Progress 09/01/23 to 08/31/24
Outputs
Target Audience:During this period monthly meetings were maintained with all project partners, and additional meetings were held with the project partners specific to the states in which the remaining 7OAR's workshops held during this time.These workshops were held in Great FallsMT (December 6th and 7th, 2023), Cheyenne WY (January 18th and 19th), Aberdeen SD (January 25th and 26th), Powell WY (June 13th and 14th), Carrington ND (July 15th and 16th), Madison SD (July 17th and 18th), and Lincoln NE (August 2nd and 3rd). Partners for Nebraska were the Nebraska Sustainable Ag Society and the Center For Rural Affairs, and the main partner for North and South Dakota was the Northern Plains Sustainable Ag Society Target audiences for all 7workshops remainedmedium tolarge-scale farmers and ranchers producing row crops and livestock across the Northern Great Plains and the mid-west,including military veterans, limited-resource, tribal and socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers. Not a primary target audience, but provisions in each OAR's agenda were also made for specialty crop producers too, as acknowledged in the grant narrative - 'Target audiences also include Tribal members, immigrants, military veterans, and, secondarily, smaller-scale vegetable and fruit growers.' In addition to this audience, NRCS, FSA and RDA staff at county level were contacted and invited to attend the workshops in their areas. Between 8-10 county offices were contacted for each of the remaining 7 workshops in this reporting period. Some 20-25 individuals/workshop.In addition, local businesses were contacted that had a direct link to agriculture, such as local meat processors and organic seed production,as well as Universities and institutions involved in organic transitioning programs such as the TOPP's program. For example, Rodale Institute. Changes/Problems:Outreach challenges Every workshop in the reporting period had significant outreach from NCAT through pdf fliers, information posted on our 'upcoming events' website, e-mail blasts through our producer databases, and Instagram. In addition, we contacted 8-10 county NRCS, RDA, and FSA offices surrounding each workshop location, with open invitations to attend the workshops and pass on the invitation to interested BGFR in their areas. Engagement from these local offices was very disappointing overall, though there were someexceptions in Aurora NE, Cheyenne WY, and Carrington ND. In some cases, local media was also contacted through our project partners in NE, ND, SD in addition to these organizations doing their own outreach to their own members and supporters. This also applied to Cheyenne WY, where we enlisted the help of a local rancher/attorney to help with outreach as has been previously mentioned. Pre-registration and pre-workshop surveys rarely matched the attendance at each workshop, and regardless of what approach was taken, many attendees appeared at the door on the day. Very little of this was attributable to the weather. One change in approach was to keep the core itinerary the same for each workshop - ie. the organic training and transition components. These were areas we could always cover with the project team members, and thisenabled us to get the fliers out and all the outreach started muchsooner with the outline of an agenda for each workshop, the location and the times. A complete agenda with guest speakers and field trips was always a challenge to get out in a timely fashion. Workshop timing challenges. The timing of a workshop and location, catering for larger scale beginningfarmers and ranchers (and conventional farmers and ranchers exploring transition options)is always challenging for several reasons. In a 'new' area like WY or SD - and we have already stated that we felt we were 'breaking new ground' in these states -with very limited pre-registration or pre workshop survey information to go on, it was very hard to gauge the type of audience that might attend. Farmers and ranchers have different busy periods of course due to calving, lambing, harvesting and seeding etc.Therefore, we could very easily be in the wrong spot at the wrong time if we were not careful! Project partners within these states helped greatly with their local knowledge of the area as far as possible, but this would have been further improved with more active engagement from local NRCS, RDA, and FSA teams too. Workshop agenda flexibility On the back of the comments regarding not knowing what type of audience we were going to get, we learned not to get too detailed with the organic transitioncore agenda we had decided to base each workshop around. By this, I mean that beyond the general education on organic transition, and what to expect from an organic inspection, we could then adapt the remainingsessions to the type of attendees at the workshop. Therefore, we concentrated on livestock organic system templates if the audience were ranchers, crop organic system templates for farmers and we had additional specialized information for specialty crop growers, if they were the main audience. This was a change in approach adopted during this reporting period and it would not have been possible without having 2 highly experienced organic inspectors and certifiers on the team. To a degree, this flexibilityalso applied to the organic farmers and ranchers in the team, where we had enough diversity to offer presentations on organic farming and ranching to any audience that attended, in addition to extra speakers we could secure for each workshop. This could be slightly more challenging on certain occasions though, as certain team members could only commit to certain workshops depending on their own availability - being active farmers and ranchers themselves of course. Stand-alone workshops or conference linked, and field trips? This was the most challenging area to try and change as each workshop proved to be so different from the next given the geographic area covered across 5 states. As mentioned before, it was mostly beneficial to have the workshops linked to regional conferences, as many people would be travelling to the conferences anyway and therefore this helped with registrations (if this was coordinated between the conference team and the workshop team) and sometimes attendance at the workshop too, but this was not always the case. The first workshop in this reporting period in Great Falls, MT, preceded the MOA conference at the same venue, and had a poor attendee turnout on the first day but better on the second day when we had another morning of workshops, and then aligned with MOA in the afternoon for the field trips. The weather was marginal, but Great Falls is also on edge of Montana's (largely conventional) grain belt stretching into the 'golden triangle' and the Prairies, so was this a factor too? Cheyenne WY looked like it would be the most challenging, as a stand-alone event with no field trips planned, but proved to be very successful. Both workshops in Nebraska were very successful as stand-alone events combined with field trips, and Carrington ND was reasonably successful on day 1 with a field trip which wasvery successful on day 2 when combined with the research center field day. Given that we viewed these as 'pioneering' workshops based on the larger scale farming and ranching operations we were concentrating on, perhaps there was no perfect formula, but key points that could optimize the chances of success are summarized below. Things we feel we got right and improvements for the future. The project team we assembled together was almost the perfect balance for the demands of the project workshops, with professional organic inspectors, organic farmers and ranchers, local support organizations in each state, the NCAT media team and good external consultants for pre and post workshop surveys and evaluation (J&G Research). For the future I would add local organizations to assist with the Wyoming workshops, and an additional local team for the Dakota's. The NPSAS did a great job for us, through Krysti Mikkonen, in ND and SD, but they possibly didn't have the resources to cover both states in the same way that the Nebraska Sustainable Ag Society and the Center For Rural Affairs covered Nebraska. I felt that having the same core agenda for each workshop was the right thing to do, and arranging a field trip for each stand-alone workshop was also the best solution. If the workshop was part of a regional conference, I would not consider a workshop-based field trip in the future unless it was combined with the conference agenda anyway.Too much workshop educational time would be lost. Posting out pre-workshop agenda's as soon as possible with venues and times helped, but posting out complete agendas sooner could help more. Sometimes guest speakers and field trips attract extra interest. More active attendee pre-registration for the workshops will also help us plan better for the future. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?During the course of the final 7 workshops completed during this reporting period, it became fairly clear that when the workshops concluded we needed to provide a 'bridge' between the training we had just provided, and the services offerred by the TOPP's (Transition to Organic Partnership Prgram) programs in the Northwest and Plains regions and their one-one mentorship oppurtunities. The TOPP's program is due to run for several more years yet.Ourplanned technical support service will provide practical help on all the core topics discussed at each workshop.These core subjects included theOrganic inspection process for crop and livestock operations and what to expect, working through an Organic System Plan Template for crop production and/or livestock production (depending on the location and audience), how to get certified as an organic producer, and rules and regulations relating to the 3-year transition period. Depending on the geographic location and type of audience (Beginning farmer, rancher, or specialty crop), these core areas of instruction were expanded to include subjects as diverse asfinding markets, how to manage the transition period, weed control, cover cropping, crop rotations, cultivation options, cattle health, sourcing feed, integrating livestock into cropping systems and much more. This informal technical support will be provided by certified organic inspectors who were part of the OAR's workshop team,and is particularly relevant given the introduction of thethe newly updated Transitional Production Plan for Crops (which only appeared in time to share at the last few workshops) and the imminent release of the Transitional Production Plan for Livestock. So, keeping the workshop attendees informed of these new documents and any changes in organic legislation is an additional benefit of this technical support. Aside from the Topp's program appearing during this workshop project period, nationwide Climate Smart Grants have also been awarded which potentially offer another option to transitioning farmers, ranchers and specialty crop producers - ie transitioning to more sustainable/regenerative climate smart systems, but not necessarily organic systems. While keeping the content of ourworkshops geared to organic transition, the project team has also had to professionably develop during the workshops too, to make ourselves aware ofthe regenerative and sustainable options out there as well as new variations on organic systems. Examples of which include Biodynamic certification, Regenerative 6-3-4 verification and Regenerative Organic certification. We felt that these were areas we should be professionally be aware of to be able to answer questions from attendees on 'other options out there' rather than pretend they did not exist. All these new verification standards, and the new food labels that will be created on the back of this, will make will make things even more confusing for consumers seeking food products produced under more sustainable, 'planet friendly,' production systems, therefore this project has highlighted the need for continuing professional development and awareness in this area, beyond the reporting timeline. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?With the last 3 workshops occuring so late in the original project timeframe, a no-cost extension was approved through to February 2025, to collate and analyze the results of all the workshops and disseminate them to communities of interest. This is underway at the time of writing. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Plans for the next reporting period will be to collate and analyze the results of all the workshops to disseminate them to communities of interest in a report (as per above). In addition, a technical helpline will be established in partnership with one or more of our certified organic inspectorpartners involved in the transition workshops, to provide ongoing technical support and advice to the BGFR who attended the workshops. Contact details and information about this will be sent out with the final post surveys to all the workshop attendees. Planned continuing support and attendance atspecific conferences in Montana (MOA), Nebraska, and South Dakota, relating toorganic production, and involving previous project partners in these states - notablythe Center For Rural Affairs (CFRA), Northern Plains Sustainable Ag Society (NPSAS) and the NebraskaSustainable Ag Society (NSAS). A written article on one of the organic certified farmers in the project team, focusing on dryland organic cropproduction - the crop rotations used, nutrient building through cover crops, problems encountered with weeds, and environmental benefits of uncropped protected areas, pollinator strips and shelter belts, for example. Additional options being consideredsuch as articlesrelated to organic production, marketing and labelling. Internal staff training on organic certification is being considered too.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Accomplishments have largelybeenmeasured through the post workshop surveys, interaction during the workshop and additional feedback later. Key members of the project team, including myself, felt that these were pioneering workshops in someof the states we held workshops in - particularly South Dakota and Wyoming, where all 4 workshops (2 in each state), fell within this reporting period. Therefore, though we had mixed success in terms of attendance, it did establish our presence in these states, and we are now following this up with project reporting and ongoing technical assistance, beyond thisreporting period.Another accomplishment at some workshops was bridging the divide between the agenciesand beginning farmers and ranchers seeking assistance for organic transition, through CSP, Equip and other agency programs. A third success of the workshops was securing quest speakers at every opportunity who were organic farmers, ranchers, or specialty crop producers on a large scale,to talk openly about their journey to organic production systems and some of the challenges still faced. In this respect we were lucky to have 2 first generation organic producers on the project team - Nate Powell-Palm and Doug Crabtree, as well as several experienced organic ranchers Jess Alger and Becky Weed. So, when we could not find guest speakers, we had a wealth of experience within the team to cover this. A brief summary of each workshop and the accomplishments achieved: Great Falls, Montana (6th -7th December). Of the original 10 attendees who pre-registered for the workshop, 4 actually attended, in addition to 4 more who appeared on the day, making 8 in total out of a potential 14, 7 of whom were BGFR. This workshop was unique as it was the only one that was completely run by the internal project team with no additional external speakers or presenters. The workshop preceded the MOA (Montana Organic Association) conference at the same venue with a combined field trip on the afternoon of the 7th to Timeless Seeds in Ulm. Accomplishments included news coverage of the workshop (https://www.ktvh.com/news/montana-ag-network/montana-ag-network-transitioning-to-organic)and securing an organic feed supply for chickens for one of our attendees. Cheyenne, Wyoming (18th -19th January). One of the few workshops held over 1.5 days without a field trip involved, this was actually a very successful first foray into Wyoming and much of the success was attributed to havingMatt Romsa on the ground, a Cheyenne attorney and farmer, to help with the organization and planning (the project team did not include an organization to representWyoming). The pre attendance registration was 8, but total attendance was 29, including 4 BGFR and 4 individuals from county NRCS and FSA, as well as local businesses too. We considered this firstworkshop a very successful one due partly to the diverse audience and active interaction between everyone. Aberdeen SD (25th -26th January). The first workshop to be held in SD this one preceded the NPSAS Food and Farming conference at the same venue (26th - 27th), with amemberof the NPSAS (Krysti Mikkonen) being part of our project team, helping us organize this workshop and all theworkshops in North and South Dakota. We had 33 attendees at this workshop, including 8 registering as BGFR, with most pre-registering with either NCAT or NPSAS. Workshops linked to conferences are definitely an advantage when it comes to more accurate pre-registration numbers and pre/post survey work,as long as both the workshop and conference organizers are happy to share information with each other. One achievement of this workshop was a request from 2 NDSU staff (North Dakota State University), who attended this workshop, to host another workshop in Carrington North Dakota - which we did. Andrew also wrote an article about this workshop which appeared in the NPSAS Spring Germinator Magazine, 2024. Powell, WY. (13th -14th June). This workshop was another standalone event (not linked to another conference), but did include afield trip to Gluten Free Oats in Powell. Attendance was a modest 10, but with 4 BGFR among them, with 5 preregistering and 2 more individuals who were notable to make it. As stated previously, we considered WY to be one of our 'pioneer states' and Powell was deliberately chosen as avenue because it was at the opposite end of WY from Cheyenne - in the Northwest corner. Despite low numbers, successes included goodfeedback on the workshop content, and a very good presentation on crop/livestock/organicinsurance from FCSA (Farm Credit Services of America). One lesson we learned here is that we would probably have benefitted from someone 'on the ground' to help organize the workshop, as we did in Cheyenne. With Powell so close to the Montana border we didn't think this would be a problem to manage ourselves. Carrington, ND (15th -16th July). As stated previously, this workshop was by invitation and was combined with the Carrington Research Center field day (16th), with a full day's workshop on the 15th, plus a field trip to Healthy Oilseeds LLC, an evening presentation at Cows N' Co, and the project team hosting the Organic and Sustainable Agriculture segment of the field day on the 16th. Workshop attendance was 12, including 5BGFR, with 7 preregistering. One achievement was a very knowledgeable and helpful presentation by the NRCS on available grant funding opportunities, a presentation on insurance, and presentations on both days of the workshop from 2 BGFR. The workshop received plaudits for the information shared. Madison SD (17th -18th July). This workshop was based at the St Peter's Church on the Prairie, 10 miles due south of Madison, and included workshop introductions and presentations by Krysti Mikkonen (NPSAS), Andrew Coggins (NCAT), Glen Rabenberg (Soil Works LLC) andthe hosts Charlie, Aaron and Allen Johnson. This was followed by a long tour of the Johnson farms (which is a well-attended yearly event), and then workshop presentations by a beginning farmer, the NRCS and Prairie Sun Organic Farm, plusOrganic certification and transition sessions headed by Margaret Scoles (IOIA), one of ourproject partners.Attendance was 17 including 3 BGFR and 6 farmers/ranchers. The tour component of this workshop was also filmed and can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kCfM3hlpW0. Lincoln NE (2nd-3rd August). The last workshop in the series was based around the Lincoln area. Originally key members of the team were going to participate in a chef-producer evening in Omaha on the 1st but the city got hit by a tornado unfortunately, so this event was cancelled! On the 2nd we had a full day's bus tour to4 organic farms and specialty crop producers, from 4 acres of pastured pork to 55 acres of specialty crops on a certified biodynamic farm, then 1.5 acres of certified organic high tunnels, and finally a 1,800 acre organic corn-soybean operation. The first day concluded with presentations at Milford Golf Course. The 3rd was a full day's workshop based in Seward public library, working through the newly updated Transitional Production Plan for Crops with Margaret Scoles (IOIA), grass fed-grass finished organic beef with Jess Alger (another project team member), a paneltalking about CSP/EQIP/FSA loans and organic certification (Rodale, One Cert, Rural Affairs and NRCS), and concluding with one local organic farmer and one local beef producer giving brief presentations on their production systems and taking audience questions. Nate Powell-Palm and Andrew Coggins (both OAR's project) also provided short 20-minute presentations on the previous day's bus tour. We had 20 attendees for the workshop, including 9 BGFR. All these attendance figures exclude the OAR's project team members who were present at each workshop.
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Progress 09/01/22 to 08/31/23
Outputs
Target Audience:During this period monthly meetings were maintained with all project partners, and additional meetings were held with project partners specific to the states in which the 3 OAR's workshops held during this reporting period. These workshops were held in Billings, Montana (6th and 7th December 2022), Fargo, North Dakota (26th and 27th January 2023) and Aurora, Nebraska (18th and 19th August 2023). Target audiences for all 3 workshops wereprimarily beginning medium- to larger-scale field crop and livestock farmers, includingmilitary veterans, limited-resource, tribal and socially-disadvantaged farmers and ranchers. Not a primary target audience, but provisions in each OAR's agenda werealso made for specialty crop producers too, as acknowledged in the grant narrative - 'Target audiences also include Tribal members, immigrants, military veterans, and, secondarily, smaller-scale vegetable and fruit growers.' The evaluation of the Billings workshop based on the pre-survey (7) and post survey (10) recorded 25% identifying as Native Americans and 58% were female. 7% of responders were certified organic and 8% were transitioning. For the Fargo workshop the evaluation was based on 6 participants filling in the pre and post surveys with 1 identifying as Native America, all 6 responders were male, 4 were certified organic and 1 was transitioning. There has not been an evaluation done of Aurora Nebraska, but 42 people filled in the pre survey though only 7 filled in the post survey. Using the post survey and following the same metrics as for the other 2 workshops, 1 responder identified themselves as Hispanic, 5 were female, 2 were male, Of the 7 ananymous responders, 2 identified as researchers and 5 as producers, with 4 of those recording less than 10 years in farming or ranching. Changes/Problems:The first major challenges to this project were caused by the resignation of Jamie Ryan Lockman from MOA at the start of the project, causing the PD at the time, Jeff Schahczenski, to try and take on Jamies role and his own at the same time, which was too much. The second major change was Jeff retiring himself in May 2023 before most of the OAR's workshops had been completed. 2 of the existingproject partners, Margaret Scoles (IOIA) and Nate Powell - Palm both graciously agreed to take on theadditional work left by Jamie, and helpme to plan and organize the workshops and liase with the regional partners in ND,SD and NE to make them happen, and help find a local farmer in WY to source venues and contacts there. WY was the biggest challenge to date, but proved very successful with the help of someone on the ground and the additional work getting the word out. Additional challenges have been workshop attendance (MT twice and Fargo ND to a degree), and solving the problem of getting attendees to register ahead of the event (therefore giving us access to pre-workshop survey data and an idea of the type of audience attending). Unfortunately weather plays a role in the winter with many making last minute descisions to attend or not. Though we aim to get dates and agenda's together as early as possible (and the event out in the media), this will remain a challenge still, as many people simply will not commit early it seems - and not just because of the weather.For this reason the registrations stay open to the day of the workshop now. In addition to NCAT pubicizing the event, we now use every form of media available to get the word out about the workshops, and also contact the 8-10 county FSA, NRCS and extension offices closest to the workshop taking place. This is partly the reason for keeping much of the agenda flexible, as I mentioned earlier, though the last 2 workshops in Cheyenne and Aberdeen have been successful. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Training,through the workshops, has provided limited opportunities at the present time for those of us working on the project, as the whole project team have very good professional skills in their particular fields and a lot of experience. But professional development for everyone involved in the team has been huge, I think. For example, the whole team benefits from learning about the changingopportunities available from government agencies such as the NRCS, FSA and extension when they attend the workshops. The ranchers in the group have benfitted from learning about cropping systems - and vice versa. We all learn about integrated livestock systems! I can pass on information from the non profit world about current Federal funding opportunities and trends in agriculture which might be outside the organic perspective - such as Climate Smart funding, 'sustainable' and 'regenerative' production systems etc. All the project team are constantly attending workshops and conferences, and during this reporting period I personally attended over 10 conferences and workshops relating to soil health, local markets, biochar as a soil amendment, changing 'conventional' crop production systems (MT Grain Growers Convention and Nothern Pulse Growers Association), regenerative grazing workshops and berry production in MT. At most of these events we take displays with us highlighting NCAT's work and current projects we are involved in such as this one. Just as I'm constantly learning about all aspects of organic production from my colleagues, I hope I can bring some of my more diverse agricultural experience to the table too. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Beyond the target audience, outreach activities to attract a diverse range of interests to each workshop have been largely limited to NRCS, FSA and extension at county level. Establishedfarmers and ranchers, universities and support industries such as local food processors, organic retailers etc. Outreach has been more diverse when the OAR's workshops have been linked to another event, such as the workshop in Billings that was linked to the MOA conference, and the workshop in Fargo ND which was linked to the Food and Farming conference. In those circumstances, our workshops and organic transition get greater exposure to members of the public generally, and topoliticians such as Jon Testorin Montana for the MOA conference. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?During the next reporting period we plan to complete the 10 OAR's workshops ( 2 each in NE, WY, SD, ND, MT) scheduled in the grant proposal. 3 additional workshops have been completed in Great Falls MT, Cheyenne WY, and Aberdeen SD since the current reporting period. The remaining 4 are being planned at present with tentative dates of Powell WY (13th - 14th June), Carrington Research Center ND (15th - 16th July), Madison SD (18th - 19th July) and Lincoln NE (2nd - 3rd August). This will complete the 10 workshops. During this time frame work is continuing on how to collate the data being generated and dessiminate it to interested communities and follow up research with workshop attendees on changes that have been implemented as a result of attending the workshops.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
In the previous report Jeff Schahczenski, the previous project director, stated that the major goals above are not the goals for this project. 'The narrative refers to a project that was not funded.' Economics and crop insurance obviously play a role all production systems, but we wish to highlight the more practical considerations specifically related to transitioning to organic systems for beginning farmers and ranchers on larger scale operations. Put simply, the primary aim of this project is to educate farmers ranchers (and specialty crop growers) on every aspect on how to transition to organic production systems. To include, but not limited to,going through organic system plan templates for organic production, livestock production, and crop production, and the organic inspection process. These are core topics in each workshop, but this will be supplemented by discussions and presentations on organic system challenges, opportunities, and funding opportunities (dependant on the audience for that particular workshop). Subjects to include organic weed control, finding markets for organic crops, produce, or animal products, livestock integration into organic cropping systems, sourcing organic feed and stock for ranching systems, organic certified products that can be used in organic farming and ranching, best strategies for the 3 year transition period, nutrient building, crop rotations, cover cropping and buffer zones to protect your organic crops, machinery needed, and cultivations - as some examples. This is made possible by having organic inspectors, organic ranchers and organic farmers on the core project team, and enhanced by guest speakers invited to each workshop too. Outcomes. Change in knowledge is measured primarily through the post workshop surveys, interraction during the workshop and additional feedback later. There are specific questions being asked in each post workshop survey relating to subject matter learnt and one lesson learnt is to give ourselves enough time to get the agenda finalized so that the post surveys in particular can be fine tuned to ask questions relevant to that specific workshop. From this education project, increased knowledge on various topics has been recorded in the post surveys, but this will not be fully analized until the workshops are all completed. Changes in actions will be recorded after the final workshop. After this reporting period the project director will be working with key project colleagues on ways to collate all the data coming in and provide follow up with identified workshop registrants who expressed an interets in transitioning to organic systems.
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