EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Seventy farmers, county educators, specialists,
administrators, and federal agency people from twelve states
braved the January snows to share materials, learning
methods, and experiences on training for sustainable
agriculture. It was obvious that much material has been
developed over the past several years, most on component
technologies; sets of publications, resource lists, and
other items were distributed to each of the twelve state
teams. We also recognize that fewer tools and guidelines
are immediately available for key areas such as integration
of production components, economics of sustainable
agriculture, community involvement in food systems, and
quality of life issues. We learned that the most commonly
asked question is still, "What is sustainable agriculture?"
Although it's important not to get bogged down with
definitions, an apparent critical first step in training is
to convince clients that this is not only 'organic farming.'
Teaching Materials: One of the primary roles of a regional
project is to discover and make available key teaching
materials and information about innovative learning
environments and approaches that have already been developed
and could be used in multiple locations. A mechanism for
increased information sharing and rapid availability of key
ideas and materials is needed within the region. Possible
methods include an electronic bulletin board, regional
newsletter, or automatic exchange of materials to a
distribution list of key educators.
Learning Methods: There are multiple ways of learning and
many ways of knowing. Extension and other educational
groups have used limited ways to date. Traditional lectures
or Extension slide presentations need to be replaced or
extended to include more field tours, on-farm learning,
experiential or hands-on activities, focus groups, listening
sessions, nominal group discovery techniques, videos and
discussions. A key factor is participation, and getting all
or most people in a group to be active learners in each
environment. There is a growing wealth of experience among
Extension, non-profit, and other educational organizations
in using these techniques, and the methods need to be
shared.
Excitement and Involvement: Successful learning in any of
these methods depends on interest of the learners and
teachers, organization of a stimulating program or sequence
of activities, and motivation of the learners. This can be
enhanced by insisting on prior student preparation, having
multiple methods that maintain interest, including a high
degree of participation, and using learners as teachers in
the education process. Among the available array of
activities, we need to learn what works best and what does
not under a range of circumstances. Including farmers as
part of the teacher cadre appears to provide a practical
mistique that should be built into most workshops. The use
of listening sessions with identified groups (farmers,
educators, others) is an especially powerful tool for
bringing new ideas and perspectives into a workshop.
Next Stages of Planning: There was strong sentiment about
moving beyond philosophy and discussion of methods and
issues toward implementation and application of new ideas in
the biological, economic, ecological, and social dimensions
of production systems. A list of the most important
elements to include in a "train the trainer" workshop or
workshops was assembled, including assembling and
distribution of a manual or collection of key methods for
training, examples of successful methods that have been
used, and tools for evaluation of impact of education on
production and profitability of agricultural systems. There
is a special need to assemble and distribute materials on
evaluation of economic, social, environmental, and community
impacts of training. From the workshop we have developed a
plan of action for the rest of year one.
Workshop Content: Based on the results of the third working
session at the Cedar Rapids workshop and further
conversations with participants, a number of key focus areas
and components need to be included in any train-the-trainer
workshop. These will take a different format, depending on
location and who presents each topic. Here are both
characteristics and components of the workshop(s):
- Trainer/participant orientation and preparation of
materials before workshop
- Duplication and sharing of teaching and information
resources to all participants
- Observing, leading, and practicing different learning
methods:
Lecture/discussion approach
Focus groups
Case studies
Listening sessions
Videos/discussions
Computer exercises
On-farm tour/demonstration
On-farm research/trial
Team building activities
Learning facilitation skills
- Focus on systems and integrative activities
- Farmer participation in sessions as teachers and
learners
- Use of on-farm sites and activities
- Include module on sustainable development approaches
- Making community connections and enhancing involvement
- Economic evaluation of impact of sustainable systems in
each topic
- Environmental impacts of sustainable practices &
systems in each topic
- Social dimensions of practices and systems in each
topic
- Evaluation of impact of training activities
High priority in these training workshops will be on testing
a wide range of materials and learning methods, and on
evalating the effectiveness of training. We intend to have
all participants prepare for the workshops and become part
of the teaching team, thus every one of the people will be
clearly identified as both teacher and learner. We will use
key people with special expertise to present overviews of
the major topics.
Schedule for Workshops and Proposal Feedback: Our proposal
is to conduct two "train-the-trainer" workshops this spring.
We propose two sites and different dates to make this as
flexible and cost effective as possible. Tentative sites
and dates for the workshops are:
sites and dates are:
Eastern Nebraska -- March 1995
Central Ohio -- April 1995
To minimize cost and maximize the relevance of workshop
materials and methods to the specific agroecoregions, we
will have the majority of participants/presenters in each of
the workshops from the states in that half of the region.
This does not preclude having people attend the most
convenient of the workshops, or having a state send
representative to both workshops if desired. We want to
move ahead with the scheduling and implementation of this
regional training program, and want your input into the
evaluation of potential activities. This is a draft
executive summary that preceeds the detailed summary of the
workshop that will be arriving to you within about one week.
We hope to get your immediate reaction to the summary of
what was discussed at Cedar Rapids and your suggestions on
the proposed regional training workshops.
Please contact:
Heidi Carter
CSAS/219 Keim Hall
Univ. Nebraska
Lincoln, NE 68583-0949
Phone: 402/472-0917
Fax: 402/472-4104
csas007@unlvm.unl.edu