Farmers in Delaware and the Eastern Shore of Maryland need regular assistance and education from well-trained agriculture service providers (ASPs) in order to maintain sustainable farms. Outreach is often delivered by knowledgeable, well-meaning professionals in ways that do not fully help farmers understand and process new information into successful decision-making on their farms. Many ASPs in the region could benefit from professional development trainings about adult education principles and methods to improve farmer outreach, leading to better farmer adoption and improved farm management.
This two-year project, conducted by the state SARE team at Delaware State University, will provide ASPs with training in adult education principles and methods to improve farmer outreach, helping to improve participants' abilities to support farmer adoption of improved farm management practices.
Training topics will include curriculum development, messaging strategies, event planning, storytelling, mitigating bias, improving research design and use of demonstration plots.
Want more information? See the related SARE grant: