Agriprospects, a groundbreaking national marketplace for Cooperative Extension programs, today is announcing the support of 11 projects across Cooperative Extension to deliver and expand adult agricultural workforce development. This first round of mini-grants will expand the training available to the public through Agriprospects and fill in gaps in training in farm business coaching, dairy farm safety management, permaculture, among other topics. Led by The Extension Foundation, Agriprospects and its mini-grants are supported by a federal grant through the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and aims to enhance access to education, upskilling, and reskilling opportunities, particularly for rural and underserved populations.
The 11 projects represent 16 Land-grant institutions from across the country as well as a variety of external stakeholders. Projects include LGIs from all CES regions:
1994 Region: 1 project
1890 Region: 1 project
North Central Region: 1 project
Northeastern Region: 4 projects
Southern Region: 3 projects
Western Region: 6 projects
AgriProspects Workforce Development Network Round 1 Mini-grant Recipients:
- Colorado State University, Agricultural Workforce Development: Building Capacity for Young Adults with Disabilities
- The Pennsylvania State University, Success Skills in Spanish 4 Ag (SSS4A)
- South Dakota State University, Dairy Farm Safety Management: Promoting Biosecurity, Safety, and Hazard Control for Hispanic Workers
- University of Hawaii, Developing Supplemental Courses to Increase Hawaii Farm Revenues
- University of Maryland, Farm Business Coaching: Cultivating Entrepreneurship
- University of Kentucky, Filling Gaps in the Specialty Crop Ag Workforce: A Focus on Minority and Underserved Populations
- University of Kentucky, Growing Kentucky Growers: A Project for Prison Horticulture Education Expansion
- University of Vermont, Farmworker Education Hub
- Utah State University, Permaculture for professionals: Developing pathways for a skilled workforce in regenerative and ecological land management
- Virginia Tech, Leveraging inter-organizational resources to develop multilingual viticultural educational materials and training resources for Virginia farmworkers
- Washington State University, Phase 1 (of 3) Modernization and Expansion of WSU Extension's "Cultivating Success Sustainable Small Farms Education Program"
To learn more about AgriProspects, please visit https://agriprospects.extension.org/ or connect with the AgriProspects Program Manager, Jason Weigle, at jasonweigle@extension.org. Cooperative Extension professionals from all Land-grant universities are invited to sign up for AgriProspects regional and national newsletters at https://agriprospects.extension.org/news-updates/. Cooperative Extension professionals from all Land-grant institutions are also invited to become part of the Extension Workforce Development Network on Connect Extension at https://connect.extension.org/subgroups.
AgriProspects is supported through a cooperative agreement between the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and the Extension Foundation under the AFRI Education and Workforce Development Competitive Grant 2023-67037-40533. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this website and consultative support are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture or the Extension Foundation.
About the Extension Foundation
The Extension Foundation was formed in 2006 by Extension Directors and Administrators. Today, the Foundation partners with Cooperative Extension through liaison roles and a formal plan of work with the Extension Committee on Organization and Policy (ECOP) to increase system capacity while providing programmatic services, and helping Extension programs scale and investigate new methods and models for implementing programs.
The Foundation also provides professional development to Cooperative Extension professionals and offers exclusive services to its members. Its purpose is in its mission statement: to help U.S. Cooperative Extension make a more visible, measurable, impact on local issues.
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