EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP IN IMPLEMENTING WISCONSIN’S AG PERFORMANCE STANDARDS

EVALUATION
As a result of a hands-on, on-farm field day hosted by Lincoln and Marathon County UW-Extension and Land Conservation Departments, twenty six Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Land Conservation Department (LCD), Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) and Natural Resources and Conservation Service (NRCS) staff significantly improved their knowledge and understanding of how to more uniformly assess the compliance of farms with the Agricultural Performance Standards established by state law in NR151. Although the law is fairly clear in terms of language the evaluation of whether or not a farm meets compliance standards is somewhat subjective.

This field day used educational techniques Extension has found very effective in helping participants comfortably and confidently interpret concepts and take appropriate action; techniques such as using real life scenarios and facilitated small group discussion. Comments from the workshop evaluation included: “I would like to see other types of standards done this way in the field instead of in a classroom”; “I would be very surprised if you didn’t expand this training opportunity statewide. Also, I think it was very important to have DNR/DATCP administrators present at all sessions to help answer questions and clarify code definitions and other code language”, “One of the most valuable training sessions I’ve been to in 10+ years of conservation employment”, “This was an excellent field day and it should be offered around the state, and even repeated in future years as more conservationists begin doing evaluations and tracking so we can continue to learn from each other.”

RESULTS
Based on the evaluation of this pilot workshop the Wisconsin Agricultural Performance Standards Information and Education Work Group, in which UW-Extension is an educational partner, is exploring planning similar events around Wisconsin in 2009. A breakout session titled “Learning from a NR151 Field Day and How to Plan One in Your Region” is set up for the 2009 Wisconsin Association of Land Conservation Employees Annual Conference and will be co-presented by Land Conservation, WDATCP and UW-Extension. This is an excellent example of how UW-Extension not only plays a key role in providing guidance in setting up objective standards for measuring the impact various farming activities may have on the environment, it also has an important role to play in helping those who need to implement those standards do a better job.

Tom Cadwallader, Agriculture Development Agent - 2008 Success Story

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