Farm Communication Coaching utilized an evidence-based curriculum to assist farmers in a process to increase communication skills to mitigate human risk. Expanding on the 2018 pilot project, risk areas of production, marketing, financial, and legal were addressed through the entry point of human risk and the application of skills to enhance farm communication.
Program delivery included:
1) Online workshops for farmers in Maine, and online webinars for service providers in the Northeast
to increase knowledge, develop personal farm-communication goals, and identify strategies (65 farmers, 23 service providers).
2) Enrolled 12 Maine farm teams. Meetings were held on-farm when permitted with COVID restrictions, and more commonly held using videoconference technology to support health and safety of farm teams and coaches. Four, 2-hour meetings with two coaches were held over one or two growing seasons, based on preference of farm. Typically two to four team members attended from each farm, for a total of 28 farm participants.
Farmers: completed personalized needs assessments through a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Challenges (SWOC) group exercise, applied skills and developed farm communication plans to address individualized goals.
Service Providers: learned about the farm coaching model, received farm coaching guide and invited to partner for future training/programming