Progress 09/01/23 to 08/31/24
Outputs
Target Audience:The goals of the project were for the newly formed University of California Organic Agriculture Institute (UC OAI) to identify key stakeholders in organic agriculture throughout California and assess their needs. During this reporting period, the relevant stakeholders that we continued to engage included producers of various organic commodities across major commodity groups like tree fruit, stone fruit, tree nuts, citrus, grapes, berries, vegetables, and livestock; actors downstream in the value chain such as handlers and processors; regulators such as organic certifiers, state agencies, non-profit organizations; technical advisory services such as Pest Control Advisors (PCAs), Crop Consultant Advisors (CCAs), and agricultural extension advisors; researchers including those affiliated with the University of California and independent research organizations. This engagement took place through regional visits, field days and discussion panels at outreach events. Changes/Problems:We encountered relatively few challenges during this reporting period. In summarizing the survey data, we did realize that more information was needed on the grower knowledge networks. While our initial survey effort did help identify key sources of information that growers rely upon, which allows us to start mapping out the knowledge network, we feel that an additional survey effort will be needed to fully flesh this out. As such, we anticipate development of a new proposal to support this work that will be submitted to the USDA NIFA OREI program in 2025. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?
Nothing Reported
How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?As mentioned, key findings from the statewide needs assessment have been summarized in a 3-page brief/executive summary that was released in February 2024 which reviewed the key findings in the main report and is also available on the OAI website. Research participants, both those who participated in the interviews as well as the online survey, were given the opportunity to receive research findings upon completion of the project via email. Links to the report have been emailed to all those who indicated interest. These key findings were also presented at two grower meetings. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Summary and Public Presentation of Key Findings from the Statewide Needs Assessment During the reporting period, key findings from the statewide needs assessment were summarized into a 3-page document that was shared widely with key stakeholders through conference presentations and field days, as well as on the UC Organic Agriculture Institute website (https://ucanr.edu/sites/organic/Resources_107/Statewide_Needs_Assessment/). Results of the survey efforts fell into two broad categories: grower/production challenges and systemwide challenges. Grower-level challenges refers to the production (e.g., pests or crop nutrition) and non-production challenges (e.g., certification, water) that organic producers face, typically at the farm level. These in turn vary by cropping systems; farm scale (small versus medium and large farms); and farm type (i.e. fully organic, mixed conventional, or transitioning). Identification of needs by stakeholder demographic will permit the OAI to develop more targeted advisory offerings and recommend research priorities for the university and funding agencies based on these differences. Common challenges that growers reported are difficulties with weed management, pest pressures, water, labor, and costs of transition. Some other production challenges such as the availability of organic seed and stock do not occur at the farm level but are system-level issues, which we address in the next sub-point. Systemic challenges are more complicated challenges that affect multiple stakeholder groups and arise as a result of the interplay between various economic, regulatory, and environmental conditions in the sector. System-level issues are harder to address. They require policy interventions and institutional coordination; the OAI thus recommends future activities and research that will help elucidate these processes. Prioritization of Future Research Priorities Our summary of the needs assessment includes recommendations for future research funding by grantmaking agencies, faculty endowments, and recruitment within the university and agricultural extension. For instance, some recurring needs identified by participants include a need for organic research that examines farm dynamics using system approaches, organic varietal development, soil health research, need for better market demand and price projections. Furthermore, participants emphasized the need for more easily accessible technical advisory services and participatory research. The UC Organic Agriculture Institute is now using this information to develop targeted programmatic actvities to address these needs.
Publications
- Type:
Websites
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2024
Citation:
Rangarajan, S., Lubell, M., Muramoto, J., Wilson, H. 2024. A statewide needs assessment of organic agriculture in California.
https://ucanr.edu/sites/organic/Resources_107/Statewide_Needs_Assessment/
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
Rangarajan, S., Lubell, M., Muramoto, J., Wilson, H. 2023. Update on the UC OAI statewide needs assessment - key findings to date. Organic Grower Summit (Monterey, CA) 11/29/23
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Progress 09/01/21 to 08/31/24
Outputs
Target Audience:The goals of the project were for the newly formed University of California Organic Agriculture Institute (UC OAI) to identify key stakeholders in organic agriculture throughout California and assess their needs. Target stakeholders included producers of various organic commodities across major commodity groups like tree fruit, stone fruit, tree nuts, citrus, grapes, berries, vegetables, and livestock; actors downstream in the value chain such as handlers and processors; regulators such as organic certifiers, state agencies, non-profit organizations; technical advisory services such as Pest Control Advisors (PCAs), Crop Consultant Advisors (CCAs), and agricultural extension advisors; researchers including those affiliated with the University of California and independent research organizations. Overall, insights were gathered from 426 organic producers who responded to an online survey, 65 stakeholders who responded to questions on challenges they faced in their role as well as aspirations for the industry, and 5 field trips which covered major organic zones in the state. The latter were combined with workshops on organic best practices conducted by extension advisors within University of California Cooperative Extension. Engaging with these stakeholders permitted the research team to achieve the following: An understanding of the needs and challenges felt by stakeholders of different types throughout the organic agriculture sector. Communicating these to both internal and external organizations will help identify priorities for research and extension and determine the future activities of the OAI. Through the activities conducted as part of the needs assessment, the OAI team was able to build partnerships with different stakeholders and set the stage for the development of the California Organic Agriculture Knowledge (CalOAK) Network which is intended as a clearinghouse of individuals and organizations who are contributing knowledge resources to organic agriculture, and who can be connected to each other to build knowledge capacity in the sector. Changes/Problems:A few of the challenges we encountered in the project include delays in the project due to recruitment challenges, difficulties with reaching some of our target audience, and the need for more work in identifying the full scope of the CalOAK network. Recruitment challenges: Initiation of the project was delayed due to difficulties with recruiting a postdoctoral researcher to lead the needs assessment for the first year. Due to these delays, we sought a no-cost extension of the project, after which work was completed successfully. Challenges with reaching some of the target audience: The initial planning proposal was to conduct a needs assessment of specific organic producer groups. However, in the early stages of the project, we realized that the challenges faced in the industry extended beyond the grower. Many challenges that we heard were systemic and resulted from an interplay of differing stakeholder priorities, market, environmental, and regulatory challenges. To address this, we expanded the scope of our target audience to beyond simply producer groups. We included other types of stakeholders identified under 'Target Audience' such as input suppliers, handlers, regulators and researchers. However, despite our best efforts, not all stakeholder groups could be easily reached. The biggest gap is in understanding the needs of buyers in the market, particularly large retailers and distributors who consolidated produce. Many of the largest organic buyers have complicated administrative structures for organic purchasing and operate at a national level (as opposed to state or local). We instead attempted to partially address this gap by speaking to people who sold to these buyers to understand their perspective. More work needed on identifying the CalOAK network: Our research and extension activities have made significant progress in identifying key stakeholders who constitute the major informational resources in California's organic sector and is a part of an ongoing effort at the OAI. Nonetheless, our research suggests that different stakeholders have different knowledge networks which vary by the scale of operation, the region they work in, their organic ideologies and so on. For instance, larger and more profitable growers might be better able to invest in private technical advisory to address production challenges, while smaller growers might rely more on internet searches and their local grower networks. Moreover, organic being such a small part of agriculture means that people and their associated knowledge networks are more diffuse. In other words, different people access information differently which might impact the potential success of technical advisory services. We have some preliminary insights on these patterns from our research which we would like to expand upon in the future. A new survey instrument that we have developed attempts to explicitly identify these knowledge networks. Implementing it is however beyond the scope of this planning proposal; we hope to implement it with future research funding. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project provided training opportunities for the organic community as well as research team members. Workshops on organic practices on topics such as soil health, nitrogen management, cover cropping, and organic regulation was supported by the OAI. The audience for these workshops were mainly growers but also included other people in the organic community. These workshops and field days also provided a networking opportunity for growers in the community to interact with each other. Internally, the project provided professional development opportunities for early-career project members. The postdoctoral researcher on the project was given authorship on research papers and reports that stemmed from this research, opportunities to present at leading academic and farmer conferences, opportunity to interface with relevant industry members, and mentorship on developing these study protocols and outputs. An undergraduate researcher also worked with the postdoc for two academic quarters on research fundamentals, data organization, and some qualitative coding. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Research reports to the organic community: Research findings from the needs assessment have been compiled in a final report that is available on the UC OAI website, titled 'A statewide needs assessment of organic agriculture in California'. This was preceded by a 3-page brief/executive summary that was released in February 2024 that reviewed the key findings in the main report and is also available on the OAI website. Research participants, both those who participated in the interviews as well as the online survey, were given the opportunity to receive research findings upon completion of the project. Links to the report have been emailed to all those who indicated interest. This report also documents future research priorities and funding needs that stakeholders identified, which is relevant to researchers and funding institutions. Journal articles: Research articles developed from the research will be submitted to peer-reviewed journals that are geared towards the academic and policy communities. These articles identify specific research and policy goals that can be the subject of future work. Conference presentations: As outlined in the previous section, research findings have also been presented at 2 academic and 2 farmer conferences, the latter of which . What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Formation of the CalOAK network The CalOAK network is intended as a stakeholder network where people can reach each other to facilitate knowledge exchange and share resources. People who opt-in to participation are part of our research, communications, trainings, and future activities. We used multiple approaches to recruit people to this network. First, Project Director Wilson's network was used as the starting point for identification of key stakeholders who are well known in the industry for contributing knowledge or spearheading policies and industry initiatives. These people in turn were asked to identify other key players, some of whom were interviewed. Every person surveyed is given the opportunity to add themselves to any future mailing lists or resource networks that the OAI develops. Second, we received lists of growers and handlers registered with the CDFA SOP. Growers were emailed an online survey, one question of which allows them to opt into future communications. These efforts have initiated the formation of the CalOAK network which we expect will grow over the next few years as institute events and participation increases. Needs assessment and roadmap for the OAI: The needs assessment identified the most urgent challenges and needs in the organic sector for different stakeholders. These were organized into two categories: Grower-level challenges which refers to the production (e.g., pests or crop nutrition) and non-production challenges (e.g., certification, water) that organic producers face, typically at the farm level. These in turn vary by cropping systems; farm scale (small versus medium and large farms); and farm type (i.e. fully organic, mixed conventional, or transitioning). Identification of needs by stakeholder demographic will permit the OAI to develop more targeted advisory offerings and recommend research priorities for the university and funding agencies based on these differences. Common challenges that growers reported are difficulties with weed management, pest pressures, water, labor, and costs of transition. Some other production challenges such as the availability of organic seed and stock do not occur at the farm level but are system-level issues, which we address in the next sub-point. Systemic challenges are more complicated challenges that affect multiple stakeholder groups and arise as a result of the interplay between various economic, regulatory, and environmental conditions in the sector. System-level issues are harder to address. They require policy interventions and institutional coordination; the OAI thus recommends future activities and research that will help elucidate these processes. Identifying future research priorities: Another key goal of the needs assessment was to identify research priorities for agricultural researchers and extension advisors at the University of California and beyond. It also recommends areas for future research funding by grantmaking agencies, faculty endowments, and recruitment within the university and agricultural extension. For instance, some recurring needs identified by participants include a need for organic research that examines farm dynamics using system approaches, organic varietal development, soil health research, need for better market demand and price projections. Furthermore, participants emphasized the need for more easily accessible technical advisory services and participatory research.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2024
Citation:
Rangarajan, S., Lubell, M., Lloyd, M., Wilson, H. "Policy contradictions in organic farming in California: Findings from a California-wide needs assessment" (in preparation)
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2024
Citation:
Rangarajan, S., Lubell, M., Wilson, H. "Farm size and type influence organic production and non-production challenges" (in preparation)
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2024
Citation:
Rangarajan, S., Lubell, M., Muramoto, J., Wilson, H. "Challenges in Organic Agriculture in California: Summary of findings from a statewide needs assessment"
https://ucanr.edu/sites/organic/files/396228.pdf
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Progress 09/01/22 to 08/31/23
Outputs
Target Audience:We continue to conduct our statewide needs assessment for organic agriculture. While this primarily focuses on certified and transitioning organic farmers, we are also interviewing and/or surveying consultants, pest control advisors, processors, input vendors, marketing and retail in order to capture a more contextual understanding of the challenges and needs of the organic community. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?As mentioned, we are starting to create an online resource database for organic farmers, written documents that summarize key issues and resourcesc, as well as organize in-person training events. We already held a field day on organic rice on 7/26/23 (Yuba Cita, CA), and are scheduled to host additional field days later this year on organic vegetable production (Arcata, CA), citrus and berry production (Ventura, CA) and soil management / grazing in vineyards (Santa Rosa, CA). How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?So far no results have been disseminated since we are still conducting and/or analyzing the survey work. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Over the next reporting period we plan to conclude all survey work and then summarize/analyze those datasets. From that, we will generate publications for peer-review scientific journals, industry press, a one-page summary for our website, as well as a series of presentations and posters that will be used to present findings back to the organic community.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
We recruited a new postdoctoral scholar (Dr. Shriya Rangarajan), who started working on this needs assessment in Sept. 2022. Over the fall 2022, we developed (1) a quantitative online survey and (2) a qualitative survey that uses a semi-structured interview. Both of these were focused on characterizing the key challenges and needs of organic farmers, along with capturing basic demongraphic data on farmer type, experience, scale of production etc. Survey recruitment began in January 2023. The quantitative survey received >350 respondents and we have conducted >40 interviews. The quantitative survey is now closed and we are evaluating the data, while we will continue to conduct interviews for about 6 more weeks. While the results of the statewide needs assessment will drive numerous programmatic activities within the UC OAI, we are already starting to take action on some preliminary findings. For instance, many organic farmers have told us that while resources for organic agriculture are generally limited, those resources that do exist are difficult to find and navigate. As such, we have started to create documents that will posted to our website (http://organic.ucanr.edu/) to help with this navigation issue. For instance, we are currently working on a document that summarizes and provides details about the various organic farmer training programs in California. We have also started to develop the Cal OAK Network more broadly. The first step has been to develop an online resource database that is linked to a publically available mapping tool. Farmers and other relevant parties can indicate where they are located and the map will provide a list of all relevant technical, financial and social assistance programs/personnel/organizations that are focused on organic agriculture. This will also soon include a network of organic demonstration sites and mentors, through a partnership with California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF). We are also now in the process of organizing field events for organic farmers. Our first field day took place on 7/26/23 and was focused on organic rice production
Publications
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