This
project was designed to deliver free, in-person and online classes for
underserved farmers about developing risk management plans that address all risk areas and emphasize using insurance to manage risks.
We provided three learning tracks: (1) "core group" farmers from the three lower-shore counties who committed to attending a minimum of eight of the eleven originally planned in-person classes; (2) "non-core group" farmers from anywhere who
chose a risk management section or sections and committed to attending all of
the in-person classes within the section(s); and (3) online independent learning modules that include videos
of the classes, associated reading materials, and worksheets to develop a risk
management plan.
All core group farmers were to "graduate" with a 5-year risk
management plan, half to implement the crop insurance part of their plans five months after starting the classes, and 25% to implement one or more of any parts of
their plans 3-4 months after they "graduated." 25% of the non-core
group were to identify at least one affirmative risk-minimizing action
they took after completing each chosen course section. Ultimately, we held 10 and
videotaped 9 classes. We are creating the online modules now for
publication.