WICST Communications Activities
1997 – 1998
K. Griffith [1]
This has been a year of reaping what was sowed in previous years. Despite
much reduced hours devoted to communications (for personal reasons, the
coordinator averaged about 15 hours a week in 1997 and much less in 1998),
we seem to have hit our stride in many ways. The WICST newsletters were
unusually well received, and our mailing list grew substantially from
individuals asking to get on it. A number of events were well attended
and well received. Modest effort yielded considerable high quality media
attention. We note that while the Coordinator’s role was reduced,
the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute hired an experienced, professional
journalist to better conduct outreach on the Institute’s various
programs, including WICST and the Small Grains Initiative. This has substantially
raised the profiles of both the projects and their participants. Finally
and most importantly, our data can now support strong statements about
several key issues: the importance and benefits of expanded rotations,
the importance of systems thinking, and the economic and agronomic viability
of reduced input systems. That these messages are finding a receptive
audience is evidenced by the number of calls we get in response to our
newsletters and media coverage; increasingly frequent requests to reprint
our materials; the growing number of unfamiliar faces at our events; and
invitations to collaborate on related endeavors.
Events
The following list of events includes only those at which WICST played
a central role. There were numerous other events at which WICST offered
a talk, a workshop, a plot tour or some other form of participation. A
sampling of these is listed at the end.
Prairies Jubilee! WICST ran several booths
and offered a tour of the WICST plots. 200 people attended.
Summer Oat Workshop – included visits
to several oat fields and presentations on adding Oats and cover crops
to a corn-soy rotation; also presentations of relevant WICST data. 35
people attended.
How to Grow 100 Bushel Oats – presentations
included economic and agronomic Information on why and how to add oats
and a cover crop to a corn-soy rotation based on WICST and other data.
65 people attended.
Harvest Taste of Walworth County –
tour of the WICST Lakeland Ag Complex plots. 257 people attended.
WICST Winter meeting – discussion about
1997 WICST results, management issues, Agronomic decisions, data interpretation,
outreach, etc. 14 people attended.
WICST Elementary School Ag Science Unit with SAM,
the Sustainable Ag Mouse— introduction to agricultural sustainability
through WICST. 300 children attended.
WICST Elementary School Ag Science Unit Teacher
Training. 8 people attended.
WICST Summer Field Day at the Lakeland Ag Complex—presentation
of nitrate-N data and satellite projects. 30 farmers attended.
Additional Events
Private Pesticide Applicator Training and Certification—WICST
highlights offered as alternatives to pesticide use. 111 people attended.
WICST cross-agency training – including
local FSA, Soil Conservation Service and Land Conservation Committee.
19 people attended.
Farm/City Farm Bureau Ladies Banquet—WICST
system approach to change. 97 people attended.
Wisconsin Women’s Sustainable Farming Network
– presentation on WICST. 15 people attended.
Regional Corn Growers Association Annual Meeting
in Wisconsin Dells and Southeast WI —presentations on WICST,
cover crops, expanded rotations, and the Small Grains Initiative. 400
people attended.
Farmer Workshop in Belvidere, Illinois –
presentations on WICST and Small Grains Initiative. 70 people attended.
Farm Bureau Dairy Breakfast at Lakeland Ag Complex
– WICST display. 2,200 people attended.
USDA Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville
Area Research Station – Sustainable Agricultural Program,
National Gathering – presentation on long term lessons from cropping
systems research. 150 people attended.
Producer meeting hosted by CFS Specialties
– Small Grains Initiative presentation. 60 people attended.
World Dairy Expo – spoke with attendees
and distributed WICST publications at a WICST display as part of the ATTRA
booth. 500 contacts over 5 days.
Practical Farmers of Iowa – two producer
meetings in Iowa and one in Minnesota – Small Grains Initiative presentations
Upper Midwest Organic Conference Workshop
—presentation on Small Grains Initiative using WICST data. 80 people
attended.
Pennsylvania Sustainable Agriculture Association
annual conference – two presentations, WICST results and Small
Grains Initiative. 120 people attended.
Green Bay Post-secondary education program
– Small Grains Initiative presentation. 200 ag students attended.
WI Crop Improvement Association annual meeting
– Small Grains Initiative presentation. 40 people attended.
Wisconsin Association of County Board Extension
Committee State Conference—WICST tour. 187 people attended.
National Rural Development Conference –
WICST tour. 88 people attended.
Statewide Farm/City Banquet— WICST
supported Sustainable Community Development utilizing sustainable agriculture
evaluation criteria as model. 323 people attended.
Integrated Food and Farming Systems National Conference,
Michigan—WICST input into planning and implementation. 27 people
attended.
Small Grains Grower Meeting in Ashton, WI—Cover
crop and economic data. 60 people attended.
Nutrient and Pest Management Program field day
in Deerfield, WI —WICST economic and CS3 data. 20 people attended.
Nutrient and Pest Management Program field day
in Cambria, WI—WICST economic and CS3 data. 50 people attended.
UWEX Small Grains Twilight Meeting in Manitowoc
– WICST Economic data. 20 people attended.
Sustainable Wisconsin Conference—booth
and one-on-one discussions w/ about 50 people.
Prairie’s Jublilee! WICST boot and
12 attendees for presentation on “Biodiversity changes found in Wisconsin
cropping systems and Wisconsin prairies”
Numerous private and small group tours of the WICST plots at the Lakeland
Agricultural Complex and the Arlington Research Station.
Publications
Newsletters (mailing list is about 2,200)
Seven newsletters: The titles listed below refer to the cover article
of each issue. The newsletter’s new format includes four pages on
WICST and a four page insert on the Small Grains Initiative.
Featured articles:
- Something old is new again: Mike Cerny on wheat, red clover, no-till,
and GPS (spring ‘97)
- Gary Sommers on wheat and oats (summer ‘97)
- Why Norm Harris grows cover crops (winter ‘97)
- Why Jay Goetz grows wheat and oats (Spring ’98)
A Small Grains Initiative Packet
- Profitable Farming Update #7: Why and how to add vetch to your cash
grain rotation.
- Profitable Farming Update #8: Wheat: New reasons for a traditional
crop.
Media work
The following list offers some highlights. It is not a complete listing
of all articles, nor does it include radio spots or out-of-state coverage.
- Agriview: “Energy tax might be good for farming” “Why
would I want to plant winter wheat?”
- American Farm Bureau Federation Web Site “Story of the Day”:
“Diversifying equals profit for America’s farmers”
- The Beacon “What is Happening to Walworth County’s Farm:
Focus switches from Farming to research at Lakeland Ag Complex.”
- The Country Today: “Diversifying rotations offers many benefits,
study finds”
- Crop Protection “Feeling their oats: Midwest growers take another
look at oats as a Manager: rotation crop”
- The Furrow: “Making a place for oats in cash crop rotations”
- Janesville Gazette: “Bringing Back Small Grains” “Can
systems research put small grains in big picture?” “Delavan
farmer tells how small grain helps” “County farm friends find
opportunity in challenge” “Facing farming on the urban fringe”
- NPM Fieldnotes: “A comeback for small grains?”
- Innovation News: “Reduced input, diversified systems”
- The Week “Research and education are what set Lakeland Ag Complex
apart from other farms”
Other
CROP workshops: The CROP spreadsheet, based
on WICST and related data, and developed as a whole farm decision-making
tool for farmers, began a new phase of development this year. A workshop
attended by a diverse group of 30 (including producers, crop consultants,
NRCS, Extension, Land Conservation and co-op personnel) was trained in
its use and gave feedback on the functioning and usefulness of the program.
Most of the attendees expressed interest in the concept of the program
and could see its usefulness. One drawback that some of them experienced
was difficulty in getting up to speed in using the spreadsheet. The difficulty
stemmed from three sources: the complexity of the program, the fact that
the first CROP workshop was essentially a trial run, and the unfamiliarity
of thinking in terms of whole farm analysis. Several Extension and NRCS
participants are using the program and/or continuing to evaluate it, and
the CROP team is working to fine tune the program, the workshop, and the
instruction manual to better help future users.
Media Workshops: The WICST Communications
Coordinator received a grant from the WK Kellogg Foundation to offer media
training to representatives of sustainable agriculture groups nationwide.
Between August 1996 and March 1998 over 100 individuals were trained at
four workshops presented by the Safe Energy Communication Council. Some
trainees received intensive follow-up instruction at a Training of Trainers
workshop in April 1998. At the first four workshops, the Coordinator delivered
a keynote talk sharing lessons from WICST’s media successes and challenges.
The workshops were held as follows:
- 1996: August, Maryland
- 1997: February, Iowa
- 1998: February, New Mexico; March, Minnesota; April, Wisconsin (Training
of Trainers)
Friends of the Lakeland Agricultural Complex (FLAC):
Changes on the Walworth County Board posed some new challenges
and opportunities for WICST and FLAC. We continued to monitor the situation
and provide information about the County Farm and its activities, including
WICST, to key individuals on the County Board. WICST also worked with
FLAC to host the Harvest Taste of Walworth County, an educational event
on local agriculture for the general public.
Federal policy: We have continued to be
involved in discussions with ARS about the creation of the Integrated
Farming Systems Program, and to share WICST’s experience as a template
for the program. We have also been active in promoting (and protecting
from budget cuts) the Fund for Rural America, a federal competitive grants
program which awarded an offshoot of the WICST project (the Small Grains
Initiative) $420,000 in its first grant cycle.
Regional hypoxia initiative: WICST representative
John Hall has been deeply involved in discussions with a regional group
of agricultural, environmental and other organizations committed to addressing
the problem of hypoxia (the “dead zone”) in the Gulf of Mexico.
WICST has provided key information on a major issue confronting the group:
how to help farmers in the upper Midwest corn belt to reduce their reliance
on purchased nitrogen fertilizer. WICST data on soil nitrates under different
cropping systems, and the agronomic and economic feasibility of replacing
most purchased nitrogen with leguminous cover crops has been an important
input into the discussions about possible solutions.
Successes and satisfactions
A growing and diverse audience: There is
a growing demand for the information WICST can provide. Our cumulative
data on energy use, weeds and weed seeds, the “chem-lite” trials,
expanded rotations, and the economics of the cash grain systems give us
strong footing as we address some of the key challenges of agriculture
in the region. Several of our media articles have generated numerous calls
from producers asking to get on our mailing list. We are particularly
pleased that a wide spectrum of producers, from conventional to organic,
find our information and perspective helpful. Our articles have been reprinted
on the American Farm Bureau Federation’s web page as the story of
the day, and on the front page of The Organic Broadcaster, the newsletter
of the upper Midwest Organic Crop Improvement Association. They have appeared
as well in numerous other newsletters and in local and regional agricultural
publications.
New collaborations and partnerships: The
past year has spawned some new collaboration and closer ties with other
projects. We are pleased that individuals from the Nutrient and Pest Management
Program have attended several of our events, offered to spread the word
on the Small Grains Initiative, and requested that WICST’s Jim Stute
speak on cover crops at their events. We are also pleased at the usefulness
of WICST’s data in the hypoxia initiative. We are particularly heartened
by the strong, collaborative team that has formed to promote the production,
processing and marketing of small grains in the upper Midwest through
the Small Grains Initiative. This project builds closely on WICST’s
experience with a low-input, diversified cash grain rotation (corn-soybeans-wheat/red
clover), and has spawned numerous new partnerships, audiences, and venues
for promoting the concept of expanded rotations.
Unified voice: The diversity of the WICST
team has always been a strength. In the past it has also been a source
of frustration as we tried to iron out differences and agree on what the
WICST data permitted us to say. In the last 1-2 years, we have come to
speak with increasing unity. Despite our significant differences, we are
in large part able to agree on what the data mean, what is important for
farmers and policy makers to hear from us, and what language to use to
convey our messages.
Media workshops: Several of the media workshops
were oversubscribed, and the evaluations have been highly enthusiastic.
WICST has achieved a higher profile nationally, and is often cited as
an example of a project that has made creative use of the mass media for
getting its messages out. We are pleased that through the media workshops
we have helped boost the sustainable agriculture movement on a national
scale.
Challenges
Resource constraints: Because of restrictions
on the use of ARS funds (as well as very limited funds), WICST has a very
small budget for communications activities at this point. Furthermore,
the Coordinator is able to work only limited hours. This means that we
are unable to push our agenda forward as aggressively as we would like.
Most of the Coordinator’s effort goes into the newsletter, occasional
short publications and reports, and responding to information requests.
Other members of the WICST team organize and participate in a variety
of outreach events. Data analysis: For various reasons, the data on the
three forage rotations has still not been completely analyzed, so we have
been unable to include a discussion of these systems in our communications
activities. Half of the project is thus largely unknown to the public,
and only incompletely processed by the WICST team.
Difficult messages: There are some aspects
of WICST and the Small Grains Initiative that are difficult to communicate.
Evaluations of our “How to Grow 100 Bushel Oats” workshop indicated
uneven success in communicating the advantages of cover crops, in particular.
The “systems thinking” message has done well in some ways with
some audiences. Producers attending the event ranked the “rotation
effect” high as a reason to include small grains in a corn-soybean
rotation. However, they still compare the price of the small grain with
the price of corn and beans and find it unattractive. They rarely seem
to use “systems thinking” when doing the economic analysis of
an expanded rotation. (We seem to have hit a responsive chord on this
issue with our spring 1998 newsletter article on the economics of expanded
rotations, however.)
End notes
1. WICST Communications Coordinator. Email: katgriffith@hotmail.com
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