Conferences
Adapting the highly successful Annie´s Project to diverse east coast farm comunities.
John Berry
Summary
PA- Annie´s Project
Different, helpful, and inclusive are all fitting adjectives describing Annie’s Project. Originally developed by University of Illinois to assist mid-west farm women, the reach of this curriculum was broadened when a team of Penn State Educators adapted the materials to more closely fit the needs of Northeastern and Mid Atlantic farmers. PA-Annie’s Project introduces a set of tools and strategies that can be used to proactively lessen the effects of risk on farms and enhance female farmer capacity to make critical decisions that are right for their respective farms.
The program includes a lot of hands-on activities and storytelling, as opposed to other programs, which may depend largely on lecture. In this way, it creates the desired student-helping-student environment. One of the most important outcomes of this program is the women’s realization that taking risks is not always a bad thing. If the research is conducted, and the tools selected are managed effectively, positive growth and diversification can occur. From the first week of this six-session workshop, PA-Annie’s Project focuses on being comfortable with taking certain risks. Throughout the sessions, each farmer is challenged to develop her own plan for growth and change, in order to manage their farms in a more confident way.
This session will describe this newest version of the historically successful Annie’s Project as the PA-Annie’s Project curriculum and support materials are now available for use by others.
Presentation Materials
Details
| Conference | 2010 National Women in Agriculture Educators Conference |
| Presentation Type | 60-Minute Concurrent |