Washington Report

SARE Professional Development Program Annual Report for Washington
January 1-December 31, 2010

State SARE Coordinators:

Summary of 2010 PDP Activities and Results

In 2010, Washington’s sustainable agriculture professional development program topics were insect identification, biogas production, goat health, small ruminant parasite control, organic grains and using new technologies in Extension education. A combination of mini-grants for both hosting and attending sustainable agriculture activities and targeted educational events reached 43 agricultural professionals who gained knowledge and/or skills in one or more of these topics. These activities resulted in three new programming efforts being started, and 12 professionals reported that they plan to initiate new sustainable agriculture related activities.

Context and Overview:

The Washington State Professional Development Program (PDP) is part of the WSU Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources (CSANR).The PDP program gives priority to projects that address the top three informational needs among Washington’s Extension educators (2004 survey): organic agriculture, the economics of alternative systems and soil-building crop rotations. We are changing these priorities in 2011 using results of the 2009 regional survey and the 2010 Washington survey.

The goal of our professional development program is to help WSU Extension, NRCS and other agency personnel to gain knowledge and skills that will help them serve their constituents in these areas to promote the health of Washington's people, land and communities. Within our three-year plan, we have specific activities that focus on both experienced and new WSU Extension personnel and on using new technologies in sustainable agriculture education.

The program’s state coordinator (starting April, 2011), Tara Zimmerman, works with a PDP advisory committee and the CSANR director to plan activities. Additional feedback is received from the CSANR leadership team and the CSANR advisory council, a group representing various sectors of Washington’s diverse agriculture.

Activities and Methods

This year we used our funds for 1) mini-grants (66% of funds), 2) educational events (29% of funds) and 3) training of new Extension educators (5% of funds). We made awards to several new Extension educators who were not able to use the funds in 2010 but will use them in 2011.

We made two calls for mini-grant applications over the year and awarded 11 mini-grants; three for attending an Insect ID training, one for hosting a training event, three for individuals to attend training events and four for attending a Technology to Teach training.

The Technology to Teach training covered low-cost production of podcasts, videos and enhanced PowerPoint presentations. It gave instruction on the use of equipment, software and webinars and how to post products on the internet. It was offered several times during 2010. In exchange for travel expenses to this training, funding recipients agreed to produce one sustainable ag related video, podcast or webinar after receiving the training. Most of these materials will be produced in 2011.

The mini-grant for hosting an event was for a Small Ruminant Parasite Workshop, July 21. This workshop covered sheep/goat parasite life cycles, non-chemical means of parasite control, the FAMACHA system and how to use it and small ruminant farm sustainability.

Mini-grants were awarded to attend these training events:

• Insect ID training, various dates and locations. This 20-hour short course was designed for University Extension field faculty, Extension Master Gardeners, agency professionals and crop consultants on identification of insects - both beneficial and pests. Participants create their own sample collections to use in their follow-up educational projects.
• EcoFarm conference, January 20-23. Topics covered included organic production, permaculture and new markets.
• Fifth EPA AgSTAR National Conference, April 27-28. This conference allowed the funded educator to learn about an in-vitro technique for estimating the biogas potential of manure and feedstocks.
• The National Goat Conference in Tallahassee, FL, September 12-15. This conference provided information on access to USDA slaughter facilities, availability of knowledgeable veterinary care, quality assurance issues and legal use of medications in goats. A wet-lab session showed educators the value of hands-on, practical skill development for goat producers.

We also partially funded one educational event:

• CSANR symposium on Organic Grains for Food, Feed, and Malt at the Washington Tilth Conference in Port Townsend, WA, November 12. This offered information on integrating grains with vegetable crops for improved soil health, meeting livestock feed needs and finding new markets for bread flours and for other baked goods.

Finally, co-coordinator Carol Miles continued to publish selected results of Western SARE producer grants in the newsletter Sustaining the Pacific Northwest. This year, one article was included in the April 2010 issue.

PDP-funded Publications/ Educational Materials and Products

One funding recipient who attended the Technology to Teach training utilized a small-scale poultry-processing clinic that was held in Kingston, WA to capture the raw footage. This footage was then edited into a video for a Cultivating Success classes offered in Kitsap County.

Changes in Ag Professionals’ Knowledge, Skills and Action

1)    Acquisition of new knowledge and skills

The four educators who attended the Technology to Teach training reported learning how to use relatively simple, low-cost video technology to produce short teaching/learning digital videos.

The three educators who attended the Insect ID training have gained a better understanding of insect morphology, insect identification and resources available to them for their work with insects.

One WSU Horticulture Extension educator increased their knowledge of thrips biology, control and resistance management.

A field representative of the Washington Sustainable Farming Network gained knowledge of sustainable ranching, including soil health, water diversion structures, weed control and carbon sequestration on the ranch.

Extension educators attending a NW Washington Technology to Teach training reported gains in knowledge of the following topics: how to plan a video (35%), how to make a shot list (48%) and writing for a video (40%).

Five Extension educators attending a Small Ruminant Parasite Control workshop reported gains in skills or knowledge of these topics: sheep/goat parasite life cycles, non-chemical means of parasite control, pasture management practices to control parasites, proper deworming methods, the FAMACHA system and how to use it, the process of parasite drug resistance and how to slow/reduce it, and the impact of parasite control on small ruminant farm sustainability.

2)    Changes in attitudes or understanding

A livestock Extension educator now understands the grass fed beef market better because of the workshop she hosted. She has discovered new relationships that will allow her to better support the grass-fed beef producers in her county. In 2011, she plans to investigate the capacity and fees of slaughter and processing plants in Eastern Washington and then calculate the most efficient options for area producers.

Five Extension educators attending a Small Ruminant Parasite Control workshop reported that they would begin work in their regions to eliminate whole-herd/flock deworming and calendar-based deworming, and restrict chemical deworming to rare instances on individual animals based on evidence of clinical parasitism.

3)    Changes in behavior and action

Using skills gained at a Technology to Teach training, one educator has produced a video on small-scale poultry processing that he then used in a Cultivating Success class. This same educator plans to use the technology in 2011 to capture the full cycle of poultry – meat production and other small acreage farming production and management practices. In addition, he has used the skills and knowledge he gained to provide similar training for his program staff and office faculty. Another educator plans to produce two Adobe presenter slide shows (with recording) about working with the Latino community. In addition, he will prepare another Adobe presenter slide show about the three dimensions of sustainable agriculture plus another dimension, that of working with Latinos in agriculture. Using this training, another educator is converting key content that is usually delivered live into an instructional video for livestock producers and natural resource managers.

Using skills gained at an Insect ID training, one WSU Extension educator is improving her regional potato insect sampling network. This network reports current insect levels, both pests and beneficials, to 111 subscribers. Since the training, she has been able to include an increased number of insects in the reports. Another educator who attended this training plans to use the knowledge gained to improve insect identification in his local Plant and Insect Clinic.

A PDP-funded attendee at an EPA conference has taken the knowledge he gained and is using it to evaluate biogas production potential in his region. He has had several samples analyzed for biogas potential and is planning to have more analyzed. He is using this information in the development of an economic model and decision aid tool for anaerobic digester owners. He also is working with a team to offer a biogas conference in May 2011 and plans to conduct a webcast of the conference highlights.

Fifteen Extension educators attending a NW Washington Technology to Teach training reported plans to edit and produce sustainable ag-related videos (4), put such videos on YouTube (1), websites (3) or use at a conference (1). Two others are going to use such videos in their PowerPoint presentations.

Using knowledge and skills gained at a goat conference, a WSU Extension educator will conduct skill development workshops for producers in her area. She will share marketing tips, parasite control methods and pasture management techniques with producers through workshops, newsletters and face-to-face consultations. These activities will reach an estimated 50-100 people each year. Because of contacts made while attending this event, she was asked to join the eXtension Goat Industry community of practice leadership team and will help plan the next National Goat Conference.

Unintended Outcomes

Total farmer/rancher attendance at 2010 PDP supported events: 119

As part of our three-year plan, a survey of all PDP funding recipients from the past three years was conducted in 2010. Below are the survey highlights from the 32 survey respondents:

The number who responded that CSANR/Western SARE funded professional development activities had “some” or “a great deal” of effect on their level of knowledge in each sustainable agriculture practices listed below:

• Soil building practices including cover crops and rotations, 11
• Ecologically-based weed management strategies, 7
• Ecologically-based insect and disease management strategies, 12
• No-till/direct seeding, 10
• Sustainable livestock management or production systems, 13
• Alternative methods for maintaining livestock health, 8
• Raising grass-fed or natural meats, 6
• Alternative marketing approaches, 12
• Organic agriculture, 15
• Renewable energy technologies, 6
• Agro forestry, 3

Those who reported that the information they gained from CSANR/Western SARE funded projects, events, or resources was “moderately useful” or “very useful” for:

• general knowledge of sustainable agriculture, 19
• ability to design and deliver educational programming on sustainable agriculture, 17
• integration of sustainable agricultural principles and systems into educational programs, 19

Other survey results were used to prepare the 2011 PDP state grant funding proposal.

Involvement of others in state PDP planning and implementation:

In Washington, we use the Advisory Committee for the WSU Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources (CSANR) as the PDP advisory committee. This is a group of 17 people representing farms/ranches (irrigated, dryland, organic, small and large farms, dairy, tree fruit and wine grape sectors), EPA (1), WA Departments of Agriculture and Ecology (2) and the University of Washington (1). This group meets twice every year, most recently in February 2011, to provide feedback on CSANR activities including the PDP program. Furthermore, we solicit input from CSANR staff and leadership, including the director of CSANR.