Program Overview Reaching New Audiences: Implementing the Nevada Herds & Harvest Program Program Overview Staci Emm Carol Bishop Pamela Powell Holly Gatske Jay Davison Steve Lewis Steve Foster Loretta Singletary

Standard Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Project Funded by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Began August 1, Long term goal… ◦Create and enhance the sustainability of Nevada’s Beginning Farmers and Ranchers (BFR’s) through education, mentoring, and outreach to own, operate and sustain an agricultural operation.

The BFR Project Production basics Entrepreneurship Business and financial training Environmental compliance Diversification and marketing strategies Mentoring and Outreach

The BFR Project The project specifically targets… ◦Hispanic ◦American Indian ◦Women ◦Individuals that qualify as socially disadvantaged and limited resource

Creating a New Program How do you create a program with sustainability UNCE was reinventing itself at the same time due to a 70% budget reduction. Several planning meetings discussed marketing and branding UNCE agriculture programs.

Going Back to Basics – Creating Program Sustainability Current agriculture social and economic environments in Nevada were reexamined. Marketing and public relations efforts were placed on building long-term relationships Needed to build a dynamic participant base for UNCE agriculture programs.

Steering Committee Active farmers and ranchers University faculty USDA agencies Local farming organizations

Hot Topics The Steering Committee selects three distinct agriculture “Hot Topics” for the year Specialized business plans, marketing concepts, environmental compliance guidelines and other related materials evolve around the “Hot Topics”

Distance Education UNCE provides distance education throughout the state via an Interactive Television Video (ITV) system The ITV enables producers to attend Herds & Harvest educational workshops throughout Nevada.

Marketing Management “Hot topics” ◦Planning, implementation and analysis Understanding producer needs Developing educational materials to meet personal values of producers Building a recognizable brand for UNCE agriculture programs.

The Name – Change It! Focus group sessions revealed that the name Beginning Farmer and Rancher Project did not adequately capture program goals, nor did the name sufficiently elicit participation from existing farmers and ranchers. A New Name was created.

New Name Brainstorming session created… ◦“Herd & Harvest” A logo was created along with a display Every program brochure is designed by a graphic design artist.

Herds & Harvest

Marketing Management UNCE, Mineral County took responsibility for program marketing and distribution All marketing concepts were applied to all segments of the program Program development staff was hired to assist in marketing management

Program Kick-off 2012 Cattlemen’s Update ◦Reached 475 producers around the state Created Herds & Harvest mailing list

Utilizing Enterprise Budgets for Producer Mentoring

Methods Introduced in collaboration with topic Instruction in basic components Followed by hands-on example

Is it worth it? The Importance of Enterprise Budgets Carol Bishop, M.S. Extension Educator Northeast Clark County

Can you break even? What’s your number? Net revenue = gross revenue – operating or variable costs – fixed costs Per Square Foot / Per Acre

+= Enterprise Budgets Use this information to estimate outcomes from future activities Not recordkeeping Guesstimation

Purpose Help with decision making ◦Crop choice ◦Extent ◦Equipment purchase or custom work ◦Labor Added benefits

AGRONOMICS DETERMINES ECONOMICS

Where do I start? What equipment do I need? ◦Investment Summary Is this a perennial crop? ◦Establishment Costs What are my revenues & expenses? ◦Costs & Returns What if I need a loan? ◦Monthly Cash Flow

Example Assumption ◦Hoop house ◦Part of 5 acre operation ◦Travel in summer months to market ◦Sell on-farm and locally in winter

Investment Summary What will I need to conduct this operation? Lists all tools & equipment needed Cost at time of purchase How long it will last

Establishment Costs What will I need to do the first year of planting the crop? First year of perennial Higher costs / less returns ‘Bottom line’ capitalized over life of crop

Costs & Returns How much can I expect in returns? What costs do I have? Gives the ‘bottom line’ Bottom line will change with scale of operation

Monthly Cash Flow Shows income and expenditures by month Just for operation costs Useful for knowing when operating loans will be needed and when they can be paid back Usually required to obtain loan

Now the fun begins!

Interactive portion of presentation Open excel spreadsheet Start with changes to investment summary Change price, amount of use, time Follow with changes to variable costs and returns Created interest for further work

One-on-one mentoring Held at farm or office of producer ◦Record access ◦Familiarity One enterprise used as template for all Amount of time involved varied

Results 28 individualized budgets completed first year ◦Small farm fall CSA ◦Pasture goats ◦Field tomatoes ◦Meat harvesting operation

Benefits to Producer Process itself offers benefits ◦Strengths and weaknesses Establishes break-even point Reminds producer of ‘hidden’ costs Provides producer with tool for financing opportunities

Benefits to Extension Educator Builds relationships and trust Created referrals Current trends and pricing Establishes base budgets for future use

Thank You For Coming! Questions?

Evaluation Reaching New Audiences: Implementing the Nevada Herds & Harvest Program Evaluation Pamela Powell Staci Emm Loretta Singletary Carol Bishop Holly Gatske Jay Davison Steve Lewis Steve Foster University of Nevada, Reno

Why This Project? ◦The livestock, forage and specialty crop industry in Nevada comprises an essential component of economic stability. ◦95.63% of all land in Nevada is devoted to farming and ranching practices. ◦Nevada has seen an increase in small specialty crop operations. ◦Education, outreach and mentoring programs that focus on beginning farmers and ranchers is lacking.

Project Goals: Herds & Harvest Increase communication, agricultural entrepreneurship, business and financial management skills Increase capacity to manage water resources effectively Increase agricultural management knowledge and skills to implement sustainable agricultural management practices Increase skills to develop a marketing strategy that ensures the competitiveness of their agricultural operation Provide ongoing mentorship following workshops

Discuss our success in collecting data from Herds & Harvest participants Objective for Today

Limited data exists on evaluating educational programs for ranchers and farmers Why?

Reasons for lack of participation in Surveys Hesitation to share information with government – Lack of trust Don’t understand importance/use of evaluation Limited time – busy schedule You want me to change “always did it this way” – way of life / quality of life Bottom line is the balance sheet We never asked – measured growth not people Whole picture approach – change in practice changing cost of production Educators resist evaluation

Community based participatory research A Model from the Health Care Profession It is: 1.cooperative, engaging community members and researchers in a joint process in which both contribute equally 2.a co-learning process 3.systems development and local community capacity building 4.an empowering process through which participants can increase control over their lives 5.a balance between research and action

Our Research

Research - Introduction Farmers/ranchers informed of UNCE research at beginning of first day of training Trainers engaged in research ◦Provided Information Sheet  Purpose of research  Methods used  How data collected  Participation was voluntary and confidential ◦Questionnaire (Adult and Youth)  Demographics  Baseline data / skill level / success means Participation was not required to be a part of Herds & Harvest workshops

Research - Method Phase One Instrument designed to measure: ◦Knowledge gain ◦Attitude change ◦Behavior change??? Retrospective pre-post survey design 21 topics, 5-point Likert-type scale, with demographics 1 page Included an envelope to put completed (non- completed) survey in Surveys were administered at conclusion of training (5 workshops)

Research - FINDINGS 5 workshops (32 statewide classes - ITV) ◦Field Crops: Old and New (2) ◦Processing and Selling Locally Grown Meat (2) ◦So You Want to Be a Produce Farmer 212 total participants 50% overall completion rate Of the 105 likert-type scale questions, 96 were statically significant to <.05 when comparing pre to post mean scores Cronbach’s Alpha reliability scores: ◦.924,.923,.957,.950,.964

Research - FINDINGS W1: How to decide if Tef is a potential alternative crop W2: What production practices are required to sell meat to Whole Foods Market W3: How to use plants and farming practices for insect control W4: The potential income and costs associated with hog production W5: How to decide if cellulosic biomass is a potential alternative crop Comments: ◦Knowledge given was excellent ◦One on one answers to my questions ◦Ability to visit with other conference attendees/networking ◦Field trips/tours ◦Enterprise Budgets

Research - Findings ◦Over 65% of the participants reported they would make changes or take actions in their agricultural practices based upon workshop education. ◦ Grass/alfalfa yield doubled due to education about fertilization ◦ CSA business doubled after attending the Processing and Selling locally grown meat working and networking with Whole Foods Management

Results

results Researchers/educators, producers and businesses continue to collaborate and design new programs Enterprise Budgets Producers are learning from each other Sharing of information ◦Presentations ◦Publications

results Phase Two: Interviews with Attendees Phase Three: Final Survey

Implications

Implications  The use of CBPR to help build relationships thereby increasing the participation in collecting evaluation data Having an impact in changing production practices and marketing strategies Development of mentoring relationships Willingness to investigate specialty crops

Further Research

Optimal strategies for educating non- farming community – “helping urban residents better understand where their food comes from” Partnerships between ag and non-ag entities 2010 Community Assessment (NRDC and UNCE)

Questions? Thank you!