Progress 10/01/12 to 09/30/17
Outputs
Target Audience:Target audience includes farmers, technical assistance providers, agency represntatives, as well as other researchers. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Methods developed herein have been used to train approximately 40 undergraduate students in landscape visualization techniques. Transcription of oding of focus group and survey results has helped train undergraduate interns and graduate research assistants in social science research methods. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results have been dissemenated via journal articles (in review and in preparation), as well as via a seminar presentation in the department of Plant & Soil Science at UVM, and a presentation at the American Water Resources Association Summer Specialty Conference: "Climate Change Solutions: Collaborative Science, Policy, and Planning for Sustainable Water Management" which took place in June of 2017. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Objectives 1-3 were accomplished during prior reporting periods. Objective 4 has been pursued in the context of the farmer and technical assistance provider survey and its subsequent analysis, described in a paper that is currently "in review." Additional feedback from these audiences was also sought via four focus groups; the paper describing those results is in preparation.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Visualizing climate change adaptation: an effective tool for agricultural land management?
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Progress 10/01/15 to 09/30/16
Outputs
Target Audience:Our target audience in the most recent reporting period included technical service providers and advisors who communicate with farmers about land management practices and farmers themselves. Through a series of focus groups we have worked with these groups to share landscape visualizations and receive feedback about their utility in communication with agricultural stakeholders about adaptive best management practices. These include a focus group in the latest reporting period with NRCS on 12/15/15 (two others with our resilient agriculture advisory board and techincal advisors which occured in prior period, and another focus group with the farmers watershed alliance in December 2016 -after the current reporting period- were also completed.) We have also connected with the broader research and outreach communities who are working on agricultural resilience related topics through presentations including during a Northeast SARE field day June 27, 2016, and a Gund Institute of Ecological Economics Lecture by Carol Adair: Climate change-agriculture connections: the potential for agriculture to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions in December 2015. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?One of our research assistants, Holly Greenleaf, who began working on this project as an undergraduate, and then helped as techincal staff, has now enrolled in a Master's Program in Plant and Soil Science and UVM. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Preliminary results have been dissemenated via focus groups, but more outreach is planned. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Completion of two publications in preparation pertaining to previous survey and three focus groups is of highest priority. These will directly address Objective 3. Other research regarding Objectives 2, 3 and 4, will also be tackled via submissions for new research to funding calls that arise.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Objectives 1 and 2 above have been described in previous reporting periods. Objective 3 is underway, with (A) final statistcal analysis and writing in progress for dissementating findings from our survey results on landscape visualizations and (B) transcription of focus groups with numerous agricultural stakeholders that have helped us dive even deeper in to questions on landscape visualization utility in practice. Publications in past reporting years and publications in preparation will contribute to Objective 4, which will continue to be a driving question in future research. We have also received "high priority" and "outstanding" rankings on two federal grant proposals- respectively, USDA-NIFA's 'Agriculture Economics and Rural Communities: Small and Medium-Sized Farms' and 'Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program' - that were, unfortunately, unfunded which would use some of the techniques used in this research, to expand the topic of communication with farmers and farmer perceptions throughout New England/Northeastern Farms. We hope to re-submit something related to these proposals to a future funding call.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Currently in preparation and close to submission: "Visualizing Climate Change: An Effective Tool for Agricultural Adaptation?"
- Type:
Theses/Dissertations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
MS Thesis, University of Vermont. Goeschel, Tyler. QUANTIFYING SOIL GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS TO DETERMINE BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN AGROECOSYSTEMS. March 25, 2016.
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Progress 10/01/14 to 09/30/15
Outputs
Target Audience:In January and February 2015, members of our research team conducted surveys of farmers and other agricultural stakeholders at six different farmer conferences, ranging from conventional to organic and crossing producer types from dairy to vegetable and dairy crop farmers. Data analysis is currently underway, but we were able to talk with and engage with a wide variety of farmers and service providers who work in Vermont agriculture and discuss with them climate change adaptation and mitigation practices. During this reporting period, members of the research team also conducted two half-day focus groups with farmers, tehnical service providers and other agricultural stakeholders regarding the application and utility of landscape visualizations in the context of climate change best management practices on Vermont farms. We also discussed barriers to adoption in these forums. Many of those in attendance at the focus groups have in turn connected with their networks of farmers and stakeholders regarding the existience of the research project. Some have contacted our research team directly requesting more information about cost and development of this type of landscape simulation/visualization as they recognize the potential of thie technology in stakeholder engatement. Changes/Problems:We have obtained a no-cost-extension on this project to complete aspects of this work with an additional one-year time horizon. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?We have trained a post-bachelor's research assistant in survey methods and landscape visualization development. She is now applying to our department as a master's student to continue her education in this subject area. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Already we have shared our research on television, through surveys at six farmer conferences, and via focus groups with key stakeholder community members. Peer-review publication manuscripts in progress. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In this reporting period we will continue to work on publication writing and finalizing the landscape visualization library.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Analysis of results of 6 farmer and stakeholder surveys conducted during January-February 2015 is ongoing, but descriptive statsitcis suggest strong preference for visual material to aid in discussions of application of climate change best management on farms. Additional data from focus groups is presently being coded by research team members. One publication each is expected from the survey and focus groups, respectively. We have continued to study GHG emissions assoicated with different farming practices and dovetailing with a new AFRI-funded edge-of-field study, with which some members of this research team are now involved.
Publications
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Progress 10/01/13 to 09/30/14
Outputs
Target Audience: The target audiences for this research include other Vermont farmers, agricultural technical assistance providers, government agencies, social scientists, landscape designers, environmental consultants, and other Vermont stakeholders concerned with and influencing environmental quality and climate change adaptation on farms. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? We have trained two newly graduated individuals in photoshop and social science research methods associated with landscape visualizations. Both are applying for graduate school in similar fields. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? We have presented to the Northeast Climate Hub on UVM campus and at several winter conferences including the No Till & Cover Crop Symposium, Vermont Dairy Producers Conference, and Northeast Organic Farming Association Vermont Conference. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Publications are forthcoming. Separate publications will (1) describe the 20 CCBMPs and their pros and cons, (2) show results from on-farm sampling, and (3) explore landscape visualization methods and survey results.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
We have completed a literature review describing examples and application of a list of 20 Climate Change Best Management Practices (CCBMPs). Starting in Summer 2014, we have intensively sampled for greenhouse gases (N2O, CH4, CO2) at three 3 farms employing different CCBMPs (farm names kept confidential): 1) corn, manure injection vs boadcasting; low to conventional till 2) hay, aeration vs not with manure application 3) corn, manure injection vs broadcast; reduced vs conventional till We have descriptively sampled three other farms with the following CCBMPs (farm names kept confidential): 1) vegetable, cover cropping 2) hay with grazing BMPs 3) blueberries, no till We have completed 8 different "existing versus proposed" landscape visualizations and used these to form the basis of a survey of stakeholder preferences and interpretations about different sets of CCBMPs at four different conference venues where surveys were conducted. We are planning focus groups to gather additional information on the landscape visualizations during early the spring of 2015.
Publications
- Type:
Book Chapters
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Schattman, R., Mendez, V. E., Westdijk, K., Caswell, M., Conner, D., Koliba, C., Zia, A., Hurley, S., Adair, E.C., Berlin, L., & Darby, H. (2015). Vermont agricultural resilience in a changing climate: A transdisciplinary and participatory action research (PAR) process. In N. Benkeblia (Ed.), Agroecology, ecosystems, and sustainability (pp. 325346). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press/Taylor & Francis.
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Progress 10/01/12 to 09/30/13
Outputs
Target Audience: Our target audience last year was comprised of stakeholders from the agricultural community in Vermont, ranging from individual farmers to extentionists to policy makers and agency representatives. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? We have supported a summer research internship for one undergraduate student who was hired to do photodocumentation and photosimulations. In Fall 2013, we also identified additional undergraduate research assistants who will start working on the project for course credits in Spring 2014, the next year of this funding. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? During the summer of 2013 our project was represented at two Farm & Field Day workshops, where dozens of farmers and other members of the Vermont agricultural community were given materials about our research. In collaboration with the UVM Food Systems Spire research grant, we are working on drafts of two manuscripts on economic and governance aspects of this research area. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? In the next reporting period members of our research team are attending three different regional agriculture conferences where we can interface with the community of local stakeholders and share our preliminary methodology and data in order to garner feedback. Because our research approach is implicitly participatory, we will be able to incorporate farmers' responses to descriptions and images of climate change adaptation and mitigation BMPs into subsequent presentations of these materials.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
This project seeks to better understand land management by Vermont farmers in the context of climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies and implementations, i.e. climate change best management practices, or CCBMPs. Our transdisciplinary approach integrates methodologies including agroecological analysis, greenhouse gas sampling, and alternative futures scenario visualization. This year we have interfaced with a related project funded by UVM's Food Systems Research Spire to create a final list of CCBMPs (n=20), many of which are explored in the context of this research project. We have made connections with several farms at which we will sample greenhouse gases, starting in Fall 2013, throughout the seasons for the next two years. We have also photo-documented nearly a dozen different farms who employ (or may in the future choose to employ) the identified CCBMPs. We have created five sets of photosimulations-- specifically, landscape visualizations illustrating existing conditions and proposed future conditions with CCBMPs in place-- and we have developed a visual library for creating additional photosimulations in the near future. We have participated in two field days with farmers and planned outreach workshops for the coming year,
Publications
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