Progress 04/01/24 to 03/31/25
Outputs
Target Audience:In year 1 of this project, we have two primary target audiences: 1) U.S. households and consumers; and 2) college students who are interested in the Center's Food Conservation Specialist program. Our main effort to reach U.S. households is through our website that includes a resource library. While the website did not launch in year 1, there was extensive work on website development, including logo and brand design, content mapping, and so on. The website fully launched in May 2025 and is now accessible to households. We are currently working on a communications strategy to share information about the website more broadly with U.S. households. In targeting college students for our Food Conservation Specialist program, there are geographic targets. In our proposal, we provided six communities in the US that we would target - including Champaign, IL; Corvallis, OR; Gainesville, FL; Baltimore, MD; Cleveland, OH; and Stillwater, OK. In year 1 of this project, we have recruited students in the Champaign and Corvallis communities. Recruitment occurred by reaching out to student organizations, academic advisors, and faculty/instructors who work in topics related to our Food Conservation Specialist program (e.g., food waste, food access, food systems, nutrition and health, food policy) to share with students at their institutions. Students who applied and were selected for this program also helped us reach our target audience of U.S. households by recruiting them to participate in a community project to learn more about household food management behaviors. Changes/Problems:In our original proposal, we expected to complete the college student training program and accompanying research studies in all six communities simultaneously. However, after consulting with our advisory board, we decided a pilot study in one community would be beneficial to make sure the program was functioning as intended. Thus, we did a pilot with the Champaign, IL community. We then chose to start the second community (Corvallis, OR) near the end of year 1. All remaining communities will be completed within the next 18 months. Additionally, the name of the training program for college students was changed to Food Conservation Specialists to align with executive orders at the federal level. In terms of staffing, we have not been able to hire a graduate student on the project yet, but we are still seeking out a student to bring on to this project. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?As part of the Food Conservation Specialist certification program, professional development and training were provided to college students in Champaign, IL, and is in progress with student interns from Oregon State University. The processes and description of the program are as follows: Developed a 9-week synchronous online training course designed to foster a deeper understanding of food systems and food conservation and waste reduction. Topics included systems thinking, the food supply chain, sustainable food systems, food/nutrition security, social determinants of health, food access, food conservation and waste, and food-related community action and policy. Sessions were planned for one time per week for 75-90 minutes. Interns completed pre-session readings, post-session reflections, and session evaluations. Secured leading experts as speakers for each topic from academic institutions, local/state/federal government agencies, and local/state/national community organizations. CFCWR staff, along with the interns, co-created a list of speakers for the week focused on local food-related community organizations. This co-creation process was also utilized to determine site visits that the interns had the option to participate in, allowing them to learn more about their local food system. Interns also completed surveys at the beginning and end of the course aimed at measuring changes in confidence and competence in sustainable food systems using a 15-item scale adapted from Savage et al. (2015), intended to measure the constructs of normative (comprehensive assessment of an issue in context), interpersonal (collaborate with a variety of stakeholders), strategic (create strategies to realize a vision and minimize risk), systems thinking (holistic perspective), and anticipatory (identify how an issue may play in the future) competencies. The results from the Champaign, IL, cohort indicated significant improvements in all competencies, with systems thinking having the most notable change (Mpre=3.42 vs. Mpost=4.56, ?=1.13, p<0.001). Provided training to student interns on conducting research studies, including developing a recruitment strategy, training participants on the research protocol, and conducting 1:1 qualitative interviews. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?In year 1, we were not able to disseminate the Center's websites to households, but we are in the process of that now in early year 2 of the project. Additionally, we are in the process of analyzing the FLEW data from the first community study (in Champaign, IL), so we have not disseminated those results yet. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Objective 1: CFCWR will replicate the initiatives described in the accomplishments for Objective 1 in the remaining targeted communities. Specifically: Customize and implement recruitment plans and materials to attract students to participate in the Food Conservation Specialist certificate program Customize materials developed for recruiting participants, training interns on the research protocol, and instructing participants on the research protocol Onboard interns as research assistants and train them about the FLEW research protocol and how to instruct participants in the research protocol Implement the FLEW research protocol in the remaining communities Convene the Advisory Board quarterly to provide feedback and guidance. Objective 2: Engage student interns in community outreach activities to help inform and co-create the National Extension Food Loss and Waste Strategy Objective 3: Officially launch the CFCWR website, which features the online interactive resource hub and other resources; communicate this launch to the public through various channels. Update content regularly. Continually scan for new resources to add to the online interactive resource hub. Create a social media strategy. Develop a podcast. Objective 4: Analyze FLEW data from early community studies to begin assessing the interrelationship between food conservation and waste, food and nutrition security, healthy food programs and practices, and environmental impacts.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Overall goal of establishing the Center for Food Conservation and Waste Reduction - accomplishments toward this in year 1: Hired CFCWR Research Administrator and Outreach Coordinator Created detailed project plan Established CFCWR Advisory board; held quarterly meetings with the board about progress toward project objectives. Accomplishments toward achieving Objective 1 in year 1 of the project: Submitted IRB for the FLEW study and obtained approval from Purdue University. Developed a recruitment plan and related materials to recruit college students to be Food Conservation Specialist program interns Developed and tested data collection surveys within Qualtrics for the food literacy component of the FLEW and within ExpiWell (a mobile app) for the food waste data collection component of the FLEW. Developed materials to recruit participants for the FLEW research study. Recruited college students for our Food Conservation Specialist program in two out of six target communities (15 students in Champaign, IL; 20 students in Corvallis, OR) Led students through a 9-week online educational training on food systems, food waste, health and nutrition, and citizen science (Champaign and Corvallis in year 1) Worked with students to develop recruitment strategies for their specific community for the research portion of the training program. (Champaign in year 1; Corvallis in progress at beginning of year 2) Trained students on the research protocol and engaging with research participants (Champaign in year 1;Corvallis in progress during year 2) Facilitated participant research meetings and 1:1 qualitative interviews to complete the FLEW assessment (Champaign in year 1; Covallis in progress during year 2) Accomplishments toward achieving Objective 2 in year 1 of the project: Developed the Food Conservation Specialist certificate program, targeting college students to engage the next generation in this work Completed several early, formative conversation with Extension professionals and government agencies about the development of the National Extension Food Loss and Waste Strategy Accomplishments toward achieving Objective 3 in year 1 of the project: Hired a website development firm to create branding and a website for CFCWR Researched existing online resources related to reducing household food waste and promoting nutrition security and resilience to be included in the online interactive resource hub Draft website complete in year 1; feedback provided by Advisory Board. In addition to the online interactive resource hub, the website also includes definitions of food conservation, tips for consumers to conserve food and reduce waste, a blog, summaries of recent, peer-reviewed food conservation research studies completed by the CFCWR leadership team, overview of citizen science, recent news in the popular press about food conservation and household food management practices, links to local/state/federal food conservation and waste-reduction policy initiatives, and information about the CFCWR leadership team, advisory board, and Food Conservation Specialist program. Full website launch achieved at the beginning of year 2 (May 2025) Established a social media presence on LinkedIn, Instagram, and X with at least two posts most months between October 2024 and March 2025. Engaged the Food Conservation interns (i.e., the next generation) in content creation. Accomplishments toward achieving Objective 4 in year 1 of the project: There is nothing to report at this time, as data collection from the first of our six sites concluded in April 2025.
Publications
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