Progress 03/01/24 to 02/28/25
Outputs
Target Audience:West Virginia University Extension Service (WVUES) partnered with the Agricultural Viability Alliance (The Alliance) to host the 2024 National Farm Viability Conference in Charleston, WV, April 29 through May 02, 2024. The National Farm Viability Conference (NFVC) is the nation's premier convening of AS (agricultural service) and BTA (business technical assistance) providers. It is a bi-annual event geared towards professionals in farm and food business planning, financial planning and management, agricultural financing, crisis management, farmland conservation, agricultural market development, and food hub management. The NFVC is designed to provide continuing education for agricultural service and business technical assistance providers working on crucial dimensions of farm viability such as business development, ?nancial management, agricultural ?nancing, succession/transition strategies, market development, value-added enterprise, and farm incubators. Attendees will learn about new program and service models, network with other professionals, tour farms and facilities, and gather ideas and models they can use in their viability work to advance this goal. The target audience for the conference were not farmers themselves, but rather professionals who provide viability related services and assistance to farm and food businesses. Over the course of four days, a wide spectrum of agricultural business service providers (attendees) were offered the opportunity to network and learn from industry leaders and other professionals and peers in their fields, develop new knowledge and skills, and visit farms and value-added processing facilities. The 2024 NFVCfeatured workshops, panels and roundtable discussions, poster sessions, farm tours, with social networking events included. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The conference allowed for a variety of ways for participants to interact with industry experts and other attendees and learn from each other by attendingdifferent session formats including: Workshops: Some topics were best covered with a lecture and a traditional power point presentation. Others benefit from the inclusion of activities to apply and practice what is being taught, using break-out rooms, worksheets, or discussions. We selected sessions that incorporated creative ways to keep attendees engaged. Moderated Panel Discussions: These sessions brought together a small handful of farm viability professionals to share their perspectives on a hot topic. Roundtable Discussions: These sessions helped professionals pose a burning question that they then had a conversation about with other professionals in their field.The purpose wasto understand where the needs, current progress, and gaps are in the area of concern, and to develop future collaboration around these topics. Plenary and 'Ask the Expert Sessions': Like a professor's office hours, these open sessions provided a chance for those with expertise in a particular area to field questions from the less experienced attendees. Emerging Issues Sessions: The conference was committed to creating space for discussion of emerging topics that may not be ready for 'primetime' but allows professional dedicated time and space to create and strengthen networks for this work. Farm Tours: Learning at the conference wastremendously enhanced by facilitating dynamic tours of working farms and agribusinesses to learn from and share best practices on farm viability issues. This was also a unique opportunity to provide context about farm viability issues within the host state. For example, in West Virginia, there is a proliferation of networks (food hubs, farmers markers, connectivity with gov't agencies), good coordination, and alignment within and across state lines that are vital to the state's farm/agricultural viability successes. A Novel Approach to farm tours at the NFVC continued to be the 'Reading the Farm' (RTF) Field Workshop. Originally developed by the University of Connecticut in 2006 through the NESARE (Northeast Sustainable Agriculture, Research and Education) Program, it remains a fundamental part of the NFVC because of its effectiveness in advancing a 'holistic approach' to farm and agricultural viability issues. The RTF workshop affordedthe unique opportunity to bring agricultural and business technical assistance providers together to discuss the whole-systems approach for farm viability that recognizes the complex interactions among the physical, biological, economic and social components of a farm. Service providers often have substantial in-depth knowledge of certain aspects of agriculture, but few have the opportunity to experience how these components work together to influence sustainability and viability. A secondary goal of the program was to build and strengthen networks among program participants.For the RTF workshop, the host (WVU Extension) identifieda suitable farm as a case study for the RTF exercise, and the RTF Team (local and national experts) preparedtraining materials for the RTF workshop to ensure attendees met the following goals: Understand the farm as a whole system rather than as discrete biological, physical, and human components; Identify farmers' goals for the whole-farm system; Identify the factors that influence farmer decision making, including production constraints and economics, environmental stewardship and quality, social factors such as labor, and family dynamics; Understand how specific changes in farm management might affect the whole farm; Use a team approach to problem solving, including asking informed questions and knowing when to seek information outside of their area of expertise; and Provide practical recommendations that account for the whole-farm system. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Session presenters were encouraged to provide individual efforts to connect attendees with their presentations and supplementary resources from each session. We allowed presenters the additional option to upload their materials to the WHOVA registration site for easier access and downloading by conference participants. PArticipants had 3 month post-project to download the materials. 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 mission of the 2024 (6th) National Farm Viability Conference wasto strengthen farm sustainability, build stronger and more resilient local food systems and support long term profitability of farming and agri-entrepreneurs from start-ups to generational businesses. The National Farm Viability Conference was geared towards professionals in the fields of farm and food business planning, financial planning, agricultural financing, farmland conservation, agricultural market development, and food hub management. It offeredattendees the opportunity to learn from industry leaders and other professionals in their fields, develop new skills, and connect with colleagues from across the country. The conference received a total of 82 submissions (40% higher than previous years) from renouned US experts in a wide spectrum of topics including: Business Planning and Development Food and Farm Marketing and Distribution Land Access and Succession Planning Accessing Capital Program Development, Funding and Design Equity and Social Justice in the Food System Agricultural Policy and Advocacy Farmer Training via Incubator and Apprenticeship Programs The conference allowedfor a variety of ways to interact with other attendees and learn from each other by offering educational programmingin different session formats including workshops, moderated panel discussions, roundtable discussions, plenary sessions, "ask the expert" sessions, emerging issues sessions; farm tours, and a "reading the Farm' workshop. The conference sessions included: Pre-Conference Tours - The pre-conference tour consisted of 5 agribusiness tours to showcase a couple of West Virginia'smost popular tourist destinations andgive you a taste of the state's agriculture, foodand heritage. Conference Sessions - The conference had 38 overall sessions and 3 plenary sessions on a variety of topics. Post-Conference Tours - The post-conference tour consiste of 3 stops to showcase the diversity of agribusinesses and production systems in West Virginia
Publications
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