Source: PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY submitted to
CONNECTING DIVERSE WOMEN FARMERS ACROSS THE RURAL-URBAN DIVIDE
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
TERMINATED
Funding Source
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1013079
Grant No.
2017-70017-26848
Project No.
PENW-2017-01766
Proposal No.
2017-01766
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Program Code
BFRDA
Project Start Date
Aug 1, 2017
Project End Date
Jul 31, 2021
Grant Year
2017
Project Director
Brasier, K. J.
Recipient Organization
PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY
408 Old Main
UNIVERSITY PARK,PA 16802-1505
Performing Department
Ag Econ, Sociology & Eductn
Non Technical Summary
The long-term goal of the proposed project "Connecting Diverse Women Farmers Across the Rural-Urban Divide" is to improve communication, build mutual support and enhance overall sustainability of new and beginning women farmers' agricultural enterprises inrural and urban areas. Through the development of enduring educational networks and grower collaborations, the project will build an information-sharing community between urban and rural farmers via on-farm events, webinars, an annual networking symposiumand electronic communication networks. We target women farmers because they are a diverse yet often overlooked and underserved component of farmers, and comprise a significant proportion of new and beginning farmers and especially urban growers. Newand beginning women farmers in both urban and rural settings are challenged with similar difficulties such as: lack of access to land and capital; lack of a farm background; minimal knowledge of technical and business skills; limited communication and collaboration withmore established farmers; and family responsibilities. For women of racial and ethnic minorities, these challenges are often amplified and compounded by socio-economic and cultural barriers. We will expand our networking to cross urban and rural boundaries bystrengthening current and building new partnerships with farmers, non-governmental, governmental and community-based organizations. These cross-boundary alliances are transformational because they enhance the capacity of our partners to provide targetedand innovative educational programs for diverse audiences including women and socially disadvantaged farmers. These alliances will support the diversification of agriculture by facilitating the ability of targeted audiences to succeed in achieving financial sustainability.
Animal Health Component
0%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
0%
Applied
100%
Developmental
0%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
9036099308045%
6026030310025%
1020199107030%
Goals / Objectives
The long-term goal of theproject "Connecting Diverse Women Farmers Across theRural-Urban Divide" is to improve communication, build mutual support and enhance overall sustainability of new and beginning women-owned or operated agricultural enterprises in rural and urban areas. Through the development of enduring educational networks and grower collaborations, the project will build an information-sharing community between urban and rural farmers via on-farm events, webinars, an annual networking symposium, and electronic communication networks.Pennsylvania Women's Agricultural Network's (PA-WAgN) current educational programing targets all new and beginning farmers, especially women farmers, through on-farm educational events, webinars, mentoring opportunities and networking. Theproject will expand these activities into new areas by building on the theme of diversity of women farmers and their enterprises through emphasizing inclusion of urban growers and the benefits of collaboration.To accomplish our long term-goal, PA-WAgN and partners will address three main objectives.Objective 1 Collaboratively identify opportunities for cooperation and learning between rural and urban farmers.We will work with our membership and partnership networks to build on our connections with urban-focused projects. With this network we will organize partner meetings in three regions of Pennsylvania, add new members to our Advisory Committee, and establish acommunication strategy.Objective 2 Develop, promote and deliver multiple forms of interactive educational programming.The first type of educational programming is Farm Walks & Kitchen Talks (FWKT),hands-on, on-farm educational, networking and brainstorming events.The next type of educational programming is farminars (webinars), participatory, interactive online curricula that focus on specific skills taught primarily by experienced women farmers.The third type of educational programming will consist of two statewide, larger-scaleannual events, an annual Networking Symposium with attendees from rural and urban areas across the state andWoman Farmer Day at thePennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg, PA. Both events will bring together rural and urban women farmers with community-based organizations to show how partnerships canbenefit communities through women-run farm enterprises.At all events and activities, increasing understanding of and ability to communicate withand serve the unique needs of new and beginning women farmers, farmers of color, andother historically underserved farmers will be emphasized.Objective 3. Construct ongoing communication and information sharing opportunities.Information and communication opportunities in the project will be via face-to-facemeetings, conference calls, online interactions and archived materials.
Project Methods
Objective 1 Collaboratively identify opportunities for cooperation and learning between rural and urban farmers.In year one, we will continue to work with our traditional and new partner organizations and farmers to build stronger relationships between rural and urban women farmers. We have already included members from urban farming organizations on our Advisory Committee: Latina farmers from My Neighborhood Project; women of color from Urban Tree Connection/Soil Generation and Black Urban Growers; and a women veteran of the military. The Advisory Committee will hold two in-person planning meetings per year and two tele-conferences per year to design events. The Advisory Committee will suggest FWKT presenters and topics, farminar topics, potential presenters and educational formats for symposium topics. We will also discuss challenges and unique opportunities for collaborations across urban and rural areas.Rural women farmers who participate in PA-WAgN programs have much to offer urban farmers in skill building. Similarly, urban farmers, because of their diverse backgrounds and experiences, have much to offer rural farmers in terms of understanding urban markets, urban systems of government, and issues related to food access, justice and sovereignty that are critically important to growing their businesses. Collaboration across these complementary groups can lead to new, innovative options for growing, selling, and distributing products to those most in need and ensuring economic viability of their enterprises as well as seed sharing across cultural divides.Also in year one, we will meet with our partners in urban areas in the eastern, central and western regions of the state to identify events where we can better get to know and build trust with community leaders. These partners will include Black Urban Growers in Pittsburgh, Dauphin Co. Community Growers in Harrisburg, and Urban Tree Connection in Philadelphia. We intend to extend this network to Lancaster and Scranton. We will work with these community leaders and community-based organizations to encourage members of their communities to collaborate with PA-WAgN and to share information on cultural approaches to agriculture and agricultural production techniques and build marketing collaborations and business skills and other topics. Urban growers will participate in eventplanning and collaborate in efforts to ensure diverse participation in our educational and networking events. The participants at facilitated meetings will be asked to bring and share foods they grow or raise to encourage informal sharing about these foods and their significance to their communities. This will be one step in building trust and commonality between members through mutual appreciation of food and culture.Inclusivity Strategy: In addition to supporting PA-WAgN's current network of farmers and agricultural professionals, we will focus on building inclusive relationships with ethnically and culturally diverse growers. Our approach to assuring inclusive relationships will be toprovide diversity training, listening sessions and full inclusion of all partners in program planning at the outset. We will foster supportive relationships among new and beginning and more experienced farmers that respect diverse backgrounds, perspectives and experiences; build long-term professional and personal relationships; and ultimately, mutually enhance the collective success and sustainability of their enterprises.Objective 2. Develop, promote and deliver multiple forms of interactive educational programming.Farm Walks and Kitchen Talks (FWKT) will be conducted on both urban and rural farms. These events will offer an intimate and welcoming space for people to share and catalyze new ideas and brainstorm solutions to common challenges. At least one of the FWKT each year will be held in or near to an urban area to reach a more racially and ethnically diverse audience. These demonstrations will be videotaped and clips used in later farminar presentations or online resources.We will conduct three interactive online farminars per year that participants can attend in real time or through archived versions accessible online after the event. Farminars will focus on specific skills identified at the collaborative meetings and videoed during FWKTevents. The information will be presented in photos and/or video with specific instructions for technical or business skills. Skills will be taught and demonstrated by women farmers and organized in a step-by-step fashion with identification of necessary tools or resources.In planning the farminar, we will identify farmers or educators who are sensitive to the learning styles of women and diverse audiences. Resource sheets will be developed for each farminar and will be available on the live Adobe Connect site, the PA-WAgN websiteand submitted to FarmAnswers.org.The annual Networking Symposium and Women Farmer Day will bring together new and beginning women farmers, more experienced women farmers, and our partners from across the state and beyond. At each symposium we will feature sessions on collaborationsbetween rural and urban farmers including sessions on food security and marketing collaborations. Women farmers and technical experts will conduct workshops organized in tracks, i.e., urban agriculture, business and marketing, livestock and crop production, andresource building.The annual Women Farmer Day at the Pennsylvania Farm Show regularly draws a crowd of over 550,000 people from both urban and rural areas. We will feature a keynote speaker followed by panel discussions on topics such as urban/rural opportunitiesfor collaboration. Urban grower organizations will also present the work of their organizations related to food security and food sovereignty in cities.Objective 3: Construct ongoing communication and information sharing opportunities.PA-WAgN staff will track all project participants and partners and construct a new project listserv to help widely dispersed Advisory Committee members, project participants and other interested parties with ongoing communications. With permission of participants ofeducational events, email addresses will be shared to foster communication among participants and allow them to offer encouragement or ask questions after the events as they apply newly acquired skills to their operations. Regional "sub-listservs" and Facebookgroups will be constructed for each area active in the project to enable more detailed planning and information sharing. In addition, PA-WAgN staff will help facilitate the formation and use of on-line informal "meeting places" such as "Google Hangout" to encourage informal discussions.The online curricula will employ networking tools that allow attendees to continue tocontact other attendees, as well as invite those who could not attend to join specificdiscussions. In so doing, we will create learning communities that have both face-to-face and virtual components. Finally, all resources and "recipes for success" from the project and related sites pertaining to building rural-urban farmer collaborations will be uploaded to the PA-WAgN website and Farm Answers website.

Progress 08/01/17 to 07/31/21

Outputs
Target Audience:The initiative created under this funding, the Women's Rural Urban Network (WRUN), was a partnership among organizations and individuals in Pennsylvania that serve women involved in growing food, fiber, and related agricultural products in rural and urban areas of the state and working with urban gardeners and community organizations that seek to create a more just food system that provides affordable, healthy, sustainable, and culturally appropriate food. The WRUN Steering Committee created the following mission statement: "The Mission is to build a collaborative network of diverse urban and rural women growers and food advocates to improve mutual sustainability, justice and access to healthy food across Pennsylvania communities." In addition, the Steering Committee collaboratively outlined a vision ("Women leading in creating equitable, just, and sustainable food systems across all communities") and five principles that guide WRUN work. These principles, along with additional information about the vision, can be found on the WRUN website: https://agsci.psu.edu/wagn/rural-urban-project. WRUN explicitly sought to build relationships among women from diverse backgrounds, representing differing racial and ethnic groups across the state. The WRUN partners and steering committee members included the Pennsylvania Women's Agricultural Network, Urban Tree Connection (Philadelphia), Norris Square Neighborhood Project (Philadelphia), Black Urban Growers and Farmers of Pittsburgh Co-op, Penn State Extension, Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture, Rodale Institute, state and federal agencies (e.g., NRCS, FSA), and individual farmers. Events organized and hosted by WRUN focused on experiential learning, peer-to-peer education, and networking among participants. Approximately 1595 individuals were reached directly through 59 educational and outreach events over the course of the 3 years of the project's duration. Changes/Problems:Major changes to the project plans included (1) moving meeting locations to better accommodate urban partners and their need to feel safe and minimize travel expenses; (2) seeking facilitators of color to provide more diverse viewpoints and feelings of safety to express experiences; (3) changing approaches to research that recognize historical exploitative practices of researchers, reputation of the land grant universities, and greater transparency and participatory approaches; and (4) increasing and diversifying ways for participants to engage with PA-WAgN materials, both live and archived. Finally, as all have experienced, we canceled and/or adjusted meeting and event plans to address safety concerns related to the pandemic, resulting in a premature effective end of most activities in March (rather than July) 2020. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Steering committee meetings provided opportunities for training, communication, and learning about the experiences of farmers and growers from diverse backgrounds, including racial, ethnic, gender, and class differences. They also provided opportunities to define and discuss social justice within agriculture in Pennsylvania and more generally for the implications of race and ethnicity and class differences among steering committee members. In addition, the funding support formalized diversity training for the Extension Associate on the project, as well as a graduate research training for two graduate students. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Objective 1. The PA-WAgN steering committee added 7 new partners representing urban growers and community organizations, primarily located in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Diversity training was pursued at most Steering Committee meetings, helping to surface tensions, misunderstandings, and apprehensions about working across racial and ethnic lines. We explicitly sought facilitators who were women of color to help engage in these conversations. The meetings also were intended to develop specific goals, action steps, and events that would help to bridge the rural-urban divide among farmers and growers in the state. The group developed a new identity, the Women's Rural Urban Network (WRUN), with a jointly developed mission statement, vision, and guiding principles. Regular meetings (2 in person per year, and monthly phone calls) occurred throughout the grant period until the pandemic forced all meetings to occur virtually. The Steering Committee helped to identify and implement workshop and event opportunities. Objective 2. The specific events identified in Obj. 2 were Farm Walk/Kitchen Talks (FWKT), "farminars," annual statewide networking symposia, and other types of educational workshops and related events. As described in the "Other Products: Events" section, the PA-WAgN/WRUN team organized and conducted: 13 FWKT events (306 attendees), 12 Farminars (346 live participants), 3 statewide networking symposia (467 participants), 16 workshops were conducted (352 attendees), 13 study circles (145 participants), and 2 tours of educational farm centers (32 participants). This is a total of 1648 individuals directly reached through events, in addition to those who may have received information about the Network through informational exhibits and related events. Most events were formally evaluated, and the detailed results are available in previous reports. In summary, most events were rated as very positive and useful, with majorities indicating they planned to implement something they learned, were more confident in their knowledge or skills, and built their personal and professional networks. Evaluations indicated growth in participants' racial awareness, appreciating diverse perspectives, and thinking differently about race and ethnicity. Additional evaluation data are available from the member survey conducted at the end of the project, which included 212 members who participated in events in the 2018 reporting year, 445 in 2019, and 978 in 2020. PA-WAgN events were seen as inclusive and welcoming; 89.8% agree that events provide a safe environment and that participants feel welcome at events. A majority also indicate they have used what they learned (85.2%). Majorities indicate knowledge gain in growing farm/food products (54.5%) and women's and gender issues in agriculture (53.7%). Equal percentages (46.2%) indicate that PA-WAgN events led to increases in their knowledge about environmental issues, social justice, and racial and ethnicity issues in agriculture, and 30.3% indicate growth in knowledge about sexuality issues in agriculture. About one-third indicate that events led to increases in their knowledge about business management (35.1%) and marketing (31.5%). A goal of the project is building networks that encourage sharing across differences and building personal and professional success in food and agriculture. Results indicate that 76.9% report connecting with people different from them and 64.8% indicate events have helped them grow their networks. Another goal is to increase intentions to take action related to agriculture and issues of social justice, food security, and sustainability. Nearly two-thirds of respondents indicated that PA-WAgN events increased their intention to advocate for women (66.2%) and for sustainable agriculture (63.5%). More than half of respondents indicated higher intentions related to working across rural/urban (53.6%) and racial (52.6%) differences, advocating for racial equity (52.2%), and improving food security (53.3%). Just under half (45.2%) report increased intention to advocate for LGBTQ+ equity in agriculture. Objective 3. The project team created multiple avenues for sharing information, including face-to-face meetings, conference/zoom calls, archived materials on the website, social media postings, and interactions at multiple types of events. Interviews conducted with Steering Committee members revealed overall project successes and tensions related to building rural-urban relationships. Farminars and symposiums emphasized racial and social justice content. On-line attendance at farminars overcame the barriers of travel and transportation. These barriers were not just logistical but also included reluctance of urban people to travel to rural areas that they perceived as unwelcoming, racist, and dangerous and rural women's reluctance to travel into urban areas with which they were unfamiliar. Participants similarly viewed moving the symposium from central Pennsylvania to Pittsburgh and Philadelphia as a marker of progress, moving beyond tokenism in the first year to an inclusive and transformative social justice focus by the third year. Unlike farminars, Steering Committee members did not view farm-walk-kitchen-talks as being successful in building rural-urban relations. They noted that drawing rural participants to urban FWKT and urban participants to rural FWKT was difficult. Overcoming the challenge of distance, safety, and familiarity remain a challenge. Steering committee and staff who had not previously engaged in racial and social justice work found WRUN to be deeply transformative in their thinking and engagement in agriculture. However, participants who were already working in social justice before WRUN felt the initiative fell short in creating change. The lack of prior antiracism knowledge of Steering committee members and staff placed a burden on a few participants, mainly women of color, to educate about racism, which undercut trust in the initiative. Several Steering Committee members described tension between the participants and the researchers. One participant described a sense of "academic entitlement" that individuals in the initiative expressed regarding the history of researchers extracting knowledge from the community without giving anything back to the community. The skepticism of WAgN, Penn State, and researchers was intimately related to the historic exploitation of Black and Brown communities for researchers' benefits. The staff was ill-equipped to handle these tensions. Another concern raised was the structure and organization of WAgN and the Steering Committee. The steering committee needed a more delineated structure for decision-making, accountability, and participation to ensure transparency and trust. Another participant described how WAgN was not positioned to engage with and apply a social justice approach, indicating that training alone isn't enough: "it doesn't work unless you work through these issues of distrust. ... you actually have to reshape the entire initiative and organization. Literally, gut it out and understand the ways that white supremacy is rooted in your initiative and reshape and rebuild the whole thing. So that everything that you produce is actually reflective and aiming to address that kind of work." Overall, steering committee members desired to find ways to more effectively bring racial and social justice work into all areas of programming. But the limitations in terms of prior knowledge and the existing structure and function of WAgN created barriers to actualizing a vision of long-term statewide social justice agricultural programming.

Publications


    Progress 08/01/20 to 07/31/21

    Outputs
    Target Audience:During this reporting period, limited outreach occurred. The focus of this no-cost extension year was evaluation of the project. As a result, main efforts entailed interviews with Steering Committee members and a survey of PA WAgN members and past event participants. Steering Committee members include leaders of nonprofit organizations that serve women farmers, federal and state agency representatives, educational institutions, and women farmers in the state. All approximately 1400 PA WAgN members were sent a survey in the summer of 2020, with 144 responding. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? During this no-cost extension year, efforts focused on evaluation of the program. Interviews were conducted with 12 Steering Committee members to assess the outcomes of the Women's Rural-Urban Network and discuss sustainability plans for the future. In addition, 144 PA WAgN members responded to an online survey conducted in the summer of 2020. Complete tabulation of the data have been delayed due to Covid-19; a full summary will be included in the final project report.

    Publications


      Progress 08/01/19 to 07/31/20

      Outputs
      Target Audience:The initiative created under this funding, the Women's Rural Urban Network (WRUN), is a partnership among organizations and individuals in Pennsylvania that serve women involved in growing food, fiber, and related agricultural products in both rural and urban areas of the state and working with urban gardeners and community organizations that seek to create a more just food system. The WRUN efforts explicitly seek to build relationships among women from diverse backgrounds, representing differing racial and ethnic groups across the state. The WRUN partners and steering committee members include the Pennsylvania Women's Agricultural Network, Urban Tree Connection (Philadelphia), Norris Square Neighborhood Project (Philadelphia), Black Urban Growers and Farmers of Pittsburgh Co-op, Penn State Extension, Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture, Rodale Institute, state and federal agencies (e.g., NRCS, FSA), and individual farmers. Events organized and hosted by WRUN focus on experiential learning, peer-to-peer education, and networking among participants. Approximately 1110 individuals were reached directly through 36 educational and outreach events during the reporting year. Changes/Problems:The Covid-19 pandemic created delays in final planned events, evaluation, and compilation of findings. Events since March, 2020, were moved online, with recordings posted to the website. As a result, evaluation data have been incomplete. Pandemic-related time pressures and competing demands resulted in delayed data collection and analysis for the final report. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Steering committee meetings have provided opportunities for exchange, communication, and learning about the experiences of farmers and growers from diverse backgrounds, including women who identify as African-American, Latinx, and white, and represent rural and urban parts of the state. It has provided space for discussion of social justice within agriculture in Pennsylvania and more generally for the implications of race and ethnicity and class differences among steering committee members. We held 1 in-person steering committee meeting, with an estimated 18 individuals in attendance at this event, and 1 online steering committee meeting due COVID-19 with approximately 20 people in attendance. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

      Impacts
      What was accomplished under these goals? Obj. 1: The Women's Rural-Urban Network continued to establish partnerships among organizations that serve diverse women in agriculture in urban and rural settings and plan collaborative events. Obj. 2: In total, the project conducted 36 educational and outreach events with 1110 direct participants (all listed in the products/outputs section). Evaluation data for the 2019 annual symposium indicate that the symposium was successful in attracting a mix of urban and rural farmers and growers as well as people from diverse racial groups. To date, the 2019 symposium was the largest and most racially diverse symposium in PA-WAgN's history. Evaluation data indicates that for 66% of participants, this was the first PA-WAgN event that they had ever attended. Further, 38% of attendees were from urban areas, while 39% and 24% were from rural and suburban areas, respectively. Additionally, there was greater racial diversity as compared to previous years with white (68%), Black/African American (14%), mixed-race (8%), American Indian/Alaskan Native (2%), and Asian (2%) participants in attendance. Evaluation data indicate that 73% of the individuals who participated in workshops found the information presented very or extremely useful. Of those currently farming, 82% were very or moderately inspired to implement something they learned at the symposium; of those not currently farming, 44% indicated some likelihood to start farming within the next two years. Additionally, 79% indicated they met someone they will stay in contact with for the purposes of networking (41%), learning from others of different backgrounds (22%), giving technical information (17%), and providing business leads (15%). Obj. 3:Project partners, as members of the steering committee, have continued to meet regularly during the current reporting period to identify opportunities to collaborate, including 1 face-to-face Steering Committee meeting, 1 online Steering Committee meeting, and 11 monthly calls to review progress and plan events. Events and resources have been archived on the PA WAgN website, including 7 "farminars" and related video material.https://agsci.psu.edu/wagn/rural-urban-project. Discussions about future collaborations and organizational development are on-going.

      Publications


        Progress 08/01/18 to 07/31/19

        Outputs
        Target Audience:The initiative created under this funding, the Women's Rural Urban Network (WRUN), is a partnership among organizations and individuals in Pennsylvania that serve women involved in growing food, fiber, and related agricultural products in rural and urban areas of the state and working with urban gardeners and community organizations that seek to increase availability of affordable, healthy, and culturally-appropriate food. The Steering Committee created the following mission statement: "The Mission is to build a collaborative network of diverse urban and rural women growers and food advocates to improve mutual sustainability, justice and access to healthy food across Pennsylvania communities." In addition, the Steering Committee collaboratively outlined a vision ("Women leading in creating equitable, just, and sustainable food systems across all communities") and five principles that guide WRUN work. These principles, along with additional information about the vision, can be found on the WRUN website: https://agsci.psu.edu/wagn/rural-urban-project. The WRUN efforts explicitly seek to build relationships among women from diverse backgrounds, representing differing racial and ethnic groups across the state. The WRUN partners and steering committee members include the Pennsylvania Women's Agricultural Network, Urban Tree Connection (Philadelphia), Norris Square Neighborhood Project (Philadelphia), Black Urban Growers and Farmers of Pittsburgh Co-op, Penn State Extension, Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture, Rodale Institute, state and federal agencies (e.g., NRCS, FSA), and individual farmers. Events organized and hosted by WRUN focus on experiential learning, peer-to-peer education, and networking among participants. Approximately 485 individuals were reached directly through 23 educational and outreach events during the reporting year. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Steering committee meetings have provided opportunities for exchange, communication, and learning about the experiences of farmers and growers from diverse backgrounds, including women who identify as African-American, Latinx, and white, and represent rural and urban parts of the state. It has provided space for discussion of social justice within agriculture in Pennsylvania, and more generally for the implications of race and ethnicity and class differences among steering committee members. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Limited evaluation results have been shared with the steering committee. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Objective 2: Events will continue to be offered as proposed. This includes Farm Walk Kitchen Talks, Rodale Tour, annual Symposium, and farminars. Objective 3: Steering committee members will focus this next year on ways to sustain the WRUN beyond the life of the funding. Evaluations will be compiled for the events and shared with the steering committee to assess the short- and long-term impact of events.

        Impacts
        What was accomplished under these goals? Objective 1: Collaboratively identify opportunities for cooperation and learning between rural and urban farmers. In the previous reporting period, the Women's Rural Urban Network was formed by developing partnerships with organizations in urban areas. These partners, as members of the steering committee, have continued to meet regularly during the current reporting period to identify opportunities to collaborate, including 2 face-to-face meetings and monthly phone calls. Objective 2: Develop, promote and deliver multiple forms of interactive educational programming. The events conducted during the reporting period include: 5 "Farm Walk Kitchen Talks", with 110 individuals attending. Topics included soil health, permaculture, weed management, aeroponics and biodigesters, growing and marketing herbs. 5 "Farminars", with an estimated 80 participants attending live; the recorded version is available on the WRUN website. Topics included farm bill provisions, leadership, pollinators, personal growth and success, and women as leaders. Evaluation results indicate that 60% indicated they heard something in the Farming they plan to try, 100% found it useful, and 60% were more confident in their own skills after the Farminars. 1 tour of the Rodale Institute Experimental Farm, with 25 in attendance. Evaluation results indicate that 75% increased knowledge of sustainable agriculture during the event, 50% reported feeling more confident in their knowledge, and 56% were moderately inspired to use skills learned. Networking questions indicate that 69% met someone at the event that they plan to stay in touch with, primarily to share and listen (90%), to learn from others of different backgrounds (80%), and to collaborate (40%). When surveyed 6-8 months after the event, 50% reported that they had kept in touch with someone they met at the event, 50% reported using the information they learned, and 75% talked with someone from a different background. However, the number of responses to the follow-up survey was low (n=8). 1 annual statewide symposium, with 115 in attendance. The theme for 2018 was "Women Growing Justice." Previous annual symposiums have been held in central Pennsylvania, but based on feedback from our urban partners, we decided to hold the conference in an urban area, and alternate between different parts of the state to encourage participation. The December 2018 symposium was held in Pittsburgh. The conference was successful in attracting a mix of urban and rural farmers and growers as well as people from diverse racial and ethnic groups. Evaluation data indicate that the 63% of the individuals who participated in workshops increased their knowledge during the event. In addition, 73% indicated they met someone with whom they intend to stay in contact, for the purposes of listening and reacting to ideas (70%), collaborating (63%), learn from others of different backgrounds (48%), give technical information (37%), and provide business leads (33%). Of those currently farming, 83% were moderately or very inspired to implement something they learned at the symposium; of those not currently farming, 33% intend to start farming within the next two years.When surveyed 7 months after the event, 50% reported they had stayed in touch with someone they met, 61% used the information they learned, 88% met someone from a different background, 55% have thought differently about rural-urban connections, 47% reported appreciating different perspectives, and 42% reported thinking differently about race, ethnicity and gender. 9 study circles, county-specific events that seek to address high priority issues women farmers and growers face in those locations and to build professional and social networks; approximately 115 individuals attended these study circles. 1 of the 2 steering committee meetings incorporated diversity training, aimed at providing members with a greater ability to bring together the unique assets and experiences of those the Initiative intends to serve.

        Publications


          Progress 08/01/17 to 07/31/18

          Outputs
          Target Audience:The target audience is new and beginning women-owned or operated agriculture-related enterprises in rural and urban areas in Pennsylvania. This includes women of color, particularly in urban areas, and women with limited-resource enterprises. Changes/Problems:The major modification we had to make to make urban partners feel safe was to locate a facilitator of color for our steering committee meetings. This was extremely challenging to find a woman of color who was familiar with farming but through connections we were able to locate a woman from eastern Ohio. We also focused heavily on planning events to keep momentum going and to give participants as many options as possible to connect with and share this initiative. Finally, we have had to do education around the involvement of researchers in this project. Urban growers have many reservations working with university researchers due to many projects that have not provided any benefit to the growers. The PSU team is attempting to involve participants in decisions about the research they are doing and the decisions about how to use the data generated. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The Steering Committee meetings have provided opportunities for diversity training for all members, with a partiuclar focus on how to talk about racial and ethnic diversity within agriculture. The use of professional facilitators at Steering Committee meetings has created opportunities for learning for all attendees.Patty Neiner attended the National Risk Management conference specifically to participate in several diversity workshops. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Steering Committee meetings will continue to focus on diversity skill training and leadership training, and building relationships across racial and ethnic differences. We will hold more FWKTs and farminars with a focus on building relationships and seeking partnership opportunities. The annual networking symposium will be held December 12, 2018, and the Woman Farmer Day at the Pennsylvania Farm Show will be held the first week of January. Initital evaluation research will be summarized and shared with the Steering Committee, to help identify priorities and opportunities.

          Impacts
          What was accomplished under these goals? Objective 1 Collaboratively identify opportunities for cooperation and learning between rural and urban farmers. The main activities related to Obj. 1 focused on revising the steering committee and initating new relationships and connections across partners and the rural and urban growers they represent. The PA-WAgN Steering Committee was revised to add project partners to the existing Committee (which included women farmers, technical providers, NGO staff and university educators). The original Steering Committee of 16 was primarily focused on rural farmers; 7 new partners, representing urban farmer and grower organizations, were added. The first two meetings were facilitated by two women, one of color, one white, and focused on diversity training. The diversity training exercises covered education on the history of farmers of color, the plight of farming through the years, assess mapping, and exercises which brought the group together in a joint mission, named the Women's Rural Urban Initiative (WRUN). The group then discussed the deliverables, divided into committees and planned events for the year.? Objective 2 Develop, promote and deliver multiple forms of interactive educational programming. Three types of educational events were proposed: Farm Walks & Kitchen Talks (hands-on, on-farm educational, networking and brainstorming events); farminars (participatory webinars including interactive online curricula that focus on specific skills taught primarily by experienced women farmers), and statewide annual events, an annual Networking Symposium andWoman Farmer Day at thePennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg, PA. Farm Walks & Kitchen Talks: In May, we held a Farm Walk & Kitchen Talk (FWKT) at Vollmecke Orchard and CSA in Chester County, eastern PA. Eight people attended, two of which were urban. We also held a FWKT at Threefold Farm in Cumberland County, central PA, on pollinators and heated high tunnels. Thirty-one people attended which included a small number of urban people from Harrisburg. In June we held a FWKT in Pittsburgh (35 attendees) and 2 in Philadelphia (15 and 12 attendees). In late July a tractor safety workshop was held in rural western PA. Three participants of 12 were from urban Pittsburgh. Connections were made between these participants and those from outside Pittsburgh. Farminars: no farminars were held during this reporting period. Annual Networking Symposium: We also held our annual symposium in December for 111 women farmers and others. The theme was Women Farmers: Setting the Table for All. The keynoter was Leah Lizarondo, founder of 412 Food Rescue in Pittsburgh, PA, followed by a panel of other women working in food rescue projects. The symposium also had breakout sessions on: farm bill policy; agritourism; berry production; collective marketing; animal production; farm labor; marketing tips; pasture management; finding the divine in us and the laws around seed saving. Annual Woman Farmer Day at the PA Farm Show: In January, PA-WAgN/WRUN participated in the annual PA Farm Show where we had a display showing a timeline of important women in agriculture, both urban and rural as well as of various races and cultures. Patty Neiner gave a presentation on the new initiative. This event draws over 50,000 people annually. In addition, PA WAgN/WRUN attended the annual Pennsylvania Assocation for Sustainable Agriculture annual conference (approximately 1500 attendees).We brought some of our urban partners to this event which has historically been lacking urban or people of color attendees. We tabled at the event and Patty Neiner gave a presentation to approximately 45 women on leadership. We also attended the Farm-to-Table conference in Pittsburgh where we partnered with the Master Gardeners of Allegheny County to table and present a day full of workshops covering the topics of food preservation, permaculture, herbs, edible flowers and plant health. Approximately 130 people attended these workshops. Other events PA-WAgN participated in were: display of the Women in Ag Timeline at the Lawrence County Fair and 3 discussion circles in western PA. PA-WAgN partnered with National Agricultural Statistics Service to hold an event to get farms, mainly urban, to fill out the ag census form. Two Urban Ag Fundraising workshops were held in Philadelphia to assist urban farmers in grant writing and development skills. Objective 3. Construct ongoing communication and information sharing opportunities. Information and communication opportunities in the project will be via face-to-facemeetings, conference calls, online interactions and archived materials. Communication within the project has focused primarily on Steering Committee interactions (via monthly conference calls and two in-person meetings) and direct outreach to partner organizations' members. All events are advertised through the network of partner organizations to reach as many people as possible. In addition, PA-WAgN has sought to build relationships with new partners to make them aware of the needs and interests of both urban and rural women farmers. Six new organizations have agreed to work with us in some way to bridge the rural-urban divide. Previously we had worked with the PA chapter of the Young Farmers Coalition and now we have partnered with the National organization on leasing topics for urban and rural farmers. The North East Sustainable Ag Working Group is working with us on education of Farm Bill topics and farm advocacy. This is the most common topic for both groups so far. National Farmers Union women's committee is working with us as well on advocacy and leadership topics. The Pittsburgh Food Policy Council has agreed to help work on how to develop councils in rural areas. Finally, the Penn State Ag Safety Team would like to work on small equipment safety issues with both groups.

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