Progress 06/01/10 to 05/31/14
Outputs
Target Audience: Given the broadly multi-disciplinary nature of this project, the target audiences have been very diverse: -Agricultural producers and their commodity-oriented associaitons, agricultural consultants and food processors have been at the center of much of the Institute's work. This work expanded in the last reporting beyond well beyond the borders and crops of Wisconsin, reaching across North America in over 20 states, through the National Initiative for Sustainable Agriculture (NISA) project. -NGO partners, public agencies, elected officials and general citizens have been active in several efforts, such as the Wisconsin Central Sands water quantity project and the Field to Foodbank project. -Private industry and food supply chain experts have become involved in agricultural sustainability efforts as they strive to learn more about what happens behind the farm gate and where food comes from. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? The project has provided a diversity of training and professional development opportunities, ranging from the development of commodity- and region-specific sustainability self-assessments alongside local expertise to the creation of a series of webinars on the topic that are free and publicly available. Additionally, the project has hosted several field days, tours and community learning events on sustainability topics of local relevance, such as the future of water resources. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Results have been disseminated broadly through a variety of venues in addition to those described above, ranging from YouTube and other videos, traditional print publications, field tours and other grower events, traditional presentations and via a web presence. Additionaly, much of the NISA work is communicated in concert with agricultural producer associations and processing supply chain partners, thus utilizing their marketing and communications skills. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Most significantly, as this grant closes several of the projects have become self-sustaining and will continue to be high-impact beyond the duration of the grant. Some of the projects have become great examples of public-private partnerships, where the initial grant funding created the relationships and foundaitonal work that have leveraged external funding. For example, the Field to Foodbank project has grown to supply over 1 million pounds of fruit and vegetables each growing season to those that suffer from hunger. This project has taken on national significance and is looked toward as a model for other agricultural areas. Additionally, the foodbanks are now cooperating on a multi-state level to conduct fundraising for long-term program support. The Central Sands water project has now grown to include public agencies, agricultural producers and citizens interested in multiple uses of water in the area. The initial project has now been supported by several new public and private grants, and the group continues to be very active among communities and is known widely as the Water Task Force. The National Initiative for Sustainable Agriculture (NISA) has become the foundational Institute for Sustainable Agriculture program. NISA has developed and conducted agricultural sustainability assessments on over 1 million crop acres in over 20 states in the past year and is now expanding into animal agriculture. This project has put the University of Wisconsin and the Institute for Sustainable Agriculture at the forefront of producer-led, entry-level sustainability assessment behind the farm gate.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Dong, F., P. Mitchell and J. Colquhoun. 201X. Measuring Farm Sustainability Using Data Envelope Analysis with Principal Components: The Case of Wisconsin Cranberry. Ecological Economics
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Colquhoun, J. 2013. Assessing sustainability in Wisconsin cranberry production. North American Cranberry Research and Extension Workers Meeting.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Colquhoun, J. 2013. Documenting the impacts of 10 years of IPM Extension in cranberry production. Annual Meeting American Phytopathological Society.
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Progress 06/01/12 to 05/31/13
Outputs
Target Audience: The target audience for this work has included a diverse community with broad interests, including: -Agricultural producers, consultants and processors, ranging from grazing dairy producers to cranberry growers. -Supply chain leaders involved in the National Initiative for Sustainable Agriculture, ranging from commodity elevators to food retailers and restaurant chains. -Non-agricultural community leaders, such as in water quantity work and the Field to Foodbank project, including environmentally-oriented NGOs, municipal leaders, public agencies and elected officials and general citizens. -Subject matter experts in academia and private industry. Changes/Problems: Droughty conditions during the 2012 growing season affected some efforts, such as groundwater research and participatory field-based outreach. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Several field days, community meetings and expertise-sharing events, field tours, webinars and meetings have been held. These training opportunities have included diverse stakeholder audiences interested in several topics related to agricultural sustainability, from water to food waste. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? As described above, results were disseminated through a variety of venues and mechanisms. Field tours have been held on agricultural sustainability topics such as groundwater and have included citizen communities, public agencies and academics, elected officials and agricultural producers. We have developed web sites that distribute information on several projects. Several outreach publications have been developed and distributed electronically and in print. Several webinars have been developed and distributed to broad audiences. Finally, project issues on agricultural sustianability have been presented at several local, regional and natinoal producer and professional meetings. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? The efforts described above will continue to accomplish these goals. More specifically, we will focus much attention on using the National Initiative for Sustainable Agriculture (NISA) as the platform for educating producers and the supply chain on agricultural sustainability, validating whole-farm and commodity-specific sustainability assessment tools that will advance agricultural sustainability going forward, and harmonize these efforts and communication strategies with supply chain and general public.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
A diverse array of projects have been initiated and are underway under the umbrella of the Institute for Sustainable Agriculture. These projects are multi-disciplinary and have weaved together large communities of interest. The National Initiative for Sustainable Agriculture, for example, now includes participants at a national level from a range of agricultural interests, such as rice, soy, cranberry and processing vegetables, among others. Multi-disciplinary projects range from ending hunger through sourcing excess produce to working in local and urban community food systems. This effort has involved diverse stakeholder input as described in the goals above, has leveraged significant additional funding beyond the scope of this initial grant and has addressed the issues critical to a sustainable food system going forward.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2012
Citation:
Colquhoun, J. 2012. A Producer-Led Framework to Assess Water Sustainability in Agriculture: The NISA Example. p. 195-203 in NABC Report 24. National Agricultural Biotechnology Council: Ithaca, NY.
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Progress 06/01/11 to 05/31/12
Outputs
OUTPUTS: The Wisconsin Institute for Sustainable Agriculture continues to weave stakeholder-driven issues and opportunities with research and outreach expertise and experiential, place-based learning in a way that stimulates innovative change in Wisconsin and national agricultural production. Significant progress has made in several projects, with highlights to follow. Central Sands Wisconsin water and agriculture: water levels in groundwater-connected lakes and streams have dropped by 1 to 2 meters in recent years and are currently exacerbated by drought conditions, while nearby agricultural crops that are enabled by irrigation also need water to maintain producer economic solvency. The Wisconsin Institute for Sustainable Agriculture has brought together agricultural scientists, hydrologists, climate change experts and geologists to provide science-based information to a diverse community as well as to work toward integrated solutions that maintain ecological and recreational value in the region while supporting agriculture as the regional economic driver. Additionally, several unprecedented large community-based meetings and local tours have been held to address the social aspects of the regional water issue. Blue Skies, Greener Pastures: development of a grazing futures network. Between 1993 and 1999, the number of dairy farms using managed grazing tripled and has since maintained steady growth to about 25% of all Wisconsin dairy farms in 2010. In these continued challenging times for the dairy industry, this project is working to extend the benefits of grazing, when appropriate and economical, to other operations. Recent efforts have included a statewide approach to networking grazing groups and mentoring opportunities in a synergistic way. Field to Foodbank: This program continues to expand in partnership with local agricultural producers, multi-national processors, private partners and food banks to address the growing need to end hunger. A logistics system that is portable among national food banks has recently been developed to address perishability, food safety and efficient handling of large volumes of fresh and processed vegetables. The National Initiative for Sustainable Agriculture: This initiative has expanded greatly in the past year and now includes animal agriculture, specialty crops, grain producers and fiber crops. Two national meetings were held in the past year to develop agricultural sustainability assessment protocols that are regionally- and commodity-specific, with the producers in the lead, and in a way that captures what U.S. agriculture can reasonably deliver to the supply chain. Assessment programs have been developed for a variety of crops, such as soybean, cranberry, processing and fresh vegetables, potatoes and mint. PARTICIPANTS: This project has included over 70 faculty, staff and students on multiple University of Wisconsin campuses, Extension personnel, and hundreds of stakeholders in Wisconsin and on a national level. A broad diversity of partner organizations have also been involved in this grant in very unique ways. These partner organizations include state, regional, national and international scopes. Examples include but certainly are not limited to farm bureaus, grower associations, agricultural input provider organizations, grower networks, private agricultural and food endeavors, environmental conservation organizations, public agencies, and many NGOs. TARGET AUDIENCES: The target audiences include the participants outlined above. In fact, part of the unique nature of this grant is the fact that the target audiences have also been the participants since the proposal process, including a very active WISA Steering Committee. In the spirit of the Wisconsin Idea, the target audience is based on the boundaries of the state as our classroom and laboratory. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
The trans-disciplinary projects seeded through this grant have been leveraged for a significant amount of additional funding, built programs and stakeholder relationships that will long outlive the grant and had direct impact on agricultural sustainability at a national level. The National Initiative for Sustainable Agriculture, for example, has involved producers and their organizations that represent millions of acres of U.S. agricultural production. This group is now formalizing an organizational structure, business model and Producer Board and has initiated assessment projects in a variety of crops ranging from soybeans to strawberries. This initiative is also implementing a sustainable agriculture professional development school that will be offered nationwide in Spring 2013. The Field to Foodbank program is another example of success in the past year. The logistics program that was developed to streamline the procurement and distribution of fresh produce from the field to food bank is portable and could be implemented nationally now. The test-run of this logistics system moved 450,000 pounds of fruit and vegetables from the field to the foodbank in the past year. Additionally, the groundwater project has brought together a diverse community of stakeholders, from river alliances and lakes associations to food producers and processors, and aligned regional water use around a common set of goals in an unprecedented way. Several community groundwater forums have been held in the past year, with attendance including between 50 and 100 community leaders.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 06/01/10 to 05/31/11
Outputs
OUTPUTS: From national leadership of grower-driven sustainability standards to conservation of precious water resources, the reinvigorated Wisconsin Institute for Sustainable Agriculture (WISA), while only a few months into implementation, has had significant stakeholder impact in Wisconsin and beyond. Efficient water use in Central Sands Wisconsin irrigated agriculture: balancing grower needs with environmental conservation. Groundwater levels in the Central Sands of Wisconsin have dropped 1 to 2 meters in recent years, causing trout streams and recreational lakes to go dry in summer. This project is working to optimize water use in these crops through a better understanding of water inputs and outcomes. Blue Skies, Greener Pastures: development of a grazing futures network. Between 1993 and 1999, the number of dairy farms using managed grazing tripled and has since maintained steady growth to about 25% of all Wisconsin dairy farms in 2010. In these continued challenging times for the dairy industry, this project is working to extend the benefits of grazing, when appropriate and economical, to other operations. Healthy Grown Farms. This project is based on an expansion of Healthy Grown Potatoes to whole farms, with crop-specific modules. This project will put upper Midwest agriculture in the driver's seat for sustainable agriculture standards and metrics, and has served as a starting point to build the national approach described in the National Initiative for Sustainable Agriculture. Optimization of grazing systems and organic agriculture efforts. WISA is providing leadership for an inventory and coalescing of resources around the topics of grazing and organic agriculture across the state of Wisconsin, including other campus and technical colleges, UW Extension, citizen groups and agricultural stakeholders. The National Initiative for Sustainable Agriculture. The National Initiative for Sustainable Agriculture is developing sustainability standards that are highly sought by end-users, retailers and consumers. This effort has attracted attention and projects from national commodity organizations. The result will be verifiable producer driven, research-based and regionally appropriate standards. Field to Foodbank project. The Field to Foodbank project unites Wisconsin's agricultural strengths with the need to fight nutritional insecurity. This project focuses on communication streams among producer and foodbank communities and developing the logistics to capture and distribute excess processed vegetables. Addressing sustainability in the national cranberry industry. Several national efforts are underway to develop sustainability metrics and standards, but some crops, such as cranberries are so unique in production methods and geography that they don't fit a one-size-fits all program. The cranberry sustainability program is developing custom-tailored methods to address sustainability from the ground up while promoting best management practices. PARTICIPANTS: This project has included over 50 faculty, staff and students on multiple University of Wisconsin campuses, Extension personnel, and hundreds of stakeholders. A broad diversity of partner organizations have also been involved in this grant in very unique ways. These partner organizations include state, regional, national and international scopes. Examples include but certainly are not limited to farm bureaus, grower associations, agricultural input provider organizations, grower networks, private agricultural and food endeavors, environmental conservation organizations, public agencies, and many NGOs. TARGET AUDIENCES: The target audiences include the participants outlined above. In fact, part of the unique nature of this grant is the fact that the target audiences have also been the participants since the proposal process, including a very active WISA Steering Committee. In the spirit of the Wisconsin Idea, the target audience is based on the boundaries of the state as our classroom and laboratory. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
While the reinvigoration of WISA was relatively recent, the impact has been great both in improving efficiency of resource use internally and improving sustainability parameters for a diversity of stakeholders in Wisconsin and beyond. Current projects involve over 50 faculty, staff and students as well as hundreds of stakeholders in place-based sustainability research and outreach. Stakeholder engagement in sustainability programming has been outstanding, with several place-based research projects underway and many outreach workshops, field tours and leadership events. For example, the water project has brought together a diversity of stakeholder audiences, ranging from environmental conservation organizations to potato growers, to discuss future water use in Central Wisconsin. Participants indicated that such an event had not occurred in two decades of discussion on the topic. The National Initiative for Sustainable Agriculture has add similar impact, and now involves national commodity and producer involvement from corn, soy, cranberries, potatoes, fresh and processing vegetables, cotton, wheat, rice and ornamentals, among others. This group will host a producer sustainability workshop in fall 2011 to implement unique, producer-driven sustainability assessment programs on a national level. The Field to Foodbank project, while only a few months old, has united growers, processors and foodbanks in a very unique manner that has already resulted in hundreds of thousands of pounds of nutritious vegetables moving through the foodbank system. The trans-disciplinary, place-based sustainability projects seeded with this grant have been used to leverage significant funding from several sources, with additional proposals pending. From nutritional sustainability to preservation of precious natural resources, WISA has had great impact and will continue to into the future.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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