management and business skills. The  curriculum modules will be field and practice based (rather than classroom-based) emphasizing hands-on investigation and learning at really-operating farms.  The curriculum will provide pedagogic tools, tactics and exercises needed for ag educators to collaborate with aspiring, new and beginning employees, agricultural students and others. 
2. Validate the curriculum modules with ag professionals and farmers to ensure their utility and effectiveness through direct consultations and ground testing. 
3. Revise modules and pedagogical approach to reflect validation, criticisms, suggestions made by reviewers and farmers and results of ground tests. 
4. Disseminate the completed curriculum modules widely to agricultural educators, professionals, agencies and organizations through print, internet, social media, presentations and field days.
5. Foster a community-of-practice among professionals and farmers to support peer-to-peer learning and knowledge sharing through workshops, meetings and public events.