Description
The Resilience CAP Team seeks to use diverse, perennial, circular forage systems (DPCFS) to enhance biodiversity, improve soil and plant health, support ecosystem service, all towards achieving greater resilience to global change and improving the farm economy and quality of life. Our project will design a transdisciplinary framework that combines agronomic, ecological, economic, and sociological factors to achieve greater resilience and stability in agricultural systems through use of DPCFS. In this paper, we describe two of the project’s six objectives. Objective 5 is our extension/outreach arm where we will develop extension media, activities, and actionable decision tools to communicate concepts about the benefits of DPCFS to all stakeholders including farmers, consumers, lenders, and policy makers. To this end, our Extension Team is developing an interactive network of farmers, researchers, and other stakeholders that use multidirectional communication to help reduce barriers to forage use in production systems. Our network will be supported by traditional print and face-to-face approaches, a website, online programming, interactive online decision tools, and social media. Objective 6 is our education arm, where we will develop educational materials on the importance of resilience, ecosystem services, and economic value of DPCFS and integrate the materials into K-12 and university curricula. The activities are designed to develop knowledge and skills associated with sustainable agriculture, with emphasis on DPCFS. Currently, we seek to have multi-institutional internship and graduate seminar programs throughout the year.
Included in
Agricultural Science Commons, Agronomy and Crop Sciences Commons, Plant Biology Commons, Plant Pathology Commons, Soil Science Commons, Weed Science Commons
A Framework for Promoting Diverse Perennial Circular Forage Systems for More Resilient Agricultural Landscapes: Developing Extension and Educational Tools for Resilience and Sustainability
The Resilience CAP Team seeks to use diverse, perennial, circular forage systems (DPCFS) to enhance biodiversity, improve soil and plant health, support ecosystem service, all towards achieving greater resilience to global change and improving the farm economy and quality of life. Our project will design a transdisciplinary framework that combines agronomic, ecological, economic, and sociological factors to achieve greater resilience and stability in agricultural systems through use of DPCFS. In this paper, we describe two of the project’s six objectives. Objective 5 is our extension/outreach arm where we will develop extension media, activities, and actionable decision tools to communicate concepts about the benefits of DPCFS to all stakeholders including farmers, consumers, lenders, and policy makers. To this end, our Extension Team is developing an interactive network of farmers, researchers, and other stakeholders that use multidirectional communication to help reduce barriers to forage use in production systems. Our network will be supported by traditional print and face-to-face approaches, a website, online programming, interactive online decision tools, and social media. Objective 6 is our education arm, where we will develop educational materials on the importance of resilience, ecosystem services, and economic value of DPCFS and integrate the materials into K-12 and university curricula. The activities are designed to develop knowledge and skills associated with sustainable agriculture, with emphasis on DPCFS. Currently, we seek to have multi-institutional internship and graduate seminar programs throughout the year.
