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2007 Professional Development Program Call for Pre-Proposals
Professional Development Program General Fact Sheet
The Professional Development Program As farmers and ranchers attempt to sustain their operations and ways of life, they are forming learning partnerships with Cooperative Extension, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and other federal and state agency personnel with help from the USDA’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) Professional Development Program (PDP). Since 1994, Congress has annually appropriated funds to support agricultural educators who are learning in cooperation with farmers about sustainable practices and concepts. The PDP supports state professional development programs and competitive grants that train ag educators. The North Central Region (NCR) SARE PDP has awarded more than 60 grants totalling $3.4 million since 1994 during annual grant-making timelines. We invite you to get involved in the PDP. State Professional Development Programs SARE provides funds to land grant universities to assist extension educators, farmers and other stakeholders in developing education activities in sustainable concepts and systems. The funds help equip ag educators with tools they need to help farmers face change. Each state in the NCR has a sustainable agriculture coordinator who directs sustainable agriculture education activities and engaging agricultural stakeholders. Because each state coordinator works to meet state-specific challenges, educational programs are designed to fit local needs of agricultural educators, farmers, agency personnel and others. In Michigan, exposure to sustainable agriculture education is making a difference. Based on survey responses from 42 Michigan counties and district agents in 1998, 3,290 people completed Extension programs in sustainable ag, 37 extensionists completed in-service education programs in sustainable ag, 29 recommended one or more sustainable ag practices, and 1,066 people adopted one or more sustainable ag practices. The Missouri state professional development program includes an innovative regional network, the Sustainable Small Farm Information Network (SSFIN), to provide quick and easy access to a sustainable ag information related to small farms. "One recommendation of the USDA Commission on Small Farms was to emphasize sustainable agriculture as a profitable, ecological and socially sound strategy for small farms," said Debi Kelly of the Missouri Alternatives Center. "The SSFIN will represent a significant positive response to this recommendation in the North Central region." Indiana’s "Ways to Grow" program partnered extension educators with 26 farm families to establish 51 alternative enterprises in 1998. As a results of these linkages, the Farm Based Enterprise Institute was created to train farmers and county educators in production, management, and marketing of specialty crops. Minnesota State Sustainable Agriculture Coordinator Bill Wilcke said, "PDP funds let us do things that would be very difficult without the funds." Wilcke prints a sustainable agriculture newsletter, provides scholarships for extension faculty to attend sustainable agriculture workshops, sponsors speakers at sustainable agriculture events and distributes and promotes new sustainable agriculture educational materials. In Illinois, state co-coordinator Deborah Cavanaugh-Grant used professional development funds to sponsor "study circles" across the state. These small discussion groups provide a place where farm and nonfarm citizens can talk about topics from cover crops to the definition of sustainable agriculture. Illinois leaders also used PDP funds to create a sustainable agriculture web site. Kansas PDP funds foster collaboration with state nonprofit organizations, such as the Kansas Rural Center, and support an annual state-wide workshop, providing an opportunity for farmers and educators to learn from one another about profitable, sustainable agricultural systems. Competitive grants are awarded for state and multi-state PDP projects that emphasize cross-agency training, using farmers as educators and addressing emerging issues in the farm community. In South Dakota, Ann Krush directs a grant on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation to teach community members, including young people, to grow their own food and improve local areas. Krush is working with other agencies, such as Extension and NRCS, to foster positive relationships that will benefit the reservation residents. In both North and South Dakota, extensionist Tom Hanson leads educational efforts in distance learning, training events, and development of printed and electronic materials. More than 250 agency field staff have been involved in training events. "Without the PDP, sustainable agriculture programs put in place in both the Dakotas would not have occurred," said Hanson. "Whole-farm plans allow farmers and ranchers to view and mange their operations as biological systems, so that dependence on purchased inputs may be reduced and nutrient cycles may be closed," said Cris Carusi, Nebraska Sustainable Agriculture Society executive director and PDP project leader. Carusi’s PDP-funded on-farm workshops encourage participatory learning strategies and team approaches that involve Extension, NRCS and farmer participants in whole-farm planning. Michigan State University extension educator Natalie Rector organizes learning teams of innovative farmers, educators and local groups, such as the Michigan Agricultural Stewardship Association. "Agents have requested to work with farmers," Rector said. "The farmers are often the ones to have the ideas. PDP funds provide an opportunity for the educators to work along with them." Providing soil quality teaching materials and assessment tools, along with training in their effective use, an Ohio grant project coordinator educates Extension and NRCS personnel and farmers in the principles of soil health from an ecological perspective. Videos, educational modules and soil test kits will help Ohio farmers and educators work together to explore the intricacies of soil quality. Agency and field staff from Ohio, Illinois and Iowa work with farmers and other stakeholders on difficult issues faced in land-use on rural/urban fringes. American Farmland Trust, Ohio State University, and the Farm Foundation is hosting a land-use workshop and developing training materials to involve a broad spectrum of stakeholders. Project coordinator Paul Daigle, in central Wisconsin, directs a grant in cooperation with various agencies and partners to promote grass-based dairies. A farmers’ grazing network is also involved in educating local ag educators and an oft overlooked audience -- bankers -- in the benefits of grazing. "This project is one part of our Network’s effort to promote the feasibility of grazing-based farming as a profitable way of farming that enhances life-styles and protects and improves the environment," said Daigle. Contact the NCR-SARE office to receive the call for grant proposals. To attend sustainable agriculture training events or find educational materials, contact your state PDP coordinator(s), or contact PDP Coordinator Paula Ford.
Regional Extension Coordinator PDP
Coordinator
Annual Grant-Making Timeline
Professional Development Program Funds, 1994 - 2002
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2007 PDP Call for Pre-Proposals Document