Herds & Harvest
Staci Emm, Extension Educator/Professor
Carol Bishop, Extension Educator/Associate Professor
Holly Gatzke, Extension Education/Associate Professor

• Funded in 2011 working with 6 different university faculty participating
• Refunded in December 2014 with 12 different university faculty participating
• Overall goal is to increase agricultural management knowledge and skills in basic farming and ranching
• Mentorship program includes “Great Ideas for Growers” and individual enterprise development.
• Program evaluation changes from 2011 to 2014

• 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

• We conducted128 trainings between August 1, 2011 and May 30, 2014
• Attendance was1,530 at the 128 trainings
• There were 600 unduplicated BFRs in the program by
May 30, 2014

• Created evaluation tracking system for all BFR participants in
Access. No faculty or staff in the program knew how to operate Access. One staff member was sent to training
• Put under a research protocol – UNR Institutional Review
Board (IRB). Every workshop evaluation had to be reviewed and approved.
• Changed each workshop evaluation to reflect teaching indicators in the workshop, but were not based on grant objectives so reporting became difficult.
• Created and maintained mailing list. Mailing list grew every year.

• Over 65% of the participants reported they made changes or took 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

• Builds upon 2011 objectives but this round we made things easier
• Expanded topics on…
• Basic farming skills (soils)
• Basic ranching skills
• Small scale poultry production
• WolfPack Meats Certification Program
• Basics I: Slaughter and Processing
• Basics II: Live animal to market
• Viticulture
• Hops production and marketing
• Each workshop will have a printed training booklet created for all the information presented

• No individual tracking system of BFRs except the continued effort to expand email and mailing lists
• Follow up with BFRs at various times during the year
• No research protocol or IRB
• One evaluation based on the overall objectives of the grant. Indicators are based on the education we said we would provide
• Evaluation is easier to report because it is specially based on objectives in the grant
• Added demographic, race, gender and veteran status into evaluation to report in yearly evaluation

• In the fall of 2016, there will be a follow up survey sent to all BFRs that attended a workshop
• The survey will be developed based on the objectives and measure impacts of the program on the BFR producers
• What are they doing now?
• What are their future plans?
• What happened as a result of participating in the program?

• The BFRDP Nevada project has the largest email and mailing list of agriculture producers in the University system
• The Wolf Pack Meats certification program has a an increased registration fee, which will assist in sustaining the program
• We are working on a Basics III class that will work within the confines of Nevada workforce development requirements
• Faculty have been brought together that have never worked together before
• The evaluation of the program is leading to real time impacts
• Workshop information is available to the public through workshop workbooks and can be electronically downloaded from the web.

• Impact
• If a program can continually produce real-time and real life impacts, there is a better chance of additional funding becoming available (i.e. Grants, University or College funding).
• Identifying successful trainings/workshops and keeping them and eliminating those trainings/workshops that are not wanted based on BFR needs and wants.
• Those programs that cannot show an impact and are not advantageous (beneficial) to the University as a leader in community outreach and education will not be sustainable once the grant award is not available.
• In addition, it will be more difficult to be funded again if the original program can not show impact.

• The number one workshop in 2015 was
Poultry Production
• All producers attending were BFRs
• It was video conferenced around the state
• The workshop booklet is still requested because of the regulatory requirements in
Nevada
• We haven’t run the evaluation data or an impact statement would be available

• Evaluation and Sustainability are tied together. You can not have one without the other
• Bringing faculty together has made a big difference in the program teams that have been created
• Market your program and participate in producer driven organizations and events
• Number your workshop training booklets because two years later someone will request it
• Meet the needs of your audience.
• Use your evaluation tool and ask them what they want…not what you think they need

• Follow up with producers…take the time (that we don’t have) relax and spend quality time answering their questions
• Market the program through more social media outlets.
• Continue to build mailing list and email list by attending events and/or programs to reach more BFRs
• Support the mentoring part of the program
• Constantly reassess how we do things and ask how or what we can do better
• Integrate the comments from evaluations into our program.