Progress 09/01/23 to 08/31/24

Outputs
Target Audience:During this period, we continued to focus on hands on training in agriculture production to students who visit the farm in person. These students are interested in learning new skills in agriculture to support their careers in agriculture business and to put to use on their own farms or homesteads. Additionally, students interested in the beekeeping course at the University of Montana and at Kansas State University haveaccess to the curriculum developed through this grant. Changes/Problems:Our biggest shift in our work during this time is an increased emphasis on education through short courses and events at the farm. We have discovered that our longer course offerings need these shorter term educational opportunities in order to be successful. We look forward to increasing our impact through more short term, frequent classes that build our number of students impacted and help people get more familiar with the SAVE Farm, working towards gaining more students for our 20 week program. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The University of Montana's Commercial Beekeeping online courses were conducted through 5-6 week online courses: · Queen Rearing & Package Production (course has been offered twice now) · Honey Production (first course offering started March 4) · Pollination (course content completed in June) Additional opportunities for learning beekeeping and honey production were provided at The SAVE Farm through multiple events and coursework for students. The addition of the commercial Kitchen and honey processing center increased the opportunities for students to learn on site as well. Commercial beekeeping classes continue to be offered at The University of Montana using the content developed with The SAVE Farm. You can learn more about these courses at: https://www.umt.edu/bee/commercial-honey-production.php These online courses were also advertised to K-State students with enrollment beginning in September of this year. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Updates have been provided to stakeholders through our board meetings, outreach in the community, our Facebook and YouTube pages, and our website. We are active in outeach with our supporters and in publicizing our learning opportunities in local publications. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In the coming year, we look forward to seeing the learning modules analyzed by Kansas State University for effectiveness as a curriculum. We also look forward to expanding the beekeeping program at the SAVE Farm for students in our 20 week courses and additional short courses and events. While students interested in commercial beekeeping certification have been lacking, the use of the course material is an asset to beekeeping students in apprenticeship programs and as future beekeepers work to understand the economics of commercial beekeeping.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? During the past year, the majority of the video content to create the courses for Honey Production and Pollination was collected, edited, and produced into online training materials. The SAVE Farm, Kansas State University, and the University of Montana worked to evaluate training methods and relevancy of course material. These courses, along with Queen Rearing and Package Production were offered this year and the Pollination course is now available for enrollment. We also completed our evaluation from OEIE and received valuable feedback to integrate in our programs.

Publications

Progress 09/01/22 to 08/31/23

Outputs
Target Audience:Students and potential students of the SAVE Farm and beginning farmers interested in beekeeping. Changes/Problems:We have not had as many students enroll in the beekeeping course through Montana as anticipated. We have discovered that there is a declining number of students interested in beekeeping at the commercial level. However, we have had students interested in the course even though they do not intend to open a commercial-level business. We are shifting to have the course available in a week-long format to better accommodate student scheduled and to reach students exclusively interested in the beekeeping course. We anticipate this will increase our enrollment in the course this fall. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Students participating in the course have been able to receive training for their beekeeping operations. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Stakeholders are updated at regular board meetings and through partner update newsletters. We have worked with the Hives for Heroes program and Kansas Beekeepers Association to spread the word about these courses. The subawardee partners in Montana have also worked to spread awareness of the program through their program newsletters and organization updates. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Video production is ongoing in developing the interactive training modules. We will continue to develop evaluation instruments for students and progress in building the curriculum.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? SAVE Farm has continued to invest in their bee population. We have progressively built educational modules and materials for the beekeeping training curriculum as well as invested in the infrastructure on site locally and at sub-awardee locations to provide commercial level beekeeping and honey processing training. This process has required us to acquire specialized equipment and initiate work on intensive videography curriculum development to provide online education modules that include video content and virtual scans to build out the Interactive Learning Module training experiences. There have been 2 students who utilized the stipends through this program for the course and graduated in June. One student ( a veteran's spouse)is actively attending classes. Four former students of the SAVE Farm have utilized the course and are implementing the knowledge gained in their small scale operations.

Publications

Progress 09/01/21 to 08/31/22

Outputs
Target Audience:Veterans and transitioning servicemembers and new and beginning farmers and ranchers, and current farmers and ranchers interested in adding beekeeping to their existing operation. Changes/Problems:Subaward partners at Montana University have communicated that a shift in budget will be made to accommodate for event and travel changes relevant to the development of the curriculum. These are primarily due to trips that were not able to be executed in Year 1 and will be moved to Year 2, and to opportunities to capture video footage for training modules in state on shorter trips vs. out of state air travel trips as previously planned. Because of this, some funds that were planned for travel are planned to be moved to project payroll to make additional progress on building out out the instructional design team to include a professional videographer (not a student employee with lower wage), a part-time graphic designer, and a senior instructional designer to oversee project management. These employees ensure the end product is professionally produced and visually pleasing. The lead instructor has connected with various commercial beekeepers and association contacts about this project. While this was not anticipated, it has allowed for meaningful connections, collaboration on useful course materials, and sustained some level of advisory board/peer review at the commercial level. We anticipate these adjustments to impact the goals and objectives positively. SAVE Farm has encountered challenges in building the bee populations in their hives but has already implemented measures to improve this and consulted with professionals to ensure positive change in the next reporting period. This will not affect the goals or objectives of the program. GPHF (referenced in our objectives) is no longer partnered with the SAVE Farm to build the beekeeping and honey production functions of the farm. SAVE Farm will be proceeding to focus on beekeeping and honey production as an educational tool on the farm itself instead of pursuing this partnership. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results and progress updates are provided to communities of interest through the SAVE Farm newsletter, through numerous news articles in local and regional publications, and through regular meetings with partner organizations. Updates to our work are also provided on the SAVE Farm website and social media platforms where a broad community is engaged. We also communicate with the public through conversations with our volunteers from the community that visit our Victory Garden. All produce from the garden is donated to local organizations with a special emphasis on veteran organizations. Our work has been featured in John Deere magazine this year, as well as The Nature Conservancy's international publications and local Kansas newspapers and publications. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In the next reporting period, a graduate assistant will be hired to design and deliver assessments to evaluate the effectiveness of the Interactive Learning Modules on student's knowledge gain and training method satisfaction. This graduate assistant will report to the sub-awardee organization, Kansas State University. During this time SAVE Farm will also be investing further in the bee hives and colony on the farm to increase assets available for access in development of the training modules.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Over the reporting period, we have begun development of educational modules and materials for the beekeeping training curriculum as well as invested in the infrastructure on site locally and at sub-awardee locations to provide commercial level beekeeping and honey processing training. This process has required us to acquire specialized equipment and initiate work on intensive videography curriculum development to provide online education modules that include video content and virtual scans to build out the Interactive Learning Module training experiences. As much of this work required onboarding with sub-awardee organizations, we have worked to create strong and prolific relationships to develop thorough, results focused educational materials that will be accessible and applicable to our students. While cost-match is not required for this grant, the University of Montana (sub-awardee)has already provided and will continue to provide a minor level of payroll cost match for administrative support and pay for unanticipated expenses we didn't include in the budget (e.g. beekeeping equipment used for filming, lens rental, hard drive storage devices, shipping).

Publications