Progress 09/01/14 to 08/31/15
Outputs
Target Audience:Farmers, extensionists and practitioners, organic and sustainable agriculture organizations, educators and scientists who work with organic farmers, and advisors and consultants who work with integrated pest management and related systems of sustainable agriculture. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The symposium provided farmers, ranchers, extensionists, educators, and others with the current information on organic agriculture agriculture and farming systems. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Six workshops and the keynote were livestreamed via eOrganic webinars. These webinars are were made to the public via the eOrganic website at: http://articles.extension.org/pages/72594/organic-agriculture-research-symposium:-selected-live-broadcasts-and-recordings#.VZMZwPlViko. Eight poster presentations, most of which were presented as a part of the Organic Research Forum at the MOSES Organic Conference. Videos of the workshops that were not livestreamed as webinars, the Proceedings, and the outcomes of the Listening Session are posted on the eOrganic website at http://eorganic.info/node/12972. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The Organic Agriculture Research Symposium (OARS) that was co-sponsored by the University of Wisconsin-Madison and The Organic Center (TOC) was held in LaCrosse Wisconsin on February 25-26, 2015 immediately prior to the MOSES Organic Farming Conference. About 100 participants attended, of whom 79 were pre-registered and about 25 were walk-ins. The program consisted of 11 workshops with 33 speakers, including three speakers who connected remotely from France. Six workshops and the keynote presentation were also livestreamed via eOrganic webinars.These webinars are available on eOrganic:http://articles.extension.org/pages/72594/organic-agriculture-research-symposium:-selected-live-broadcasts-and-recordings#.VZMZwPlViko. In addition, a total of 105 people livestreamed the Wednesday session and 77 people livestreamed the second day (six workshops and the keynote presentation) via the web. Most of the webinar viewers were farmers, and about a third of the webinar viewers were from the North Central region. There were also 8 poster presentations, most of which were presented as a part of the Organic Research Forum at the MOSES Organic Conference. Highlights of the conference included Chuck Benbrook's keynote speech and a track of workshops on breeding varieties for organic conditions, as well as, organic seed production. Two listening sessions were held the afternoon of February 26. The sessions were attended by approximately 50 participants that included farmers, researchers, practitioners, and activists. The listening session was organized into four tracks: soil and plant health, livestock, seeds and breeds, and a range of miscellaneous topics. These outcomes from these listening sessions were presented at a session on February 27 in the MOSES conference and are included with the Proceedings in the link below. Another OARS is being planned for January 2016 at the Ecological Farming Conference in Pacific Grove, CA. Random participants were selected for interviews at the symposium. A follow-up evaluation survey was sent to the participants on July 28, and was closed on August 28. Below are the results from the evaluation survey: 1) Overall rating of The Organic Agriculture Research Symposium: (34 responses): #1-Poor- 0% #2-Fair-6% #3-Average-9% #4-Good-59% #5-Excellent-26% 2) What did they like best about the Symposium? (28 responses): -Talking with researchers from Washington State University about how they have gotten organic ag as an acceptable area of university research -The interaction between researchers and practitioners. -Networking -Networking with other organic researchers -Academic studies -Meeting like minds -The talks -Poster session featuring research with focus on organic farming -Intimate setting to learn about novel organic research -Initiating idea of collecting organic researcher -People in attendance -Learning about other research and methodologies -Chance to visit across specialties. Appreciate the inclusion of poultry and livestock -Diversity of research and participants -Timing before the MOSES conference and small size facilitated networking -Covered all broad topics important to Organic Agriculture production -It featured presentations of peer-reviewed organic research conducted by outstanding agricultural scientists. -Discussing research needs with other researchers and organic funding agencies -Ample networking time -Learning about different approaches and methods for organic research -Networking between scientists conducting organic research -Practical application of information; networking and socializing -The variety of perspectives in attendance. The Soils debate was a high point. -Opportunities for one on one interactions -Exchange of ideas, mixed of issues and participants -The food. -A great diversity of research represented -The opportunities for interaction. 3) Did the Symposium improve your understanding of organic agriculture? (34 responses): #1-A lot- 29% #2- Some-59% #3- Little- 9% #4-None-3% 4) Have you applied the knowledge from the Symposium? Yes-59% and No-41% 5) If yes, what have you applied? (19 responses): -I incorporated some of Chuck Benbrook's presentation into presentations for UW-Stevens Point undergrads -Knowledge of farming systems; references to relevant research in plant breeding. -Stuart Grandy's presentation on microbial necromass -Knowledge about potato testing protocols -Application to animal systems -Mixed effects modeling techniques and presentation of results -I have had discussions with people I met there. -Information about nutritional differences of organic versus conventional food -I have kept in touch with many of the researchers I met there and have used the knowledge gained from many of the lectures -State of topics included and some of the outcomes -Approaches used by other scientists in my field -Picked up some ideas on transitioning from conventional to more sustainable and applying to an on-farm project on transition from GM crops to non-GM -I used some of the knowledge gained while teaching a grad level course in organic veg production -Mixed effects modeling for variability among/within locations -I learned from an ag economist that the US is importing 70% of our organic soybeans. I have used this information to push for a national organic transition strategy. -Designing new projects -Better understanding of international perspective, soils discussion. -I've used some of what I learned in the breakout session about organic seed production and breeding -Participatory plant breeding; economics. 6) Do you have any suggestions for improvement for the next conference? (12 of the 21 responses): -Have a session or stream about consumer education about organic food: What works, known health effects of pesticides -I really like organic agriculture, but this is a research symposium and I was hoping for more hard, critical and up to date science and less self-praise of organic agriculture -Organic ag is a broad topic that requires a broader audience. The OARS audience was mostly researchers, and guessing, given size of the audience, relatively few new collaborations/oning interactions were developed. In contrast, i also participated in the MOSES conference where I found the audience more engaged and interactive. -Copies of the posters to be available or link to website where whole poster with supporting material could be accessed -Sell this conference more to growers. It seemed that it was dominated by practitioners and was more of a networking opportunity. -Decide who your audience is for the conference. Have a different track for researchers and consultants and a separate one for farmers. Speakers didn't seem to know who they were targeting and gave elementary talks for audience. Needs to be more research consultant oriented and collaborative. -More interaction with the audience/ maybe fewer but more mature research outcomes -The French presentation was very poor -Be sure to enforce the time limits on presentations - some were allowed to go long and disrupted flow from one session to next. -Speakers were biological science heavy. There was more room for social science specialist in things like ag or cooperative economics or in organic policy and law -A session or workshop on special challenges in organic research (e.g. experimental design, analysis) -Fewer presentations by graduate students. Avoid distant presentations from foreign scientists. 7) What best describes your occupation? (34 responses): #1-Farmer-6% #2-Researcher-41% #3-Student- 18% #4-Government employee-6% #5-Non-profit employee-6% #6-Agricultural professional- 9% #7-Other- 15% 8) If you answered 'Other', please specify ( 5 responses): Certifier (though also farming organically since 1978), organic crop production and marketing consultant, agriculture professor (teaching and research), organic farmer who does research and works for a NGO, and an old retired guy.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Videos of the workshops that were not livestreamed as webinars, the proceedings, and the outcomes of the Listening Session are posted on the eOrganic website at http://eorganic.info/node/12972.
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