Posts Tagged: development
UC SAREP webinars help farmers, ranchers pivot to direct sales during pandemic
Partnering for California
The COVID-19 pandemic hit farmers hard. Supply chains were disrupted and even non-traditional agritourism revenue streams such as hay mazes and on-farm events had to be canceled due to shelter-in-place mandates.
On the other hand, demand for local farm products skyrocketed, and thus many farmers and ranchers needed a quick pivot strategy and a set of new skills.
UC Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (SAREP) was well-positioned to support this shift toward direct sales, pulling in trusted community partners and experienced farmers and ranchers to put together a comprehensive webinar series, “Agritourism and Direct Sales: Best Practices in COVID Times and Beyond”.
Funded by a USDA Farmers Market Promotion Program (FMPP) grant, the webinar series is part of a three-year project, Strengthening California Local Food Networks with Agritourism and Direct Sales, which provides trainings and technical assistance to farmers and ranchers on how to diversify their revenue streams.
The strength of the series, which includes eight webinars that were recorded earlier this year and are available online, lies in the collaborations among the UC SAREP Agritourism Program, UCCE, community groups, and farmers and ranchers.
The series features a range of speakers, including representatives from community organizations, technical experts, academic researchers, and farmers – all coming together to build resilience and adaptability for small-farming operations and the agritourism industry across California during the pandemic and after.
“It's great to collaborate with other organizations and regions, to learn from each other and to broaden our networks, as we are all working to create more resilient and sustainable food systems,” said Carmen Snyder, executive director of Sonoma County Farm Trails, one of the nonprofit partners on this project.
And because of those strong partnerships, the webinar topics reflected the on-the-ground needs facing agricultural producers.
“COVID initially dramatically affected farmers' restaurant contracts, with many losing more than 80% of their accounts overnight,” Snyder said. “CSAs [Community Supported Agriculture], on the other hand, couldn't keep up with the demand, and all of our CSA members were full and had wait lists for the first time ever. Producers pivoted by creating more online stores, including pick-up and delivery options. It was a challenge for them to navigate the new technology and platforms.”
Unsurprisingly, two of the more popular webinars were “Online Sales Options and Methods” and “Safe, Healthy and Successful Farm Stands”.
The “Online Sales Options and Methods” webinar, a partnership with the Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF), provided an overview of several e-commerce marketing and online sales strategies that farmers can implement to diversify their revenue pathways and reach new customers. CAFF stressed the importance of farmers enhancing their resiliency through e-commerce.
The webinar also featured Ciara Shapiro, the owner of AM Ranch in Penn Valley, who shared her experience with online marketing and how it helped her and her husband survive the pandemic when the restaurants and farmers markets they sold to shut down. This personal and informative webinar demonstrated the effectiveness of online sales and marketing, while highlighting available resources from groups like CAFF.
The “Safe, Healthy and Successful Farm Stands” webinar was aimed at farms of all sizes and organizations that operate or advise agricultural operations using farm stands as a form of revenue. The webinar provided an outline of the rules and regulations that farm stand operators needed to follow during COVID – as well as during business-as-usual times.
It featured two guest speakers who run successful farm stands: Emmett Hopkins, the owner of Foggy River Farm in Sonoma and Reyna Yagi, the farm manager at Petaluma Bounty Farm. They shared their experiences during COVID and how they had to pivot to remain profitable and accessible within state guidelines.
Both farmers saw an increase in farm stand business during the pandemic, which Yagi attributed to the “traffic storm of people” who attended their annual plant sale fundraiser and came to participate in new farm outdoor activities and volunteer opportunities. Yagi also noted the growing number of low-income individuals who were unable to access fresh produce during the pandemic.
The speakers' shared experiences running successful farm stands gave audience members tangible examples and real-time information on how to incorporate farm stands into their businesses.
Carmen Snyder of Sonoma County Farm Trails, which helped circulate the recorded webinars to their network of farmers and ranchers, remarked: “these webinars were extremely helpful for local producers, to get clarity on best pandemic practices during these challenging times and to learn how other producers are adapting and navigating the circumstances.”
Greg Gibbs named Development Services Executive Director
I am pleased to announce that Greg Gibbs has accepted our offer to be UC ANR's new Executive Director of Development Services. Greg succeeds Lorna Krkich, who retired on April 2.
Many of you likely already know Greg as he has served as the Director of Major Gifts at UC ANR since 2017. Greg brings more than 15 years of fund development expertise, with 11 years at UC Davis before joining UC ANR. Over the past few years, the Development Services team has been generating approximately $3 million to $5 million annually through new endowments, capital campaigns, giving days, and many other new donor relationships; and I am certain that Greg will continue to grow our overall fund-development strategies and capacity.
Greg transitioned into his new position on July 1, 2021, and I'd like to thank the Development Services team for sustaining the department and continuing their outstanding work during the recruitment period. Please join me in congratulating Greg on this well-deserved promotion.
Glenda Humiston
Vice President
Eight (of many) ways UC ANR benefits the California economy
UC ANR works to benefit the California economy by improving agricultural efficiencies, mitigating risk, providing trusted information to inform policy, combating pests and diseases, advancing agriculture technologies and training the next generation of leaders. Additionally, UC ANR improves community health and well-being through nutrition education, saving millions in healthcare costs and reducing monthly grocery bills. UC ANR's work is supported by more than 26,000 volunteers who provide donated service worth $71 million annually.
Nutrition
UC ANR's Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) helps limited-resource participants develop food buying and budgeting skills. Graduates save an average of $58.10 in monthly food costs, which collectively saved EFNEP families $1,532,445 last year.
Small farms
UC Cooperative Extension (UCCE) research supports small farmers through evaluation of crops and providing business training, among other activities. For example, UCCE is evaluating techniques to optimize coffee production in San Diego County. Specialty coffees could be valued at $50,000 per acre compared to $10,000 to $20,000 per acre for citrus or avocadoes. Small-scale prospective coffee growers learned it is possible to grow their own nursery plants, reducing startup costs, and are trialing coffee using plant starts provided by UCCE. Another example is in California's Sierra Foothills, home to a diversity of small farms with a wide variety of crops. UC ANR provides on-farm workshops focused on building producers' skills in economic and market analysis, risk management and business planning. UCCE advisors and specialists have also provided COVID-19-related information in Chinese and Spanish for immigrant farmers, and helped Asian and Latino small farmers complete English-language disaster aid applications.
Crop protection
A plant pathology laboratory at the UC West Side Research and Extension Center rapidly diagnosed late blight in tomatoes in Fresno County, and UCCE provided outreach and education on an effective treatment. The late blight was treated and did not become an issue; if it had gone untreated, 155 acres of tomatoes worth $700,000 could have been ruined.
We work with California's grape industry to meet sustainable production goals and improve adaptability to a changing climate, through research and extension in plant material selection, pest and disease management, irrigation and natural resource stewardship. Our scientists are active in invasive species response and played a pivotal role in the eradication of the European grapevine moth from our state.
Crop safety
During the devastating 2018 fire season, growers were unsure if forage crops covered in ash were safe for animals to eat. A collaborative effort with a veterinary toxicologist to collect and analyze samples determined there was no contamination due to the fires. It was important to verify the safety and quality of the crops as toxic impacts could have been financially devastating to the $6.37 billion forage crop industry.
Analysts estimate wildfire damage to California winegrapes amounts to as much as $3.7 billion annually. Growers and wine buyers rely on UC ANR research on the effects of smoke and ash on grapes to make informed decisions and protect their livelihoods.
Pest management
Adoption of UC Integrated Pest Management practices in California provides an estimated annual benefit of $323 million to $500.5 million for agriculture alone. For example, pest control advisers in the San Joaquin Valley participated in a UCCE project using mating disruption to reduce navel orangeworm infestations. This “green” technology increased the almond crop value by more than $250 per acre, which is more than twice the cost of applying the technique. Mating disruption technology is available to use in all nut crops, which is about 2.2 million acres. If just 25% of farmers from California's $6 billion almond industry adopted these green technologies to fend off the navel orangeworm, it could save growers up to $10 million per year.
Irrigation
UC ANR Cooperative Extension research and outreach have been instrumental in the development of drip irrigation, which is now used on approximately 40% of irrigated cropland in California. A recent study valued the additional revenue attributable to this research at between $78 million and $283 million per year.
Crop varieties
Approximately 95% of California's rice acreage is planted with varieties that have been evaluated in UCCE variety trials, indicating very high levels of adoption of improved varieties. These varieties have allowed growers to maintain high productivity.
UC ANR works to bring new pathogen-tested citrus varieties to California growers. In 2019, nine varieties that completed therapy and testing were introduced by large citrus producers in the state. Thousands of farm and agricultural industry supporting jobs could be maintained or created in the next few years as these and additional new varieties are propagated, grown in the field, commercially grown, and moved to market for consumers.
Wildfire
California's wildfires have consumed increasing resources every year due to climate change and more people moving to fire-prone areas. UC Fire Advisors routinely host prescribed fire workshops throughout California, helping private landowners understand the benefits and techniques for using prescribed burns. UC Cooperative Extension Advisors in Humboldt County spurred creation of the first prescribed burn association in the West, which proliferated to six other counties across the state.
UC advisors have developed new technologies to help prevent wildfires. These include Evalutree, an app-based assessment tool designed to expedite and simplify tree surveys by PG&E, and Match.Graze, a web-based platform that connects private landowners with livestock owners that offer grazing services to reduce fire fuels.
Additionally, UCCE researchers released a free 20-page publication, “How to Harden Homes against Wildfire” (http://ucanr.edu/HomeRetrofitGuide).
2017 prescribed burn training in Humboldt County
UC SAREP receives USDA FMPP grant to strengthen local food networks
The USDA Agricultural Marketing Service recently published the recipients of Farmers' Market Promotion Program 2020 grants. The UC Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (UC SAREP) is excited to announce that our project proposal, Strengthening California local food networks with agritourism and direct sales, was selected for funding. UC SAREP will manage this three-year project in collaboration with a team of ANR Cooperative Extension advisors and staff working with established agricultural and agritourism associations to provide education, technical assistance, promotion and networking support for farmers and ranchers throughout California who are engaged in direct marketing and agritourism activities.
With the emergence of “shelter-in-place” directives, California's small-scale direct-marketing farms and agritourism operations faced drastic and immediate disruptions to operations causing major losses in revenue and lay-offs for staff. Particularly hard-hit were agritourism operators who had to cancel visitor- serving activities, often reducing staff or not hiring for seasonal employment. Positively, the disruptions in food supply and mobility brought the existence and importance of local farms and ranches to the attention of much of the public.
Increased awareness by the public of local farms and ranches indicates that potential for local agritourism and direct sales opportunities will increase when shelter-in-place restrictions are relaxed, offering needed options for small-scale farm and ranch diversification. Agritourism can provide farmers and ranchers with diversification options to help reduce risk, but diversifying with agritourism introduces new risks and challenges for producers that can be overcome with training, connections and resources.
The UC ANR team, working under the direction of UC SAREP Director Gail Feenstra and coordinated by UC SAREP Agritourism Coordinator Penny Leff, includes Laura Snell, County Director, UCCE Modoc County, Luis Espino, County Director, UCCE Butte County, Margaret Gullette Lloyd, Small Farms Advisor, UCCE Solano County, Karen Giovannini, UCCE Sonoma County Agruiculture Ombudsman and Laura Crothers, UC SAREP Communication Specialist. We will partner for this project with the Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF) and established producer based agriculture associations Modoc Harvest, Sonoma County Farm Trails, Sierra Oro Farm Trail (Butte Co.) and Pleasants Valley Agriculture Association (Solano Co.).
Training & technical assistance
In Winter 2020-21, with travel and group gathering restrictions still in place, we will enable rapid response to COVID-19 and changing marketing conditions by California's small-scale producers through a series of webinars for farmers and ranchers adopting and adapting new and modified direct marketing and agritourism activities. The series of one-hour webinars (which will be recorded andshared for future use) will be on the topics below:
#1 Online sales options and methods
#2 Getting started with CSAs and box delivery programs
#3 Operating a safe, healthy & successful farm stand
#4 Best practices for U-Pick operations
#5 Best practices for visitor interaction with animals
#6 Best practices for farm tours, workshops and farm-based education
#7 Creative marketing and staying connected with social media
#8 Community collaboration – farm trail groups, tourism connections and other options
In project year two, with the expectation that travel restrictions will be relaxed by Fall 2021, the project will build in-depth, hands-on learning and increased collaboration by farmers and ranchers through a series of four workshops/field days in each of four California regions severely impacted by COVID-19 restrictions. The workshops will be held in Modoc, Sonoma, Solano and Butte Counties. The half-day workshops/field days, held on the farms or ranches of experienced operators of the activities being discussed, will focus on the following topics:
#1 Expanding direct-to-consumer sales through online sales/on-farm pickup, CSAs, farm direct delivery and commercial or contracted shipping
#2 Developing and marketing successful community-serving farm stands and U-Pick Operations
#3 Planning and marketing farm dinners, tours, workshops and other on-farm educational activities for the local community
#4 Community collaboration, community events and shared marketing - examples and best practices for increased connections, producer support, successful marketing and shared operations
Marketing: Connecting farms and ranches to local communities for resilient local food systems
During the project, the experienced leaders of the four partnering agricultural associations will conduct marketing campaigns promoting direct sales and agritourism activities at local farms to local communities. The campaigns will be different in each region, but will include a mix of social media marketing, print, radio and paid media advertising, signs, postcards, fliers, and creative collaborative direct sales and agritourism events or activities.
Organizing: Regional networks for ongoing support of direct sales and agritourism
The agricultural marketing association leaders will also convene and facilitate quarterly meetings of regional “Direct Sales and Agritourism Networking Groups.” Each networking group will include the partnering organizations as well as regional farmers' market associations, tourism bureaus and local farm advocates, and will regularly discuss issues, provide peer support, and work together to strengthen local food security and connect farmers and ranchers with their communities through direct sales and agritourism.
We are excited to begin this project and look forward to working with California farmers, ranchers and their communities to strengthen skills and collaboration and increase revenue to small-scale producers.
Funding for this project was made possible by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service through grant #AM200100XXXXG177. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the USDA.
picnicbyfield Capay Organic
Enhancing our leadership and collaboration
Coming together, keeping together and working together during unprecedented times.
Although we live in challenging times, few organizations are managing those challenges as well as UC ANR. Throughout our community, at every level, staff and academics have innovated and found new ways to ensure that our local communities continue to be served by our programs, our research and our partnerships. You have all shown your ability to adapt and have demonstrated a high level of resilience in a continually changing and unprecedented environment these past months. Yet, even resilience requires renewal and revitalization.
Therefore, as we continue to adjust to ongoing change, I want to encourage all UC ANR people – supervisors and individual contributors alike – to tap more deeply into their collaborative and team building potential by completing the UC People Management Certificate Series within the next year.
ANR as a whole will benefit from our individual understanding of the basic tenets of employee engagement, team building, setting clear expectations, clear communication and collaboration. On an individual basis, you will gain a deeper understanding and tools to enhance your people skills, collaboration skills, prioritizing work, implicit bias awareness, being an effective team member, and preparing yourself for leadership roles.
There are 16 required and 4 elective modules which range from 15-25 minutes. Included in the required modules are topics such as “Giving and Receiving Feedback”, “Coaching for Performance and Development”, and “What is Implicit Bias?” In the elective course section, topics include “Building Collaborative Relationships,” “Move Forward with Change Planning” and “UC Responding to Conflict.” They are well worth your investment of time – both as professional development and personal growth.
Let's continue to champion the amazing work we all do by delving into people management.
Once you have completed the series, please contact learninganddevelopment@ucanr.edu for your digital certificate.
As always, many thanks for the great work you do!
Stay safe out there,
Glenda