Community Video Can Build Capacity in Extension

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This article was written by Jennifer Cook, Digital Green fellow for eXtension

Digital Green is a global non-profit development organization that empowers smallholder farmers to lift themselves out of poverty by harnessing the collective power of technology and grassroots-level partnerships. They partner with extension actors in developing countries to solve problems like market access, farmer training, and rural nutrition education using digital technology. Digital Green developers build cutting-edge software, such as mobile apps and online data collection and analysis, to benefit farmers worldwide.

Community video approach

One solution offered by Digital Green is the community video approach, using peer learning and human-mediated discussion to help disseminate farming or other skills. In this approach, a community member is trained in video production and facilitation skills. Once trained, videos are produced staring local farmers, on topics needed in the community.

The magic of this approach happens in the dissemination. Local farmers or others come together to watch the video. The new practice or idea is more accepted because it is explained by their peer in the video. The video is paused frequently and a facilitated discussion engages the group, allowing time for the idea to become clear. This solution enables consistent and quality information to reach farmers, many of whom are illiterate, in a cost-effective and scalable manner.

Finally knowledge gained and behavioral changes are collected and maintained on a database called CoCo (Connect online Connect offline). CoCo works well in areas where internet connectivity is a challenge, and enables near real-time data analytics on farmer behavior.

Where might this solution work in the US?

Videos and YouTube are plentiful in the US. The community video solution has created a formula for video production, facilitation, and dissemination of educational material. We are all so busy and many times asked to do more with less. This solution can be a tool to build capacity at scale, as the videos can also be used as training material for extension agents as well as farmers.

Digital Green’s video-enabled approach might work in places where language or cultural differences create a challenge for disseminating new ideas. For example, the community video approach has been proposed to be used to teach refugee farmers about food safety practices at an incubator farm in Northern California.

Interested in working with Digital Green on implementing this solution in your area? Contact Digital Green eXtension fellow Jennifer Cook jennifer.cook@colostate.edu

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The Business of Farming

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This article was written by Jennifer Cook, Digital Green Fellow for eXtension. 

For the past nine months, I served as the Digital Green eXtension fellow, interviewing many small and beginning farmers, farm groups, and farm partners from across the US, to understand the challenges small farmers face. Representing Digital Green, a global non-profit development organization, I was looking for gaps in the ways in which farmers are supported by both public and private actors.

A topic that kept coming up in interviews and in my research is the economics of farming. Small farms, defined as those making less than $350,000 gross farm income, are more likely to have an operating profit margin in the red zone, 59-78% of them according to USDA, ERS (2016). It is the passion for farming that drives farmers to continue farming, often not income.

Perhaps it’s this economic challenge that has reduced the number of beginning farmers in the US? In 1982, 38% of farmers were beginning (less than 10 years in operation), in 2012 only 17.2% were beginning farmers (USDA, ERS 2012). We need a new generation of farmers to support local and sustainable food systems, provide jobs, and maintain open space and wildlife habitat in our communities. New farmers and farmland should be encouraged and supported.

Beginning farmer story highlights challenges

Chris and her husband Shawn have always wanted to be farmers. They learned how to grow mushrooms and vegetables and began selling at their local farmers’ market. A few years later they bought some farmland, expanded their production, and diversified to berries, honey, vegetables, and more varieties of mushrooms.

Chris and Shawn’s farm products are now in high demand, but they both work off-farm jobs and can’t afford to quit to be full-time farmers. Finding dependable and proficient farm labor has been a challenge so they continue to do all the work themselves.

They are at a crossroads, having invested a lot in land, equipment, and infrastructure, but still not seeing much profit when they consider all their own labor and transportation inputs. Chris and Shawn need to earn a profit by either cutting costs or increasing revenues. Are there ways that they can find inexpensive and proficient labor? Should they rework their business plan to explore other profit avenues? Should they cut their losses and quit farming or continue to invest in their business?

How can Extension agents support the business of farming?

Small farms, such as Chris and Shawn’s, make up 90% of farms in the US (USDA ERS, 2016). How can farming be more economically sustainable for small and beginning farmers? What solutions (tools, technology, resources) can help mitigate some of the major challenges that beginning and small farmers face in the US?

  • Farmers must be market savvy. What tools and resources, such as enterprise budgets and price points, are available, or could bedeveloped to help farmers make informed business decisions?
  • Farming has a lot of risk. What risks, such as investment of land, water, and equipment could be mitigated to encourage farming? Incubator farms and food hubs are models that have worked.
  • How can farming be more economically sustainable for small and beginning farmers? The solutions are often situation-specific. Options include sharing assets in the community or decision-making based on understanding of individual farm budget and hidden costs of transportation and labor.

How can we as Extension agents guide new farmers toward being more business savvy? In Colorado, we offer a Building Farmers Program where farmers are guided to develop a business plan and understand wholly the economics and business of farming. The program is helping new and beginning farmers assess their ability to start and maintain a new farm or expand and improve an existing one. What programs and types of assistance are working in your state?

References

USDA, ERS. (2016). America’s diverse family farms. Economic Information Bulletin Number 164. Retrieved from https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/81408/eib-164.pdf?v=42709

USDA, ERS (2012). Beginning farmers and age distribution of farmers. Retrieved from https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/farm-economy/beginning-disadvantaged-farmers/beginning-farmers-and-age-distribution-of-farmers/

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This work is supported in part by New Technologies for Ag Extension grant no. 2020-41595-30123 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

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