Progress 10/15/21 to 10/14/24
Outputs
Target Audience:There are two target audiences for this project. The first is fruit and vegetable growers who wish to learn more about treating agricultural water in their operations. A total of 362 growers were trained during the entirety of the project. The second audience is produce and food safety educators from extension services, non-profit organizations, and state governments who would like to utilize the developed curriculum and associated materials to educate the growers they work with on the topic. A total of 183 educators participated in train-the-trainer events throughout the duration of the project. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The extension professionals and graduate students involved in this project have become proficient in the materials, enabling them to lead workshops for growers and provide training for educators. This enhances their ability to communicate science-based best practices to their target audiences, which include produce growers and members of the allied industry. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We collaborated with the Western, Southern, North Central, and Northeast Regional FSMA Centers to promote events aimed at recruiting more Train-the-Trainer (TTT) and grower participants. Throughout the project period, we offered training sessions both in-person and virtually to maximize our reach to trainers and growers. 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: A total of 183 trainers participated in train-the-trainer workshops from 39 different states and territories. Additionally, 362 growers took part in the training over theduration of the project. Trainings occuredboth in person and remotely in order to reach the largest possible number of participants. Objective 2: All video content (four separate videos) has been translated and synced with video for Spanish, Creole, Mandarin, and Hindi and are freely available on irrigation.nmsu.edu, YouTube,as well as in the Food Safety Clearinghouse repository so they are readily accessible by the public. Objective 3: Participants in the train-the-trainer course showed a 20.95% increase in knowledge, as indicated by pre/post-test results. When asked how they would apply the training, 82.7% of the TTT participants stated they would use it to support growers and allied industries through one-on-one interactions, while 59.2% planned to use the content for further training. Among the grower training participants, knowledge of methods for treating agricultural water increased by 21.95%, as evaluated in a pre/post-test. In the course evaluation for the grower training, 90.12% of participants rated the course as very good or excellent, with a mean score of 4.49 ± 0.7on a 5-point Likert scale. After training, 97.5%of growers agreed or strongly agreed that they "gained a better perspective on the steps involved in treating preharvest water," 95.07% felt they were "better equipped to discuss water treatment options," and 93.75% said they "had a better understanding of sanitizer chemistries."
Publications
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Progress 10/15/22 to 10/14/23
Outputs
Target Audience: There are two target audiences for this project. The first is fruit and vegetable growers who wish to learn more about treating agricultural water for their operations. There were a total of 92 growers trained during the reporting period. The second audience is produce and food safety educators from extension, non-profit organizations, and state governments who would like to be able to utilize the developed curriculum and associated materials to educate growers they work with on the topic. There were 10educators which took part in train-the-trainer events during the reporting period Changes/Problems:Dr. Faith Critzer has changed positions and is now at the University of Georgia. This delayed the timely completion of the project and as a result, the team has requested a one-year no-cost extension. The team does not foresee an issue executing on all project deliverables with the no-cost extension of one year. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The extension professionals and graduate student working on this project have had an opportunity to become competent with the materials to the point where they can actively lead workshops for grower as well as educator training with the material. This helps improve their communication of science-based best practices to target stakeholders, produce growers and allied industry membersin this case. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We have worked with the Western, Southern, North Central, and Northeast Regional FSMA Centers to publicize the events for greater recruitment of TTT participants as well as grower participants. We have continued to offer trainings in person as well as virtually to reach as many trainers and growers as feasible during the reporting period. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Both TTT and grower trainings will continue to be offered in the coming year. We will work to develop and finalize some hands-on activities around troubleshooting and system validation for growers who are actively treating water. Additionally, all videos will be translated, animated, and released in the coming year in Spanish, Haitian Creole, Hindi, and Mandarin.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Objective 1: A total of 10 trainers (183 total participants for the duration of the project)have participated in train-the-trainer workshops from 39 different states and territories. An additional 92 growers (269total participants for the duration of the project) participated in the training held both in person as well as remotely. Objective 2: NMSU has translated all video content (4 separate videos) into Spanish and Haitian Creole, with future plans for Mandarin and Hindi. Animations will be published at irrigation.nmsu.edu once finalized. Objective 3:Participants in the train-the-trainer course increased their knowledge by 20.95% based on the results of a pre/post-test. When asked how they would utilize the training, 82.7% of the TTT participants indicated they would use it to support growers and allied industries through one-on-one interactions, and 59.2% said they planned on using content for training.Amongst the grower training participants, knowledge of approaches for treating agricultural water increased by 21.95% as evaluated in a pre/post-test.In course evaluation for the grower training, 63.6% of participants rated the course as excellent with a mean score of 4.6 ± 0.56 on a 5-point Likert Scale. Ninety-eight percent of growers agreed or strongly agreed that they, "gained a better perspective for steps involved in treating preharvest water," 96% felt they were, "better equipped to discuss water treatment options," and 92% said they, "had a better understanding of sanitizer chemistries."
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Progress 10/15/21 to 10/14/22
Outputs
Target Audience:Both industry stakeholders (growers, irrigators, allied industry professionals) as well as educators have been targeted in the past year's efforts. Changes/Problems:As previously mentioned, Dr. Faith Critzer (PD) has changed positions and is now at the University of Georgia. During this reporting period, activities were largely haulted that were asscoatied with the project given grant funds were not available to support these efforts. With new subawards being executed currently, the team is confident that we will be able to complete the full scope of work, but will likely require a one year no-cost extension. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project has allowed for education of two Postdoctoral Researchers and one Research Coordinator who work with members of the project team and have assisted with delivery of the TTT course. This opportunity has allowed them to see how to engage with food safety educators and how to delivery an engaging virtual workshop with breakout sessions. These skills can be applied to other facets of adult education when considering strategies for delivering technical information in a engaging way that helps the participants gain knowledge. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We have worked with the Western,Southern, Northeast, and North CentralRegional FSMA Centers to publicize the events for greater recruitment ofTTT participants as well as grower trainers. While we look forward to transitioning back to in-person training, we havetried to make the most of our virtual delivery platform to reach as many trainers and growers as feasible during the reporting period. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The project has now been reestablished at the University of Georgia as of September 2022. UGA is currently in the process of executing new subawards which will allow all PIs to commence work once more which has been paused during most of the past reporting cycle. Both virtual and in-person grower and TTTs are scheduled for 2022 and early 2023, with the project team setting more dates later this year.Additionally, we plan on completing translation of all videos developed for the course into Spanish, Haitian Creole, Mandarin, and Hindi (objective 2). As described, worked has already commenced on translation into Spanish and Haitian Creole.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Objective 1: While the project was being reestablished with UGA, funds were not available to support grower education through delivery of BTG courses in the past year. However, one TTT was held where 20 educators fromacross the United States took part in the train-the-trainer workshops during the reporting period. Objective 2: Translations for Spanish and Haitian Creole were initiated during the reporting period for educational videos. Voice tallent has been recording narration with minor changes to antimations so that they now align with the new languages is occuring. Objective 3: Based upon pre- and post-test scores which evaluated key concepts of the material, the TTTcohort had a20.5% increase in knowledge and rated the workshop a 4.47 on a 5-point Likert scale, with anchored to 'very good' and 5'excellent'. Amongstparticipants, 93.3% felt better equipped to discuss water treatment options with growers andgained a better perspectivefor steps involved in treatingpreharvest water for food safety purposes; and 86.7% had a better understanding of sanitizerchemistries. Additionally, 40% of the participants denoted they intended to deliver content developed through this project tostakeholders that they worked with and 93.3% said they would utilize knowledge to support growers and those in alliedindustries when making decisions about agricultural water treatment.
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