Project Overview
As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded, the critical role of resilient local farms and networks became clear. Consumer demand for local food rose fast when meat and early-season produce stocks dwindled. This pandemic presented unprecedented challenges and opportunities for farmers, especially small, beginning, diversified, and socially disadvantaged producers who do not typically engage with crop insurance. As a result, these farmers suddenly expressed great interest in risk management education, which we worked hard to satisfy with a nearly two-year suite of programming, including a total of 12 webinars and workshops and 12 conference sessions to help farmers manage marketing, financial, and human risk during this crisis. Part of our long-term strategy for delivering successful programs included improving our capacity to store and track risk management data gleaned from our program registrations, surveys, and interviews, and using this data to better tailor our programming and outreach, evaluate our impact, distribute data-based products like farmer directories, and contribute to greater understanding of risk management strategies and adoption in the Chesapeake region. Thus, we purchased a new database platform that now houses data for 13,000 members including 800+ farmers in Maryland, West Virginia, Delaware, and the District of Columbia.
Number of Participants: 992
PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS
There are no promotional materials available for this project.
EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS
There are no educational materials available for this project.
REPORTS & EVALUATIONS
There are no reports or evaluations available for this project.