(Continued) How a Federally funded Library Services and Technology Act project on Sustainable Agriculture came to be

[Rebekah Tanner <foxgull@netscape.net>]

Mohawk Valley Library Association
Final Report
Resources for Economic Viability in Sustainable Agriculture
Project # 0070-990007

1. Describe the project's accomplishments in relation to its objectives and the target population.

The target audience for this project was the 926 small and family farmers in our largely rural, four county area, with special emphasis placed on the agricultural communities of western Montgomery County.

Through this project MVLA set out to develop two collections of library materials on Sustainable Agriculture at two of our member libraries: Fort Plain Free Library and the Margaret Reaney Memorial Library, both located in western Montgomery County. We expected to add a total of approximately 50 books, 10 magazine subscriptions, 4 newsletters, and 18 to 20 CD-ROM products. In actuality we purchased 289 books, pamphlets, manuals & booklets, 15 periodical & newsletter subscriptions and are receiving at no cost about 2 dozen more at each of the two libraries and the MVLA (about 75 total), 32 CD-ROM products and 58 videos. We anticipated that selections would vary depending on the needs of the farmers in each area. Selection also varied based on the perceived need by the librarians. (see: article in Connect which is herein attached).

We intended to create a Web site, linked from the MVLA home page. Our objective was to make 50 links to Internet resources including documents, listservs, and Usenet groups. We more than accomplished this, making over 150 links, a form for comments, information about the project and a calendar of upcoming events. The "Index" page is reproduced for inclusion herein, the full site can be found at: http://www.mvla.org/revsa/index.html. 

We wanted to experiment with an innovative and democratic forum for farmers to explore the economics of Sustainable Agriculture versus scale dependent technologies using a five-session Study Circle. We accomplished this in a timely fashion and had 13 participants at all but the final session, when there were 8. (By then plowing had begun and it was a day of glorious weather!) Two Study Circle co-leaders and two library staff were also participants in this successful venture.

We planned to hold four programs in participating libraries that discuss or demonstrate sustainable production methodologies. Because of group size, paint-jobs, etc., not all programs were held in-house. Community-based facilities, instead, were program venues on several occasions. At the kick-off event we had 28 in attendance. The final event was a trial for expanding our territory in a second year of the project. This took place at the farm of Shannon Hayes, one of the Study Circle co-leaders. This family farm, Sap Bush Hollow in Warnerville, Schoharie County successfully direct markets their pasture-fed livestock from their front porch, a perfect example of the potential for economic viability in Sustainable Agriculture. In between were two farmer-to farmer seminars, one on rotational grazing of dairy cattle, the other on the direct marketing of hogs. All four events were well received with a combined attendance of 45.

A special feature of this project was our desire to bring the library to the farmer and we did this by having demonstrations, via laptop computers, of the Web site and CD-ROM products on three days at the Fonda Fair and two days at the Central New York Farm Progress Show. We "burned" the whole MVLA REVSA Web site and several of the links onto a CD-ROM in case of telecommunications failure. This pre-planning proved essential because telephone connections were not available at either the Fair or the Farm Progress show. The program at Sap Bush Hollow Farm also included an electronic component. Through the Fair and Progress show we made contact with at least 1,200 individuals.

By going to where farmers are found it is certain we enhanced awareness of the role the library plays in the life of the community. It is the belief of this Project Director that such awareness can only continue to grow as we embark on the second year of the project.

The most challenging aspect of this project was our desire to develop lines of communication to and from the Amish community of Montgomery County. With the assistance of Bill Lamphere, one of the Study Circle co-leaders, flyers about the project and those events we felt were within respectful parameters for the Amish community were hand-delivered to several dozen individuals over the life of the project. No one obviously Amish attended any programs, but they may have numbered among the users of books, periodicals and other print materials. The most significant outcome of this outreach was a farm-tour at an Amish farm, funded through our primary partner: Regional Farm & Food Project. MVLA was a co-sponsor of this event, which 26 people attended, including Dawn Capece (Director, M. Reaney Memorial Library). Dawn had the chance to present information about our project on this occasion. It is our expectation that making what we are offering know to, and used by, this community will take much longer than one, or even two, years. We await that slowly building, but we expect, ultimately enduring relations to develop in the coming years.

We wanted to enhance the role the library plays in the life of the community. We used frequent mailings, press releases to the media (both local and agriculturally oriented) throughout the project, an appearance by the Project Director on the Regional Farm & Food Project's monthly radio broadcast and 12 radio spots on WBUG Utica during the week of the Farm Progress Show as well as the traditional "word of mouth" method to get information about our project to the widest audience possible and foster awareness.

2. If you were starting the project now, what would you do differently?

One of the things which, early on, seemed to be coming to a disappointing result was that the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Fulton & Montgomery Counties, which had expressed sufficient interest in this project that we included them in our proposal as a partnering organization, was not following through. Our initial contact with CCEFM was through their Financial Officer, Brian Haak, who, at the time we wrote our proposal, was a member of the Board of Trustees at M. Reaney Memorial Library. He spoke to Ed Winters, the Executive Director of CCEFM, and got approval to join MVLA in this project. By the time funds were approved, Brain was no longer on that Board. My attempts to get his cooperation or even communication went unmet. It was not until I attended an agriculturally oriented event not of our sponsorship in early spring that I met the Executive Director and found him surprised at his employee's behavior. By that point, much of the public programming had either taken place or was already planned and publicized so including CCEFM was not practical. Nevertheless, interest was obviously there and over the last half of the project, I received many helpful suggestions from Mr. Ed Winters and a promise for more direct participation if we received funding for a second year. If I had this project to do over, I would have spoken directly to him at the onset.

Our "learning curve" in this area, totally unexplored by MVLA in the past, was HUGE. If I were to do it all again, I would have begun everything earlier, maybe even before the funding commitments, to gain headway in this vast, uncharted, arena. If all things had begun sooner I might, for example, have learned about the existence of two individuals who played crucial roles in this project's success: Duane Dale who trained the Study Circle Co-Leaders & facilitated our "kick-off" event and Eric Toensmeier, Librarian, New England Small Farm Institute who did an in-service training for our librarians on the bibliography of Sustainable Agriculture. By being unaware of these two resource people, some grant funds had to be manipulated to cover the costs of their services.

3. Briefly summarize the quantitative evaluation results for this project noting to what extent you reached the target population. For all projects attach a list of the libraries hat participated.

Participating libraries:
Fort Plain Free Library, Fort Plain, New York
Margaret Reaney Memorial Library, St. Johnsville, New York

The first version of our Web site at: http://www.mvla.org/revsa/index.html was on the Internet and linked from our home page beginning in March 1999. It was expanded, overhauled, and widely publicized in late July. The site contains an Index, a link to the MVLA "Profile" which is part of our main site, and 8 content pages on Sustainable Agriculture. There is also a form for site visitors to use for making comments or suggesting additions to the site. From the site was posted in March through its revamping in July, statistics were only tracked for the Index. During that period, there were 101 "hits." Beginning on 20 July 1999, we switched to a counting devise which gives reports that are much more detailed and all pages are being tracked.  Excluding the "Profile" which is linked from a variety of places on our several sub-sites, the total number of "hits" in the 70 days from 20 July 1999 to 30 September 1999 was 767.

Total attendance at the nine formal public programs was 133; with an additional approximate 1,200 exposed to our materials at the Fonda fair and Central Farm Progress Show.

In the two libraries 159 reference questions were responded to and 59 new library cards were issued as a direct result of this project. Communication with local school districts, government offices, and churches resulted in 18 organizational contacts. A combined total of 394  items were added to the collections of these two libraries of which 105 items circulated and 12 went out via interlibrary loan.

In addition, the project director made three (3) presentations to interested organizations with a total of 54 in attendance and participated in one seminar hosted by the local Cooperative Extension. MVLA served as co-sponsor to five (5) events organized by our primary partner in this project, the Regional Farm & Food Project.

These efforts resulted in direct contact with at least 2,313 individuals, the majority of whom are farmers or professionals working in services related to agricultural production. Our population target for the project was 926. By any measure, the results of "Resources for Economic Viability in Sustainable Agriculture" exceeded all expectations.

4. For the qualitative evaluation results, please provide an analysis and interpretation in relation to user satisfaction and / or success.

Evaluation forms don't necessarily work with farmers! Often our qualitative evaluation came with the extra effort of follow up phone calls, and overwhelmingly the people we spoke with expressed a high level of satisfaction, were eager to offer  means to improve the project, and were excited that their libraries were involved in this work with the farming community.
Here is a summary of the written evaluations:

All evaluations of Eric Toensmeier workshop for librarians on "Reference Sources in Sustainable Agriculture" (14 January 1999, Fort Plain Free Library) were excellent. The two project librarians expressed, months later, the fact that without this introduction they could not have progressed successfully in the purchase of materials and both felt a similar workshop should be included if the project were funded for a second year.

Evaluations of Duane Dale's facilitated community discussion "What is the Future of Farming in New York State" (19 January 1999, St. Johnsville Community House) were generally very positive. The high level of interest demonstrated by the attendance (28) and in the evaluations indicate that such open forums for discussion at the local level is essential.

Evaluations of Duane Dale's "Study Circle Leadership Training" (20 January 1999, MVLA) were excellent. 

Evaluations for the five session Study Circle (alternate Fridays, 05 February through 02 April, 1999 Fort Plain Free Library & Margaret Reaney Memorial Library) were distributed with self-addressed stamped envelopes (to MVLA) at the last session and by mail to anyone absent. The return rate was slim and a second copy was re-mailed to all participants. Four evaluations came back from the total of 13 participants. Three of the four come from individuals indicating an agricultural occupation. Asked: "are there topics you would like to see covered in future programs -- not only Study Circles -- workshops, seminars, panel discussions? What type of setting do you think is best for the topics you would like programs on?" Two farmers spoke about the Study Circle format for the following:

"Labor and marketing"
"Circles made up of village and city residents along with people in agriculture, to promote better understanding among all." 

Larry Shearer's workshop "The Economics and Innovations of a successful 50-Cow Dairy Farm" (8 April 1999, Henry Hoag School, Fort Plain) was well attended and by all reports, a fascinating presentation. Due to the fact that it was so engrossing, Laura Flynn forgot to ask people to complete evaluations. Therefore, evaluations and a bibliography of related materials (prepared by Tracy Frisch, Regional Farm & Food Project) were mailed to participants. Eleven attendees returned evaluations, half of total present. Eight of the eleven indicated involvement in an agricultural profession. This sampling gives MVLA the best indication of future programs desired.

Topics mentioned by farmers included: 
"Greenhouses, whether they are worth it or not"
"Keeping up with environment issues relating to agriculture"
"Suburbia and its effects" 
"Same as this meeting"
"Ways to diversify -- other avenues farmers use to improve profits"
"Seminars of other grazers and seasonal dairies"
Non-farmers mentioned these topics:
"Hi-tech farming techniques -- dairy and food production processing"
"Ag futures & options"
"Technology upgrades"
As to format: given the choice of workshops, seminars and panel discussions, two (in addition to the one above) indicated seminars, one likes "lecture format, panel for like subjects" and one said "all 3 are good."
The attendance at Bruce Dickson's "Raising and Marketing Pastured Pork: A Farmer-to-Farmer Seminar" (15 April 1999, Margaret Reaney Memorial Library) was 10. Four evaluations were turned in, all favorable. Everyone said they would attend future programs and / or recommend someone else to attend. 

5. Please provide one or two anecdotes about how this library project affected people who received services.

These stand out among many:

19 January 1999: Kick-off night. Dawn Capece, the librarian with the most to either gain or lose from this whole deal writes of that night in her  journal book: " That which we talked about was becoming a reality and I was, I confess, sick with anxiety. Was this project going to be perceived as a feeble attempt to appease some disgruntled taxpayers, or could we really make a difference? About 15 minutes into the public discussion, it was apparent that this was one horse headed to the winners circle. A civil discussion, with give and take of exchanged ideas, set the tone for what would turn into a rather exciting positive adventure."

19 March 1999: The fourth of five Farmer-to-Farmer Study Circle sessions, the last one Melanie (a.k.a. "Tiny") Schuster will be attending. Tiny led the "tax revolt" in St. Johnsville which first brought into direct focus the desperation of farmers' economic plight and the total lack of services they were receiving from their local public libraries. But Tiny came and came and came. She was there on kick-off, she participated in Study Circle, she sat beside me at the meeting where I made the connection to Ed Winters, Executive Director of CCEFM. Tiny arrived at the M. Reaney Memorial Library that March afternoon with a hand-painted goblet, totally personalized to acknowledge the resume of one of the Study Circle co-leaders: Shannon Hayes. Tiny gave the work of her own hands, not unlike the work she does each day on her farm, as a "thank you." She then said to me: "I like what MVLA is doing here."

13 September 1999: It is late in the evening, the "Food for Thought" program had wound down at the Sap Bush Hollow Farm. I am invited by my hosts, Jim and Adele Hayes, to sit with them (on the very porch from which they market their livestock), with a couple of tired herding dogs resting at our feet, to visit with them for a while and have a beer. Need I say more?