Risks addressed: This project addressed problems of limited production diversity in many small farms in the Arkansas-Louisiana-Texas (ArkLaTex) region and aims to increase producer understanding of high dollar niche market opportunities, thus improving economic viability and reducing production risks related to uncertainties of weather and yield.
Methods: Provide hands-on demonstration workshops at producer farms on diversification, choosing alternative crops, permanent plantings, and specialty livestock. NCAT will develop a publication, videos, and podcasts that demonstrate practical techniques of diverse crop and livestock selection to expand farmer opportunities.
Target audience: Socially disadvantaged, beginning, and organic producers in the ArkLaTex region. We recruited a farmer-led steering committee to ensure that the curriculum aligns with farmer needs.
We did several on-farm workshops and presented at 4 regional conferences and extended our reach to 10 more local meetings. We made 5 podcasts and a video. Instead of a publication we made two blog posts on ATTRA.
We hoped to reach least 500 producers but our video views and podcasts totals were 1707. We had hoped to reach 120 workshop attendees but we reached 490 in total.