Source: JOHNSON COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE submitted to
SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE (MARKET FARMING) ENTREPRENEURSHIP CERTIFICATE PROGRAM
 
PROJECT DIRECTOR: Gadberry, J. L. Robinson, L. Duffey, D. Carey, E.
 
PERFORMING ORGANIZATION
HORTICULTURAL SCIENCE PROGRAM, SCIENCE DEPARTMENT
JOHNSON COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE
OVERLAND PARK,KS 66210
 
NON TECHNICAL SUMMARY: The production, marketing, selling and preparation of locally grown foods are among the fastest growing fields in the state of Kansas, the surrounding region and the United States. The demand for fresh, local farm products in the greater Kansas City area exceeds $100 million annually, but only a small percentage of that demand is being met by local farms. Johnson County Community College is committed to meeting this unmet demand by training students to participate in the growing, marketing, selling and preparation of local produce. Additionally, it hopes to raise awareness of the importance of sustainable local agriculture to the community's health, well-being and economic development among students from a variety of disciplines. This project will enhance agricultural education through curriculum improvements by both modifying existing courses and creating new courses that deal with agriscience and agribusiness. The courses themselves will be geared toward preparing students for actual jobs in the area of sustainable agriculture. Practicums in horticulture, labs in the preparation of local food, and business courses that require students to create a business plan will provide students with the skills they need to enter the workforce or start their own business immediately upon graduation.
 
OBJECTIVES: Students who successfully complete the certificate program will have the knowledge, skills and abilities to begin a market farm, or to work on a market farm in the Kansas City metro area or elsewhere. Graduates of the program will have practical skills in all aspects of production planning, production, post harvest handling, and marketing through a range of channels, of a range of regionally-adapted fruit and vegetable crops. They will also have the entrepreneurial business management skill sets essential for success. The first class of graduates will be leaving the program at the end of the project, so success at farming, while an important outcome, cannot be a measurable outcome within the time-frame of the project. However, student competency in each particular skill set covered in both practicums and in class room training, will be determined as an ongoing measurable outcome of the project. As a part of curriculum development, a set of core competencies for successful market farmers will be developed, and methods of assessing student achievement in these areas will be incorporated into the program. Evaluation of student achievement of prescribed competencies, will be an element of the evaluation plan. In addition program success will be measured by ongoing assessment of the degree to which the program is addressing core competencies for market farmers, and by measuring student progress toward achieving competency in these areas. Input of the advisory committee, made up of stakeholders in the local market farming, education, entrepreneurship and hospitality sectors, will be critical to ensure that core competencies relevant to market farming success, are addressed under the program. There will be an increased collaboration between the Horticulture, Hospitality Management, Entrepreneurial Certificate program and the Department of Horticulture at Kansas State University with this educational program. This new delivery method for locally grown products from the farm to the table will have a major positive economic impact for these entrepreneurial farming businesses in the greater metropolitan Kansas City area, and this will serve as a model for other communities.
 
APPROACH: The following timetable identifies important project milestones and dates. August 2007 Initiate implementation of JCCC/K-State partnership project. Develop meeting and action plans;identify and initiate K-12 partnerships. Develop external partners action plan and identify members of certificate advisory committee. August-October 2007 Prepare new and modified courses and certificate for college approval. Develop curriculum path for student completion of certificate. November-December 2007 Develop marketing/recruitment plan for internal and external audiences. January-February 2008 Develop a cross-discipline plan for professional development and information sharing (e.g., professional associations and trade organizations, regionally and nationally). March 2008 Facilitate informational meetings with academic and career advisors/ counselors and other internal and external participants. March-May 2008 Prepare and distribute marketing/recruiting materials for new certificate according to marketing plan. May 2008 Develop formal evaluation plan for grant outcomes. April-August 2008 Develop and incorporate resource materials into new and modified course offerings. August-December 2008 Fall semester courses ENTR 120 Introduction to Entrepreneurship; ENTR 180 Opportunity Analysis; HORT 260 Horticulture Soils,and HORT Practicum I. January-May 2009 Spring semester courses offered HORT 255 Pest Control Management; ENTR 142 Fast Trac Business Plan; HORT Practicum II; and HMGT Food Industry Compliance and Safety. February-April 2009 Grant team and faculty review and analyze Institutional Research reports, student evaluations and qualitative data to determine opportunities for adjustment and or improvement in course offerings. Prepare plan for dissemination of results, including press releases, conference presentations and curriculum innovation award applications relating to replication opportunities in other educational institutions (i.e., League for Innovation, National Council for Instructional Administrators, American Association of Community Colleges, Society of Culinarians, and other academic associations, professional and trade associations). Sponsor on-campus (JCCC) meetings/conferences such as organic farmers association conference. March 2009 Institutional Research generates student intent to graduate report. Develop plan for distribution of results developed, including publications, conference presentations and curriculum innovation award applications relating to replication opportunities in other educational institutions. June-July 2009 Summer courses offered HORT 150 Commercial Fruit, Vegetable and Herb Crop Production; HGMT Local Food Preparation; and HORT Practicum III. May-August 2009 Institutional Research prepares official report to Kansas Board of Regents and grant team reflecting enrollment in certificate core courses, number of declared majors for certificate, number of certificate completers, student achievement of prescribed competencies in courses required for certificate, student placement in related employment field, and student completer satisfaction with educational preparation. June-July 2009 Grant team prepares close out report.
 
CRIS NUMBER: 0210241 SUBFILE: CRIS
PROJECT NUMBER: KANE-2007-02038 SPONSOR AGENCY: NIFA
PROJECT TYPE: SERD GRANT PROJECT STATUS: TERMINATED MULTI-STATE PROJECT NUMBER: (N/A)
START DATE: Aug 1, 2007 TERMINATION DATE: Jul 31, 2010

GRANT PROGRAM: HE-SECONDARY/2-YR POST SECONDARY
GRANT PROGRAM AREA: Higher Education

CLASSIFICATION
Knowledge Area (KA)Subject (S)Science (F)Objective (G)Percent
903609930203.1100%

CLASSIFICATION HEADINGS
KA903 - Communication, Education, and Information Delivery
S6099 - People and communities, general/other
F3020 - Education
G3.1 - Economic Opportunities for Growth


RESEARCH EFFORT CATEGORIES
BASIC (N/A)%
APPLIED 100%
DEVELOPMENTAL (N/A)%

KEYWORDS: sustainable agriculture; entrepreneurial; market farming; growers training program;

PROGRESS: Aug 1, 2007 TO Jul 31, 2010
The new courses and certificate were developed and have been approved by JCCC Educational Affairs committee, the Kansas Board of Regents, and the Kansas Vocational Technical Authority in July of 2008. Appropriate facilities were identified and equipment was purchased for use in the classes, and faculty were hired to teach the courses. Marketing and recruiting materials were developed and disseminated. The practicum course was offered in the Fall semester of 2008 (7 students), Spring of 09 (4 students), Summer of 09 (3 students), and Fall semester of 2009 (7 students). Some students dropped out of the course as they realized the time and work commitment required to be successful. We are providing more information on our course schedule web page to help inform students of the workload involved before they register for the course. The Commercial Crop production course has been taught each Fall semester (7 students in 2008 and 12 students in 2009), and the Soils course each Spring semester. The Entrepreneurship courses are taught each semester. The Pest Control Management course is being taught this fall. This was delayed as we realized that many students would not be available during the summer session. The Food Industry Compliance and Safety course was taught this past spring semester while the Local Food Production course is being taught this fall. An Advisory Board (consisting of faculty involved with the program and industry representatives) was created and met twice (October 29, 2007 and April 1, 2008). Another meeting is scheduled for November 5, 2009. Students will be filling out evaluations of the courses and faculty by the end of the semester, which will be used in ongoing improvement of the material. PRODUCTS: New courses (Sustainable Agriculture Practicum Fall/ Spring / Summer and Commercial Crop Production) have been developed and have been taught for the past year. A new certificate ( incorporating horticulture courses, entrepreneurship courses, and food safety courses) has been created and is continuing to be offered to the students. Efforts are continuing to market and publicize the program. An Advisory Board has been meeting throughout the past year and will continue to provide guidance for the program. OUTCOMES: In the practicum courses, students are involved in all aspects of planning, production, harvesting and marketing. Competency areas identified in the course outline are addressed in a holistic fashion within the context of overall production operations. Progress toward learning objectives is monitored through the use of student log books, with students recording all activities conducted, reflecting or commenting on them, and relating them to competency areas. The produce grown by the students is offered for sale to JCCC faculty, staff and students. A weekly email newsletter has been created for people to sign up and receive notifications of what will be available for purchase each week. The commercial accounting program Quickbooks is used to track income and expenses and manage invoicing. In addition, the produce is being used in the JCCC cafeteria. The funding from these sales is being used to support a student farm manager. The student farm manager was a graduate of the fall practicum course. Unanticipated outcomes of the project have been the creation of strong ties with other programs involved in sustainability, one of JCCCs major institutional objectives . An additional outcome has been strong progress toward the development of a financially viable training farm enterprise providing fresh produce to JCCC food service and to faculty, staff, and students through direct market sales. DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES: A brochure has been created and distributed to the public at targeted events (such as Farmers Markets). The program has been featured in numerous local media stories, both print and broadcast. Faculty have spoken about the program at several sustainability events in the Kansas City and Lawrence areas. Stu Shafer reported on progress in development of the program at the following: 2008 Joint Annual Meeting of the Association for the Sutudy of Food and Society and the Agriculture, Food, and Human Values Society in June, 2008 Sustainable Agriculture Education Society conference in Ames, IA in July 2009 Midwest Sociological Society meeting, 2009 American Sociological Association, 2009 FUTURE INITIATIVES: The program is expected to continue beyond the funding period as more students are attracted to the field. The program is designed to become self-sustaining. The Advisory Board will continue to guide the development of the program, along with input from students, faculty, and professionals in the field. The student farm being developed from the practicum has large areas for improvement. Among the first to be addressed will be development of a farm food safety plan for Good Agricultural/ Good Handling Practices Certification. Funding from the sales of produce is being used to support the student farm manager. Students will also be involved in organic certification and in the development of systems to allow production and marketing of both organic and conventional produce from the farm. Numerous additional activities are envisaged including further linkage to JCCC sustainability initiatives, perhaps with respect to composting food waste or the development of appropriate technology approaches to various aspects of farm management (renewable energy), mechanization and infrastructure development. Additional cooperation with Kansas State University, including transferability of credit for the practicum courses toward a degree in horticulture at Kansas State University will be sought. Stu Shafer is working on presentations in 2010 to the Midwest Sociological Society in the Spring, the Joint Annual Meeting of the Association for the Study of Food and Society and the Agriculture, Food, and Human Values Society, as well as the Sustainable Agriculture Education Society conference this coming summer.

IMPACT: 2007-08-01 TO 2010-07-31 Students will gain the experience and knowledge to pursue a career in sustainable farming, either through starting their own businesses or joining an existing local farm. We anticipate an increase in the number of providers of sustainable agriculture products. In addition, we expect consumers to become more aware of the benefits of Slow Food (food grown locally in a safe, environmentally friendly manner which is prepared in a healthful way), which will increase the demand for these products and create further career opportunities. In addition, JCCC has embraced the program and practicum as an integral part of institution-wide sustainability efforts.

PUBLICATION INFORMATION: 2007-08-01 TO 2010-07-31
A brochure was created and distributed to potential students in order to publicize the program. A video highlighting the work of the students was shown at a Sustainability Dinner held on campus. The dinner featured produce grown on the JCCC/KSU student farm by students enrolled in the practicum courses. The program was also featured in the JCCC publication This Month (March 2009)

PROJECT CONTACT INFORMATION
NAME: Gadberry, J. L.
PHONE: 913-469-3826
FAX: 913-469-2517