AC Sets Priorities

Administrative Council Selects Future Priorities
Stakeholder Feedback Sets the Stage

In March 2011, the Western Administrative Council (AC) and staff met for 1.5 days of strategic planning and priority-setting; ending the session with five new initiatives for the program to undertake over the next few years. The AC drew from the long list of potential changes to grants programs and new tasks provided by the 700+ participants in seven Subregional Conferences. These participants discussed and prioritized the needs of their subregion that they desired Western SARE to address. (Please see the lists of each subregion’s needs and issues). After long discussions about these prioritized needs, the AC voted for the top ten and then the top five.

The top five include:

1.    Develop a targeted Call for Proposals for specific research on the costs and benefits of social and environmental factors in sustainable agriculture.

2.    Develop an individualized method to work with all underserved groups, including, but not limited to, Native Americans and Pacific Islanders; potentially a targeted Call for Proposals.

3.    Develop Call for Proposals emphases or targeted Call for Proposals for research on water policy that would work at the watershed scale, at which we transcend management entities and include consideration of food production, environmental and social factors.

4.    Develop sponsorship, within the next five years, of an agriculture infrastructure conference.

5.    Explore mechanisms to organize and fund a Natural Occupations Benefiting the Land and Economics (NOBLE) speaker’s bureau, with special emphasis on outreach to schools.

Other top ranked priorities are:

1.    Develop a stronger emphasis on sustainable energy in Western SARE Calls for Proposals.

2.    Develop a targeted Call for Proposals to create an online reference guide on food safety issues for producers (for small and large farms) and to have a checklist for those using the guide.

3.    Develop a mechanism requiring confirmation from producers listed as project participants in grant proposals.

4.    Develop targeted Call for Proposals for new and/or young farmer on-farm training in sustainable agriculture. With the farm later serving as a demo site for K-12 students.

5.    Develop a fact sheet on all benefits of buying local.

The Administrative Council and staff are very clear that all priorities and needs that the participants brought forth are worthy of future discussion and consideration.

The AC also discussed the fact that funding mechanisms for policy change was important to many of the conference participants. Unfortunately, as a USDA program, SARE cannot fund policy change (lobbying) projects. The AC and staff encourage stakeholders in the subregions to get involved in organizations such as Western SAWG (westernsawg.org), the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (sustainableagriculture.net) and other local/regional advocacy organizations.  

At the same meeting, two other items that emerged from the subregional conferences were discussed at length and will be considered further:

1.    Follow-up funding (past the initial 3-4 years) for exceptional, “all three legs” projects;

2.    Funding of special “R&E-plus” proposals that include several disciplines, including economists, social scientists, and strong extension outreach.

Research on costs and benefits of social and environmental factors in sustainable ag

The need for better a economic analysis was one of the top ranked priorities under Question 4 – Types of Projects to Help Economically Sustain Farming. The AC articulated a fundamental need for true cost accounting to include the social and environmental costs and benefits of sustainable agriculture.  With this knowledge, producers could apply this practical level accounting when making decisions for their farm or ranch.

Individualized method to work with underserved groups

It was acknowledged at every subregional conference that is much more that Western SARE can do to reach socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers in our region. The AC and staff discussed the lack of knowledge of who are the community leaders to reach out to, the need for more grant-writing assistance, trust and legitimacy in different communities and the fact that if SARE wants to remove cultural barriers, we must include people from those groups when discussing the barriers. Also discussed was the effectiveness of releasing targeted Call for Proposals for underserved communities prior to building trust and name recognition. It became apparent that Western SARE first needed to better identify community leaders/non-profits and then develop individualized methods for continuously reaching out to different groups. 

Research on water policy that would work at the watershed scale

The issue of water quantity and quality was raised at many of the subregional conferences. We know that water is needed in the West to make farming survive; at the same time Western SARE is limited in how we can address this. Policy analysis is one area that we can address.

Agriculture infrastructure conference

The AC defined infrastructure as processing, distribution, local community kitchens, mobile harvesting facilities and physical processing. Again, policy is part of the problem. It was discussed that if Western SARE can’t provide the bricks and mortar for infrastructure, perhaps we can fund a workshop that teaches farmers and agency representatives about the challenges and what they can do.  Other groups to partner with were also discussed.

NOBLE: Outreach to schools

Reaching out to youth was another top need according to participants at many of the subregional conferences; reconnecting youth to food and farming. One of the comments from the Guam subregional conference was to “make farming a noble profession.” The AC discussed introducing children to producers in the community and showing them that farming and ranching are noble professions. A speakers’ bureau was determined to be the best method that Western SARE could coordinate.

Process

Western SARE sponsored seven subregional conferences in Guam (October 2007), Albuquerque, NM (June 2008), Hawaii (September 2008), Cheyenne, WY (October 2008), Spokane, WA (March 2009), Visalia, CA (December 2009) and Fairbanks, AK (March 2010).  The purpose of these conferences was to:

• Identify and prioritize emerging and unmet research and educations needs in sustainable food, fiber and energy systems.
• Increase stakeholder and policyholder awareness of the past accomplishments of the Western SARE program and its projects.

Conference attendees were past SARE grant recipients and a wide range of invited stakeholders. Farmers, ranchers, scientists, extension agents/educators, non-governmental organizations’ employees, agency staff and others answered these six key questions over the course of one-and-a-half days:

1.    What will be needed to create stronger local and regional food systems that are less reliant on imports from elsewhere?

2.    What are the local and regional consumption and production trends in your local area?

3.    The SARE program was commissioned, by Congress, to get its research results to the farmer and rancher.  How can this process be improved?

4.    What type of research, education and development projects will be necessary over the next 10 years to help economically sustain farming and the environment?

5.    If Western SARE received (from Congress) an additional $1 million or more per region, what types of projects should be targeted or emphasized?

6.    How can we (Western SARE) overcome barriers that may prevent underserved groups, including socially disadvantaged groups, from applying for and receiving SARE funding?

Priorities that arose from roundtable discussions around each of the six questions were voted on and ranked at each subregional conference. There were approximately 800 participants, with over 8,000 responses collected.

The AC started their deliberations with 47 responses (8 to 10 responses under each of the six burning questions).  During discussions and voting, the AC narrowed down to the top 18, then the top 10. On the second morning, each AC member brought forth a motion that then led to the top five unanimously accepted.

In addition to setting the stage for the future planning effort, the input from the subregional participants led to the priorities focused on in a special Call for Proposals released in each subregion. The AC also recognized that some of the ideas regarding increased outreach had been met by increasing the Communications Specialist’s contract to full-time.

Next Steps

The Western SARE staff met in-person May 10-12 to form work plans to implement the directives from the AC. The AC will consider staff recommendations and the timeline at their August meeting and will remain engaged through participation on needed subcommittees. Western SARE is committed to regularly updating all subregional conference participants and other stakeholders.