Recipient Organization
UNIV OF MINNESOTA
(N/A)
ST PAUL,MN 55108
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Producers are under pressure, both within their industries and local communities, to demonstrate and document environmental sustainability. Responding to these pressures requires literacy in popular sustainability metrics, and measurements to demonstrate metric benchmarks and/or changes over time. This project proposes two methods to engage farms to promote these critical conversations and environmental engagement. The specific objectives are to: (1) Enable youth to serve as environmental leaders for family ag operations through engagement in environmental sustainability metric and communication exercises; (2) Engage producers in on-farm data collection to inform themselves and the broader community of greenhouse gas emissions from manure storages; and (3) Foster environmental sustainability conversations within farms, and between livestock and feed production sectors. Activities to support these objectives include a learning series for youth that promotes inter-generational discussion about farm operations, inputs, efficiency measures, and environmental stewardship. Simultaneously, dairy and swine producer cooperators will contribute manure samples for lab-based analyses of greenhouse gas production rates. Manure emissions are a major component of carbon footprints for livestock systems, and these samples and analyses provide producers farm-specific data forsustainability metrics, and the opportunity to improve science-based estimates for the broader industry. Finally, a Conversation Guide resulting from project activities and facilitated focus groups will identify common goals, and strategies for cooperation. An advisory group includes livestock industry representatives, scientists, and youth programming and education experts.
Animal Health Component
75%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
75%
Developmental
25%
Goals / Objectives
The overall goal of this integrated research and Extension project is to encourage critical conversations about environmental sustainability metrics between generations, within and beyond the agricultural community, to promote engagement and broaden opportunities for continuous improvement.The specific objectives are to:Enable youth to serve as environmental leaders for family ag operations through engagement in environmental sustainability metric and communication exercises;Engage farmers in on-farm data collection to inform themselves and the broader community of greenhouse gas emissions from manure storages; andFoster environmental sustainability conversations within farms, and between livestock and feed production sectors.
Project Methods
This project proposes two methods (Activities 1 and 2) to engage farms to promote these critical conversations and environmental engagement. Activity 1 will engage youth as agents of change to promote wider spread understanding and adoption of sustainability metrics within their families and communities. Activity 2 provides opportunity for farmers to actively participate in greenhouse gas emission measurements for one of the largest on-farm sources - the manure storage. The results of these two methods will merge in Activity 3, which includes focus-group discussions to assess what has evolved from the project, and chart future directions and conversations. There are key tasks associated with each activity. Each activity supports one or more objectives.Activity 1. Youth as Environmental LeadersThis activity and related tasks support Objectives 1 and 3. Key groups are youth participants, the project team, and an evaluation specialist, with oversight and input from the advisory committee. The initial scope for participants is Minnesota and region - to limit the range of systems for consideration in initial educational content development. However, the flexible modes of content delivery, in conjunction with teacher guides, can facilitate broader adoption and delivery beyond the region.Task 1a. Curriculum DevelopmentThis task includes syllabus and content development for a learning series, designed for youth ages 15 and older.Task 1b. RecruitmentRecruitment for participants will be a multi-pronged approach using existing connections to engaged youth interested in agriculture and leadership, regardless of their affiliation with a farm. Task 1c. Learning SeriesParticipants will be divided and taught within cohorts specific to livestock or crop systems. There will be a minimum of 10 and maximum of 25 participants in each cohort. The Learning Series will be hosted at UMN Extension offices. Participants will also have free access to course material through a web platform. The platform facilitates course material access, assignment submissions and instructor feedback, as examples.Task 1d. AssessmentOutcomes will be measured using a mixed methods approach to understand the program's impact on youth. Assessment methods will evaluate short-term change in knowledge and engagement, and long-term knowledge retention and action. For participants of the Learning Series, quantitative, summative survey instruments will measure learning indicators. Examples of work completed (any identifiable information removed), and observational measures by an independent observer (i.e. participation in discussions) will add qualitative data for the assessment of actions. For Short Courses, a post-then-pre format survey will assess change in knowledge.Activity 2. Manure Storage Emission MeasurementsThis activity and related tasks support Objectives 2 and 3. Key groups are farmer cooperators and the project team, with input from the advisory committee. Through participating in the scientific process, farmers are informing their individual farm's carbon footprint and manure emission data in general. The scope of this activity is limited to liquid manure systems - but this accounts for the majority of pigs and dairy cows in Minnesota and region.Task 2a. Sample CollectionWith assistance from advisory board members with farmer ties, we will recruit participants that represent 15 finisher swine farms, 15 sow farms and 30 dairy farms. The priority will be diversity between farms with respect to geography (within the region), integrator (where applicable for swine farms), or cooperative (where applicable for dairy farms). Each cooperating farm will be asked to commit to collecting and submitting 4 samples for each manure storage at a farm (i.e. rooms for swine barns; stage for earthen manure storages) over a one-year period (approximately quarterly), in addition to a sample collected during manure removal and agitation. This will result in approximately 450 samples.In conjunction with each manure sample, responses to a brief questionnaire will documentmanagement decisions with potential to influence manure emissions.Task 2b. AnalysisThis task draws heavily on the methane production rate (MPR) assay developed by Andersen et al. (2015). We are also testing a nitrous oxide production rate (NOPR) assay to build a suite of GHG measurement methods for manure storages. Task 2c. Aggregation and ReportingThe manure emission tests anchor the manure emission rate to farms. Any one sample is not necessarily representative for annual emissions from the sampled farm, or representative of all manure storages of the same type in the region; hence multiple samples will be collected at each farm over a year. Manure sample results will be shared with the cooperating farmer.The project team will aggregate and analyze the methane and nitrous oxide emission results with supporting manure measurements (Task 2b), and barn and manure management factors (Task 2a). The aggregated results will be continuously added to a dynamic online database to visualize patterns and variability across samples.Task 2d. Model ValidationIn conjunction with the database entries and maintenance, the measured emission will be compared to predicted emissions based on farm-specific input variables. Annual emission estimates will consider the manure production rate for the farm, seasonal temperatures, and relevant gas emission rates.Activity 3. Fostering ConversationsThis activity and related tasks support Objective 3. Key groups are youth participants, cooperating farmers and the evaluation specialist, with review and commentary from the project team and advisory committee. In the course of evaluating the ripple effects of Activities 1 and 2, we aim to foster conversations, broader perspectives and greater cooperation among agriculture production industries of different types.Task 3a. Focus Group DiscussionsIn Year 3, participants from Activity 1 and farmer cooperators from Activity 2 will be invited to participate in one of two focus group discussions. The proposed task benefits from participation by indirect stakeholders, who will be identified and invited by the advisory committee. Indirect participants includes partner farm members of youth participants, agricultural industry representatives, and local community representatives. The ideal group size is 15 to 20 people. Ripple Effects Mapping, or REM (Chazdon et al., 2017) is an evaluation method that helps uncover intended and unintended (positive or negative) consequences resulting from a program.Task 3b. Analysis, Reporting and SharingThis task provides quantitative and qualitative results to demonstrate objectives and outcomes, and support future "conversations" by a broader audience. This task will be guided by an evaluation plan developed at project inception to ensure there are appropriate metrics and evidence to support each objective. Annual updates will support advisory committee discussions, and annual reports on progress towards objectives. Some analyses and data overlap with Activity 1 assessment. The Conversation Guide product will deepen conversations about agricultural environmental sustainability on and off farms to a broader audience. The Conversation Guide will include abbreviated curriculum (Activity 1), resources for farm-specific sustainability metrics (Activity 2), and case studies based on project participants (Activity 3).