During 2014, AMMO continued to provide Eastern Washington farm families hands-on educational opportunities, to utilize a variety of risk management strategies focused on dealing with the increased volatility of input costs and grain prices. Topics included: DOT truck regulations; farm family communication & succession planning; marketing basics & strategies; farm records as management tools; business planning; and managing input costs. We provided program information through traditional workshops. 23 workshops were offered in Eastern Washington locations (7 varying locations), with which resulted in 226 total attendees. With the implementation of the 2014 Farm Bill, AMMO joined forces in December with WSU Extension and FSA to put on an additional 5 educational workshops, reaching over 500 growers.
AMMO faced scheduling challenges and less than expected attendance in early 2014, but through aggressive marketing and the high demand for farm bill education prior to program election deadlines, AMMO was very pleased with the joint effort and cooperation with WSU Extension and FSA.