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3. 2022 Extension Risk Management Education National Conference

Engaging Your Community to Strengthen Farm and Farm Family Resilience

Maria Pippidis, Jesse Ketterman, Laurie Wolinski, Bonnie Braun, Georgie Cartanza, Jenn Volk, and Shannon Dill

Summary

Often our risk management approaches focus on the individual operator or farm, the farm workers and farm families. And yet, we know it takes a village to build resilient farms, farm families and communities. How do you engage community members in a way that builds understanding and engages action? Don't public issues, such as disruptions in the food system or the linkages between health and farm vitality, need an engaged public to find solutions?

Cooperative Extension is well positioned to bring members of communities together to explore public issues. This session will share how community forums were used to increase understanding of issues and identify actions! Participants will learn what a forum can be, its value in engaging the community to make change and become acquainted with the new How to Hold a Community-Issue-Focused Forum eFieldbook. The presentation team will also share examples and learnings from forums held in 2018-19 (face-to-face) in Delaware, Maryland, and Ohio and in 2021 (online) across the Delaware-Maryland Eastern Shore.

Details

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