Progress 09/01/15 to 02/28/21

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for this project is educators and agricultural service providers and NGOs interested in starting or expanding programs serving beginning farm and ranch women. In the timeframe of thisproject,2200 unique individuals were provided with education and/or technical assistance through conference presentations, posters, meetings and train-the-trainer events. Several of our final events were canceled due to COVID-19 restrictions on travel. We moved several of our trainings to an online offering when that was practical and look forward to continuing virtual trainings beyond the end date of this program. Changes/Problems:In spite of some unanticipated changes related to our project partners and a global pandemic we are proud of the work we accomplished and feel we met and/or exceded our plans in most areas. All of our work is available at womeninag.extension.org We plan to continue our work into the future and will be adding new material as resources allow. We welcome new members to our Learning Network at any time. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This project has presented at numerous conferences both in-person and virtually. The topics we covered ranged from the needs of BFRW to where the perceived gaps in the current system exist to direct train-the-trainer offerings on specific programs ranging from how to engage women in business education to how life stage impacts business development. We developed training modules on equipment safety, mechanization and ergonomics. We also have units devoted to negotiation, building effective managment teams and leadership strategies for the farm and community. Information on individual units are reported in the appropriate year's progress report and materials are available at the learning network hub. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results and training materials have been disseminated through conference presentations and posters as well as webinars, newsletter articles and train-the-trainer events. We hosted a virtual training conference in 2019. We continue to recruit new members to our learning network and keep all members up-to-date on materials through the web portal. We have been invited to participate in over 100 meetings and trainings for extension educators and NGOs interested in reaching out to BFRW. We haveconsulted on seven BFRDP proposals on how to better engage BFRW and how to improve service to women farmers and ranchers and where ongoing gaps in programming continue. In response to COVID-19 we collaborated on a project to publish a guide on how to better engage women farmers and ranchers virtually. We conducted 28 individual mentoring/coaching sessions with service providers on how to improve services to BFRW. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Objective 1Results: Four teams were formed around issues that beginning women farmers and ranchers frequently express as problems or issues that keep them from achieving their business goals. Each team recruited an advisory team of farmers/ranchers to offer input on specific issues. Each team conducted a meta-analysis ofexisting programs, assessed the quality/usability of the programs for beginning women farmers/ranchers; identified gaps in available programming and, where possible, developed new materials to help trainers and outreach professionals improve their ability to serve beginning women farmers/ranchers. A total of 45 outreach and technical assistance providers were interviewed. An additional 275 farmers/ranchers were interviewed through surveys, focus groups, and interviews. The results varied across the teams - the areas with the largest perceived gaps in applicable programming were in business profitabilityand farm safety, mechanization and ergonomics. The area found to have the least number of program gaps for beginning farm and ranch women was land access, stewardship. The evaluation team discovered many issues in trying to compare program evaluation strategies between, and across, programs. While there are many annecdotes related to successful programming there is need for common standards, definitions and measures of success. In the lifetime of this project there were several other BFRDP projects funded to look at similar issues. We were happy to help support those efforts and contribute to the body of knowledge surrounding BFRDP evaluation. Objective 2 Results: The project to date has worked with over 800 outreach and technical assistance providers. We developed 15 training modules designed for BFRW and conducted train-the-trainer programs to over 250 educators from all 50 states and the District of Colombia. They represented cooperative extension, NGOs, USDA agency personnel, and college/university instructors. We have hosted training webinars, offered trainings at conferences and provided one-to-one mentoring and coaching. Evaluation results indicate that 90% of attendees learned new strategies for working with BFRWs and 58% reported they intended to use the materials with their clients. Over 50% of the educators we worked with were current or prior recipients of BFRDP funds. Much of the work completed by our legal issues team benefited socially disadvantaged, limited resource and BIPOC organizations. One third of our educators were affiliated with an 1890 HBCU or an NGO serving BIPOC farmers/ranchers. Objective 3 Results: We participated actively in all BFRDP sponsored conferences, exchanged information with grantees and applicants. We collaborated with four funded projects on specific program outputs. All of our information and material is available at either the Clearinghouse or the Extension Foundation website. We mentored seven educators applying for BFRDP funds on issues related to being more successful with BFRW. Objective 4 Results: We are proud that the work of this project has resulted in a learning network of1251 membersrepresenting all 50 states and the District of Colombia. The hub of the learning network is housed virtually athttps://womeninag.extension.org/ where work will be continuing beyond the funding period fueled by the members of the network.

Publications

• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Submitted Year Published: 2021 Citation: Peabody, M., Out of the Theory and Into the Field, Women and Gender in Development Conference. Out of the Theory and Into the Field: Virtual Conference 2021. An Initiative of Virginia Tech's Women and Gender in International Development Program. Invited Panelist, February 23-26, 2021.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Submitted Year Published: 2021 Citation: Peabody, M. The Womens Agricultural Network: Why women farmers need networks to thrive. Vermont Council on World Affairs. 15 early career fellows from 12 countries, Virtual, February 4, 2021.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Submitted Year Published: 2020 Citation: Peabody, M. Women in the Food System, Vermont Council on World Affairs. 22 international participants from 18 countries, Virtual, November 20, 2020.
• Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Peabody, M., Holtzman, B. Women in Ag Learning Network. https://womeninag.extension.org/. Current participation numbers indicate we have 1251 members in our learning network representing all 50 states and the District of Colombia. Note: Our web presence on the eXtension WordPress platform went live around February 2019, migrating from their old content management system. Unfortunately, we did not consistently capture data about users and visits on the old platform. Audience Overview Since the migration in 2019, we have had about 4250 unique US visitors in 5100 sessions. About 16 percent of our visitors over this period of time were return visitors. Devices: About 68.7% of US visitors use desktop computers, 27.7% use their mobile device and about 3.6% use tablets. Geographic representation Visits came from all 50 states, Washington DC., the US Virgin Island and Puerto Rico. States with the most visitors are: 1. Virginia (434) 2. Texas (304) 3. California (261) 4. Georgia (212) 5. Pennsylvania (208) 6. Florida (198) 7. Vermont (195) 8. Oregon (173) 9. Illinois (162) 10. Washington (154)

Progress 09/01/19 to 08/31/20

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for this project is educators and agricultural service providers and NGOsinterested in starting or expanding programs serving beginning farm and ranch women. In this program year we reached 435unique individuals through conference presentations, posters, meetings and train-the-trainer events. Several of our spring events were canceled due to COVID-19 restrictions on travel. We moved several of our trainings to an online offering when that was practical. Changes/Problems:Our challenge this year was COVID-19. Several events were canceled. While we able to move some to a virtual format. One opportunity that has presented itself is work on training materials and curricula on how to provide farmer training virtually. This work has been done in partnership with another BFRDP Educational Team project and is being launched now. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Our teamdelivered twelve educational events (including conference sessions, posters, webinars, workshops and virtual trainings) to a total of 360individuals (includes 227 educators/TA providers). Among the topics we continued to refine are: Growing Successful Work Teams, The Art of Negotiation; Leadership; Farm Safety, Ergonomics and Mechanization. The legal team has worked with women in various capacities with most of their work targeting Native American women farmers and ranchers. In October 2019, this project helped with planning and hosting a three-day, Women in Sustainable Ag conference in which farmers, ranchers, ag educators and service providers from around the US camed together in St. Paul, MN to shareinformation, tips, tools and resources for delivering engaging, innovative and effective programs for beginning women farmers and ranchers. Our team also hosted multiple trainings, workshops, and webinars for groups in Pennsylvania and Tennessee. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The web portal containing all of our completed curricula and resources is available at http://womeninag.extension.org Our learning network is at 150 individuals. In the report year our web portal identified unique visits from approximately 140 people per month (or 1680 people over the course of the year), and about 325 page views per month. The most viewed materials were related to marketing, safety and ergonomics, and data/research. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Materials for new curricula will continue to be added to the web portal. Existing information will be revised and updated as necessary. The project is scheduled to end on February 28, 2021. We will continue to build out the site and support the educators and technical assistance providers who have become a valuable part of our learning network.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The content teams wrapped up work on curricula and built new materials for use by educators and service providers interested in expanding and/or improving their work with beginning farm and ranch women. New modules were launched and a coaching guide was prepared. Train-the-Trainer sessions continued to be held and materials are being made available on the recently updated web portal. We are bulding a powerful learning network of educators, service providers and researchers that are interested in improving services to women farmers. This will likely result in future funding awards. The evaluation team completed workon building a tool kit of best practices sowe can move in the direction of collecting comparable information from projects over time. This is a time-consuming task and evaluation is not a strong component of many existing programs. Over 227 educators and technical assistance providers were reached in this program year. Post-COVID-19 Travel restrictions resulting from COVID-19 canceled several events planned for 2020. Some wererescheduled to a virtual format, others are being rescheduled for later dates. We opened a one-on-one coaching program for women working in the food system. This has been a successful way to tap into the obstacles women are facing as the country confronts the public health and economic realities resulting from the pandemic. During June- July we provided consultations of 1-3 sessions for eighteen individuals. Issues include how to balance childcare, virtual school and farm activites; how to offer services to women farmers/ranchers virtually; how to address market changes when many farmers' markets were closed;restaurants and institutions were pivoting to address the emerging public health guideines and the public was discouraged from travel. We will be continuing this service in the Fall as the demand continues. We collaborated with the American Farmland Trust on creating materials for effective virtual engagment for programs targeting women farmers and ranchers. The programs range from focus groups, learning circles and webinars to courses and conferences. The work will continue to evolve in the Fall 2020.Reaching Women in Agriculture: A Guide for Virtual Engagement

Publications

Progress 09/01/18 to 08/31/19

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for this project is educators and agricultural service providers and NGOs that are interested in starting or expanding programs serving beginning farm and ranch women. In this program year we reached 650 unique individuals through conference presentations, posters, meetings and train-the-trainer events. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Our team has delivered seventeen educationalevents (including conference sessions, posters, webinars, workshops and virtual trainings)to a total of 394 individuals. Among the topics we have delivered are: Growing Successful Work Teams, The Art of Negotiation; Leadership; Farm Safety, Ergonomics and Mechanization. The legal team has worked with women in various capacities with most of their work targeting Native American women farmers and ranchers. In January 2019, this project hosted a three-day, online conference in which ag educators and service providers from around the US obtained information, tips, tools and resources for delivering engaging, innovative and effective programs for beginning women farmers and ranchers. Using the Zoom platform, the "Women in Ag Programs for 21st Century Farms and Ranches" conference offered 12 sessions designed to help organizations launch new programs and/or expand and improve existing programs for women farmers and ranchers. Sessions varied in format, including a daily keynote, individual presentations and panel discussions. Sessions featured presenters from successful and innovative women in agriculture programs from around the US. UsingZoom as our virtual platform allowed people to join from a desktop, laptop, tablet or smart phone, and to ask questions and offer observations and additional information via the session's chat box. All sessions were recorded, so participants also had the opportunity to join live or watch recordings as their schedules permitted. The full conference program, including sessions and speaker profiles is available at the conference website. ?Agricultural educators throughout the US are using tools and resources they learned about through the "Women in Ag Programs for 21stCentury Farms and Ranches" 2019 virtual conference to improve and expand programming for beginning farm and ranch women. The conference was held online in January 2019 and was designed to help organizations launch new programs and/or expand and improve existing programs for women farmers and ranchers. It attracted 120 agricultural professionals from 33 US states, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Island and Washington DC. All of the 34 conference participants who responded to a follow-up survey said the conference increased their knowledge about resources, tools, models and approaches for working effectively with women farmers and ranchers. Of those, 75% said they planned to use new resources and tools in their programming within the next 12-24 months. Nearly 60% said they plan to increase programs for beginning women farmers and ranchers and over 80% believe that the quality of their programs will improve as a direct result of their participation in the conference. "I loved being in a workshop, albeit virtual, with so many women in the same field as me. The energy was high, and it made me excited for my organizations coming season," said one conference participant. "This was a great format for younger and more experienced educators to share their tips and tricks for delivering quality programs, and a great opportunity for those of us less experienced to take part and learn from colleagues from across the country," said another. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The web portal containing all of our completed curricula and resources is available at http://womeninag.extension.org What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Materials for new curricula will continue to be added to the web portal. Existing information will be revised and updated as necessary.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The content teams continue to assess existing curricula and build new materials for use by educators and service providers interested in expanding and/or improving their work with beginning farm and ranch women. New modules were launched and a coaching guide was prepared. Train-the-Trainer sessions continue to be held and materials are being made available on the recently updated web portal. We are bulding a powerful learning network of educators, service providers and researchers that are interested in improving services to women farmers. This will likely result in future funding awards. The evaluation team is working on building a tool kit of best practices so that we can move in the direction of collecting comparable information from projects over time. This is a time-consuming task and evaluation is not a strong component of many existing programs.

Publications

• Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Holtzman, B., Peabody, M., Women in Ag Learning Network. http://womeninag.extension.org
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Peabody, M., HOltzman, B. Helping Producers Reduce Risk by Building Labor Management Know-How, 2019 Extension Risk Management Education National Conference, Louisville, KY, April 3-4, 2019.
• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Holtzman, B., Peabody, M. Connecting and Supporting US Women in Agriculture Programs, 2019 Extension Risk Management Education National Conference, Louisville, KY, April 3-4, 2019.

Progress 09/01/17 to 08/31/18

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for this project is educators and agricultural service providers and NGOs that are interested in starting or expanding programs serving beginning farm and ranch women. In this program year we reached 650 unique individuals through conference presentations, posters, meetings and train-the-trainer events. Changes/Problems:In our review of the land use materials we discovered that many of the projects are doing great work in addressing the needs of women farmers. We have discontinued that content team and are focusing instead on a couple of curricula that need updating and slight revision. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Our team has delivered eleven train-the-trainer events to a total of 247 individuals. Among the topics we have delivered are: The Art of Negotiation; Leadership; Farm Safety, Ergonomics and Mechanization. The legal team has worked with women in various capacities but most of their work has involved Native American women farmers. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Members of our team have presented at 28 conferences around the country. We estimate that we reached approximately 1100 unique individuals. These presentations included workshops, posters, webinars, and open forums. We have participated in seven national conferences where our target audience was educators, service providers and researchers. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In January 2019 we will be hosting a virtual train-the-trainer conference to continue our work and further build our learning network. The content teams are on scheduleto releast another seven modules and conduct trainings for those interested. The portal will be opened to the public with materials and trainings available. We will be launching our blog as a way to continue outreach to our learning community.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The content teams continue to assess existing curricula and build new materials for use by educators and service providers interested in expanding and/or improving their work with beginning farm and ranch women. New modules were launched and a coaching guide was prepared. Train-the-Trainer sessions are being held and materials are being made available. We are bulding a powerful learning network of educators, service providers and researchers that are interested in improving services to women farmers. This will likely result in future funding awards. The evaluation team is working on building a tool kit of best practices so that we can move in the direction of collecting comparable information from projects over time. This is a time-consuming task and evaluation is not a strong component of many existing programs.

Publications

• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Funkenbusch, K., and Jaster, S., Ergonomics Tools for Women Professional Poster, 2018 National AgrAbility Training workshop, Portland, Maine, March 19, 22, 2018.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Funkenbusch, K., Women in Agriculture Update: Ergonomics, Mechanization, and Farm Safety, NCERA 197, Washington, D.C., May 22-May24, 2018.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Building Indian Countrys Future through Food, Agriculture, Infrastructure, and Economic Development in the 2018 Farm Bill, Janie Simms Hipp, Colby Duren, & Erin Shirl Parker; Journal of Food Law & Policy (Spring 2018).
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Shultz, M., Hyde, C., de la Mora, A., Eggers, T. Leibold, L. (Dec. 2017). Annies Project Farm and Ranch Business Management Course for Women Created Positive Impacts in 1 States. Journal of the National Association for County Agriculture Agents. Vol. 10, Issue 2.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Schultz, M., Scarbrough, L., Brown, C. (April 2018) Collaboration Strengths Outreach to Target Clientele of Women in Ag. Extension Risk Management Education National Conference (Milwaukee, WI).
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2018 Citation: Incorporating Evaluation into Program Development Processes for Women in Ag Conferences by Cori J. Hyde, and Madeline M. Schultz.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Funkenbusch, K., and Jaster, S., Women in Agriculture Professional Poster, 2017 International Society for Agricultural Safety and Health conference, Logan, Utah, June 25-June 29, 2017.

Progress 09/01/16 to 08/31/17

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for this project is educators and agricultural service providers and NGOs that are interested in starting or expanding programs serving beginning farm and ranch women. Changes/Problems:The evaluation team has discovered that there are fewer evaluation materials than they originally anticipated. Few projects have done any type of longitudinal evaluation and it has been challenging to find common indicators to cross reference. The team has a plan in place to develop evaluation tools so that future projects will have evaluation materials in place. Regional differences continue to require careful planning. For example, the term "leader" has very different definitions and acceptance across different regions of the country. One of our project leaders has left the project to pursue another position and so we are in the process of replacing that individual. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Professional development training was started with a pre-conference training in November 2016. This training grounded program professionals in how to develop and deliver successful programs for adult women learners. Project leaderspresented at three national conferences. The Leadership Content team developed and piloted a training using videos of farmers talking about how they view leadership and how it impacts their business management. The Scale and Profitability Content team developed a training for farmers on basic business negotiation. That training has been delivered once in person and will be delivered online in the winter of 2018. After the second pilot concludes the handbook will be published and a train-the-trainer workshop will be offered. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results have been disseminated through face-to-face training (1), conference presentations and posters (3), publications (7) and posted web pages, blogs, and newsletter articles (8). What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Each content team has a plan of work in place which involves building on the previous years' work. The teams will be completing additional reviews of existing curricula, working on refining new training materials and continuing to pilot materials. We will be present at five national conferences with either presentations or posters highlighting our work. We will complete two train-the-trainer educational events. The project leaders will be meeting in April 2018 to plan out the following year's actions. Building out the portal of resource materials will begin this coming year.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Year 2 - September 2016 - August 2017 Project content teams continue to identify existing materials and evaluate gaps in program content for Beginning Farm and Ranch Women. Professional development training was started with a pre-conference training in November 2016. This training grounded program professionals in how to develop and deliver successful programs for adult women learners. Progress summaries for all the content teams were produced. Leadership team members presented at three national conferences. The Leadership Content team developed and piloted a training using videos of farmers talking about how they view leadership and how it impacts their business management. The farm safety team leaders participated in several national conversations with the goal of helping professionals working in farm safety understand the risks and needs of women farmers and ranchers. The Scale and Profitability Content team developed a training for farmers on basic business negotiation. That training has been delivered once in person and will be delivered online in the winter of 2018. After the second pilot concludes the handbook will be published and a train-the-trainer workshop will be offered. The Evaluation team concluded their preliminary review of a sample of existing programs. They are now working on the development of an evaluation tool kit which will have some basic evaluation tools that program staff can use in offering programs to beginning farm/ranch women.

Publications

Progress 09/01/15 to 08/31/16

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for this project is educators and agricultural service providers and NGOs that are interested in starting or expanding programs serving beginning farm and ranch women. Changes/Problems:-It's not a one-size-fits-all world •Curricula will need to be provided in various formats -There are parts of the country where many programs exist and parts where very little exists -Women farmers/ranchers still do not feel like they are taken seriously in some regions -The decline in extension ag educators around the country is limiting the amount of new programming that is being released -Much BFRW programming is coming from NGOs and community development professionals in extension (rather than the ag sector) -There is a lot of "bad" information available on the WWW -The existing system of ag financing is a poor fit for many BFRW -BFRW are juggling multiple responsibilities -Interest is high in providing education and technical assistance to beginning farm and ranch women What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In the coming year we will have several accomplishments to report. In November we will co-host the 5th National Women in Sustainable Ag Conference in Portland, OR. Just prior to that conference we will be hosting a training event for educators and service providers interested in expanding or starting progams for beginning farm and ranch women. In the winter we will be hosting a training event for coaching the beginning farm and rancher woman. We will be opening new websites and adding material to the FarmAnswers site. The Leadership and Management team will be releasing some video materials and working on a leadership skill development progam open to educators and service providers.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? This was a startup year for the project. -Recruited and staffed the five content teams that form the core of our programming(Legal, Land Access/Stewardship, Equipment, Safety and Ergonomics, Business Scale and Profitability, Leadership).18 advisors were recruited to provide input to the content team leaders. Each team was charged to assess the emerging issues for beginning farmers and ranchers with special emphasis on how those issues impact farm and ranch women. The teams also looked at where gaps exist in the programming -- both from a content perspective and from a geographic perspective. They are just now beginning to prioritize these gaps and decide whether they will be able to adapt existing progam materials or develop new training materials. -The evaluation team collected data on 46 existing programs that serve either farm and ranch women orbeginning farmers and ranchers more generally. The team iscurrently conducting indepth reviews of existing evaluation materials for fourteen of these programs. We have designed an interactive professional development program which will be offered in November 2016. This training will help educators and service providers better understand how women process information, make decisions, and how to support their farm business planning. We are planning a training program for some online farm business classes that will allow interested educators to access programming for beginning farm and ranch women in their regions with a minimal investment of time and money on their part. We also surveyed existing programs around the country to assess their interest in expanding, improving or beginning programs for new farm and ranch women. We have also been working with the members of the existing eXtension Women in Ag Learning Network to incorporate our materials into the existing website and learning about the new opportunities provided by the FarmAnswers site.

Publications