By ChaNae` Bradley, Senior Communications Specialist, MPA,Fort Valley State University
Extension educators in Arkansas, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas will soon have access to additional information and tools to help mitigate the challenges of natural and manmade disasters.
Dr. Michelle Eley, community and economic development specialist for North Carolina A&T State University, is spearheading this effort by serving as the principal investigator for a Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) Professional Development Program (PDP) grant.
The grant project is called, “Developing a Training Program on Surviving Disasters through Risk Management Preparation and Best Management Practices for Agricultural Producers.” Through this one-year grant, Eley along with members of the 1890 EDEN Advisory Group (AG), will conduct risk management programming with farmers in natural and man-made hazards and other incidents caused by extreme weather events. The grant is funded around $112,500.
“We have seen the impact and devastation when farmers are not prepared. When we look at agriculture in general, the data shows that small-scale farms are likely to not have a plan to mitigate various risks, particularly in response to a disaster event. Sometimes they have less access to respond and recover from events when they do occur,” Eley said.
The goal of this project is to equip Extension educators and agricultural professionals with the skills and tools they need to conduct risk management programming with farmers. Agents will assist small and minority farmers in the development of personal and/or business plans to reduce risks and increase financial stability of their operations.
Eley said the project was developed because Extension has seen success when educators were able to closely work with farmers and create practical risk management plans. Eley describes risk management as a process of identifying, assessing and appropriately addressing the threats or uncertainties that impact a farm business.
North Carolina A&T State University.
“We wrote the proposal as a professional development opportunity because we wanted to build the capacity of 1890 agricultural Extension educators to implement a disaster risk management education program for their clientele and support them as they make decisions to mitigate the risks on their farm operation. Implementing this program has also allowed us to partner with agricultural professionals who share some mission in offering technical support and resources that support the success of small and mid-size farmers,” Eley said.
The community and economic development specialist added that the 1890 EDEN AG wants educators to train farmers to develop plans for their farms, set goals and create business plans to execute on their farms. They aim to make it personalized and help farmers identify risks and connect them to available resources.
Arkansas, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas are participating in the project with plans to expand it across their respective states.
“The project coordinators from the participating states have very robust small farm programs, and they have a good track record in securing resources and grant dollars to support the programming they are engaged with their agents, small farm clientele, and other stakeholder groups,” Eley said.
In addition, Eley said these states have many producers and direct contact with the clientele they want to reach.
The group conducted a train-the- trainer workshop with 16 field faculty from April 30-May 1, at the Agricenter Showplace Arena in Cordova, Tennessee. They received an instructional program on risk management that will provide them with tools to deliver this program to their respective farmers. The training program’s content focused on five risk management principles, the process of conducting a vulnerability assessment on the farm and the fundamentals of farm business planning.
Eley said she hopes the train-the-trainer workshop provided Extension educators with the tools they need to support small farmers in the development of a risk-response strategy.
“If we help farmers stay informed and adapt to the constant changes they are facing as farm businesses, I’d consider this a success. We want farmers to thrive, and we want small-scale farming to continue,” Eley said.
