Publications KSA-Series Paper4
ENHANCING SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE THROUGH FARMER
GROUPS:
THE EXPERIENCE OF THE KANSAS
HEARTLAND SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE NETWORK
Jerry Jost, David Norman, and Stan Freyenberger
KANSAS SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE SERIES, PAPER # 4
ABSTRACT
This paper reports the experiences of the Heartland Sustainable Agriculture Network with respect to farmer clusters or groups and concludes they have been positive. The paper includes statements from farmers and others and indicates that they can potentially be a very powerful vehicle for facilitating sustainable agriculture since they empower farmers and encourage interactive dialogue both amongst farmers themselves and with outsiders.
(Contribution No. 97-160-D from the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station. Jerry Jost is Coordinator of the Heartland Project, Kansas Rural Center, Whiting, Kansas 66552 and David Norman and Stan Freyenberger are Professor and Research Assistant respectively in the Department of Agricultural Economics, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas, 66506.)
CONTENTS
Background
Rationale
Group Formation- The Approach Used in the Heartland Sustainable Agriculture Network
- Factors Critical to Successful Group FormationDay-to-Day Operation of Farmer Groups
Sustainability of Farmer Clusters
Conclusion
References
BOXES
Box 1: Farmer Groups Provide Mutual Support
Box 2: Outsiders Benefit from Dealing with Farmer Groups
Box 3: Sharing Information Accelerates the Learning Curve
Box 4: Collective Marketing Helps Farmers
Box 5: Need for Systems Thinking, Not Just Recipes
Box 6: Group Learning Can Facilitate Group Action
Box 7: Farmer Groups Can Influence the Agricultural Research Agendas of Land Grant Universities
Box 8: Farmer Groups and External Linkages Are Potentially the Keys to Survival
Box 9: Work Sharing Builds Group Participation and Trust
Box 10: Find Appropriate Roles for Farmer Group Members
Box 11: Self and Group Awareness Exercises Can Enhance Leadership Development
Box 12: Different Challenges Can Develop Leadership Qualities
Box 13: Leadership Can Benefit from Transparency
Box 14: Members of Groups Are Important in Providing Support for the Leadership
Box 15: Interaction Between Farmer Groups Helps Information Exchange
Box 16: Network Meetings Can Build Bridges with Outsiders
Box 17: External Funding Can Facilitate Externally Farmer Group Formation
Box 18: Whole-farm Planning Is a Shared Vision in Many Heartland Clusters
Box 19: Ensure Transparency in Communication Within Farmer Clusters
In recent years, farmer groups have become very popular in agricultural related activities in both low and high income countries. These have been both formal (e.g., cooperatives) and informal in nature. Many factors have motivated the formation of groups, including an efficient means for transmitting information (e.g., extension); sharing information (e.g., study circles, focus groups); identifying and evaluating relevant technologies; improving on-farm/off-farm linkages (e.g., particularly providing credit, purchasing inputs, and marketing of products); and encouraging empowerment of farmers (e.g., influencing research agendas).
The Heartland Sustainable Agriculture Network that was launched three years ago empowers farmers and rural communities to develop and practice integrated farming systems that effectively balance farm profit with resource conservation, using an operational mode that encourages two-way interaction between farmers and others representing agricultural institutions. The Heartland Sustainable Agriculture Network identified 13 communities to host clusters of innovative farm and ranch families committed to the investigation and adoption of sustainable farming systems. These clusters are developing community-based approaches to overcome their barriers to sustainable agriculture by sharing experiences and engaging in mutually beneficial joint activities that enhance quality of life, including assurance of adequate income.
As a result of our experiences with the farmer groups or clusters both in the Heartland Sustainable Agricultural Network and elsewhere, we are convinced that they provide a valuable mechanism for dealing with the very complex issues relating to sustainability. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to summarize these experiences, so that they can be taken into account in using farmer clusters in future initiatives relating to sustainable agriculture in Kansas and elsewhere. To accomplish this, the paper is divided to into a number of sections. The first expands on the rationale for having farmer groups or clusters, the second relates to their formation, the third deals with operational issues, and last section considers matters relating to their sustainability. To illustrate some of the major points, anecdotal information from various sources, but especially farmers, is given in a box format.
Successful groups build mutual empowerment. Five very important reasons for encouraging the formation of farmer groups that are not necessarily specific to sustainable agriculture are the following:
Box 1: Farmer Groups Provide Mutual Support "The only way I'd try management intensive grazing was if I could talk these guys (other cluster members) into trying it too. If he only lives three or four miles from me and I could see he was on the right track, I could ask 'When did you plant that? What was the seeding rate?' I could feel more confident it would work on my farm since it was close. But if it was in Oklahoma, it would still be quite a gamble." Steve Suther, Four Seasons Cluster |
Box
2:
Outsiders Benefit from Dealing with Farmer Groups Working with clusters of farmers is much more effective than working with single farmers in multiplying the impact of the Kansas Rural Centers (KRCs) initiatives. Consequently, the KRC has reoriented its program initiatives to working within a farmer group context under the auspices of the Heartland Network. Kansas Rural Center |
Box
3:
Sharing Information Accelerates the Learning Curve "Our cluster for me has accelerated the learning curve by years through learning shared by several people." Scott Nichols, Smoky Hills Cluster |
Box
4:
Collective Marketing Helps Farmers One Heartland cluster, Rolling Prairie Alliance, over the past two years has developed a subscription fresh-produce service with eight growers and 300 weekly customers. Before the Heartland Project, these eight growers knew each other but didnt share any business. After the first focus group discussion, this group decided to share a subscription market. Their growth of sales is shown in Table 1. They work with a local food co-op with recipes, sample meals, and nutritional education. Sales in the co-op also increased as a result of this weekly partnership by an estimated $1,000 on the day of the farmer deliveries. The co-op manager commented: "The Mercantile store comes alive with the farmers, with everyone feeling good." This co-op has been very popular with the media, with coverage in six different newspapers and on a Kansas City television station.
Another Heartland cluster, the Kansas Organic Producers, is a marketing cooperative that collectively brokers organic grain to both domestic and Japanese buyers. These farmers cooperatively determine prices, clean seed, send test samples, coordinate storage, and transport their grain. Aware that sales to Asia arent sustainable over the long term, they are exploring buying a small grain processor to diversify their marketing. Contacts and sales to different buyers have strengthened their marketing (Table 2). Although soybeans have dominated their sales, they are slowly diversifying to include corn, oats, red clover, alfalfa, and hairy vetch. Plans are underway to branch out to meat marketing. New computers and skills now increase management effectiveness. They have applied for grant support from the Kansas Value-Added Center and the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program to expand their marketing ability. The cluster coordinator concludes: "I continue to be impressed with how cooperation in farm marketing and production creates opportunities that otherwise would be unavailable." |
Box
5: Need
for Systems Thinking, Not Just Recipes "We need to stop expecting easy answers but rather ask system questions." Darrel Parks, Kaw Valley Cluster. "A neighbor quizzed me wanting a cookbook answer. I dont have one. I only listed options. I think he was frustrated." Calvin Carlson, Smoky Hills Cluster Example of dialogue between two farmers: "Calvin introduced me to the idea of management intensive grazing (MIG). When I started asking questions of him, he didnt have a whole lot of answers for me. He pointed me to reading materials and people he had been talking to and said I would have to do my homework myself." Calvin Carlson, Smoky Hills Cluster "Bruce wanted answers, and I didnt have answers for him. People often want answers and there are no pat answers. They have to dig in and do the homework themselves. But it is different from conventional farming because there are no recipes. Every farm will be different and there is so much variation. This is one area that creates frustration in people." Bruce Spare, Smoky Hills Cluster |
Thus, the benefits of forming farmer groups or clusters are many. Indeed they are even greater than the discussion above would suggest. This is because the benefits given are not necessarily mutually exclusive and, in fact, can reinforce each other through interaction. Cooperative learning about better or new ways of management can become a tool for empowerment, for example, in collective action (Box 6). Also, outside institutions (e.g., research organizations) see greater benefits and efficiencies in cooperative activities with groups of farmers, while at the same time, farmers can influence the activities of such organizations to some extent (Box 7). Thus, groups of farmers also have greater leverage than individuals in influencing or encouraging institutional change. The key to facilitating this change is in bringing the different stakeholders together in a collegiate operational mode. Constructive interaction between the stakeholders can be mutually beneficial (Box 8).
Box
6: Group
Learning Can Facilitate Group Action Tallgrass Prairie Producers, a Heartland cooperative, working with the Kansas Value Added-Center, the Small Business Development Center, and the KSU Department of Animal Sciences and Industry is developing a processing, marketing, and distribution system for beef products from grain-fed cattle. This cooperative of nine Flint Hill ranchers participated in group-building sessions, developed a group decision-making process, constructed a strategic business plan, and set up an effective committee system. Market research tools have included two focus groups, a marketing survey, several taste tests, a card-sort survey, carcass analysis, and a literature review. Three public tastings, five newspaper articles, a TV story, a tour with the Society for Range Management, and a conference on farmer cooperative marketing advanced their public visibility. Tallgrass has a federal label and is developing certification for their claims of grass-finished, hormone- and antibiotic-free, and family ranch production. They sell products to a hospital, restaurant, and a food retail cooperative and boxed beef directly to customers. During the first 6 months of being officially in business together, they sold their first 29 head through the Tallgrass Cooperative and have a goal of selling 200 head by the end of the year (1996). Ranchers summarize their cluster experience as follows: "I have been cautious about what we have been trying to do until last weekend at my 25-year reunion at Texas Christian University. I was talking to one of my old professors and he told me we were on the future cutting edge. Now I am ready to go ... Developing our co-op needs to be seen as a part of ranch work ... The strength of Tallgrass is all of us doing this together, sharing skills, and a producing a product that appeals to the market ... Twenty-five years ago I was in a radio interview, and I said the future of agriculture is in marketing. Twenty-five years later I am finally here." Tallgrass Prairie Producers |
Box
7:
Farmer Groups Can Influence the Agricultural Research
Agendas of Land Grant Universities The Green Hills Project has influenced the University of Missouris Forage Systems Research Center to investigate pasture finishing of beef cattle. The station superintendent remarked to Trico Graziers, another Heartland cluster: "The Green Hills Project, which is similar to your cluster, is responsible for getting this research started. We had meetings and worked pretty closely together, and they were talking about pasture finishing and marketing. And that really is what got me interested in it. I began to realize that was a need. It was appropriate, and so that is how we got into it." Station Superintendent, Forage Systems Research Center, University of Missouri Two Heartland Project clusters have linked up with two KSU Research Centers to conduct complementary on-farm and on-station cover crop research. These links at the local level are shaping institutional change and enabled SARE (Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education) program funding to be obtained. The coordinator of one of the collaborating clusters has commented as follows: "One thing I really appreciate about our cluster is even though we are spread out over a five county area, we all share an interest in cover crops. All the farmers bring a different experience with a special interest that they focus on. A lot of things that probably wouldnt work on an experiment field may work when a farmer gets to looking at it and tries to fine-tune it. That is where farmers with their inventiveness and creativeness have a lot to offer to research stations. One of the things that has been exciting for me is this cooperative effort with KSU with these on-farm and on-station trials with hairy vetch and winter peas. Those groups have a lot to contribute to each other. Farmers do a lot of tweaking of the system. They play with seeding rates and tillage and with a lot of things that a true researcher has trouble manipulating. This is because the researcher sets up his experiment in advance, and it is hard to change in midstream, whereas the farmer is less concerned about standard deviation and coefficients of variation. Farmers are concerned with what they see. Ninety percent of the field may be a failure, but they see one part of the field where something has worked. They are able to key off that, and the next year they are hopefully able to get it to work. So I see this as a really healthy mix when farmers and researchers can work together, because the researchers can get hard data on some of the farmer ideas. These hard figures are useful to help persuade some of our more conventional neighbors who may think we are doing voodoo agriculture." Russ Toevs, Covered Acres In the 1940s and 1950s, the Extension Service sponsored corn and beef improvement clubs. These clubs effectively helped spread postwar agricultural technologies throughout rural America. The Alternative Energy Resources Organization in Montana began "farm improvement clubs" in 1990. A minimum of four farmers can receive up to $800 to make sustainable changes on their farms. As these clubs developed an interest in cereal-legume rotations, they found Montana State University more responsive to conducting research on these rotations. [Matheson, 1993] |
Box
8:
Farmer Groups and External Linkages Are Potentially the
Keys to Survival A new partnership within the Heartland Network is an agribusiness co-op that helped organize a new grazing cluster, the Flint Hills Grazers. A sales representative for the co-op explained why he was helping organize their farmer members: "These dairy farmers will have to either make changes, or they will be out of business in five years. Thats why were working with starting a grazing group. Farmers are necessary for the co-op to survive." Sales Representative, Agribusiness Cooperative |
The Approach Used in the Heartland Sustainable Agriculture Network
Over a period of a decade, the KRC established relationships with farmers and Kansas State University (KSU) on sustainable agriculture with on-farm trials and education. In 1992 as a result of receiving the Kellogg Foundation IFS (Integrated Farming Systems) Grant for the formation of the Heartland Project, the KRC with the help of a local farmer, recruited interested farmers to participate in a focus group discussion. The KRC contacted 22 farmers about being local organizers for a focus group discussion concerning the Heartland Sustainable Agriculture Network. Focus group discussions were held with 13 different farming communities. Two other communities were approached through a short presentation with a question and answer session. A set of questions presented to the farmers focused on farm goals, barriers, attitudes toward sustainable agriculture, and potential cooperative solutions. Participating farmers were rewarded for participation with a meal and a book or magazine of their choice on alternative farming practices. Participants were offered an opportunity to organize themselves into a cluster to apply for a Heartland Project grant over a 3-year period. Clusters developed their own decision-making process, goals, membership, work plans, and budgets. In all, KRC participated in 43 meetings, with a combined attendance of 450 people, that encouraged the development of cluster grant proposals.
Sixteen clusters presented written grant proposals to the Heartland Initiation Team composed of farmers and KRC and KSU representatives. One or two representatives from each of these clusters also gave a 5-minute oral presentation to all the cluster representatives and the Heartland Initiation Team. The team then interviewed each cluster privately concerning their proposals. The Heartland Initiation Team spent several hours over the next 2 days in making the final selection of 12 clusters. Based on the strong presentations and the larger than anticipated interest, the KRC revised its original budget to reallocate more program dollars directly to clusters.
The clusters chose one of its members to be the coordinator who organized meetings, preformed treasurer duties, kept records, and coordinated activities. In 8 of the clusters, this farmer was paid to carry out these functions. Three clusters have outgrown their collective purpose and have disbanded. Two new clusters have emerged and also have been supported.
The individual farmer clusters have been melded into the Heartland Sustainable Agriculture Network. A number of initiatives have been used to facilitate this bonding. These include the following:
Factors Critical to Successful Group Formation
Experience within the Heartland Project and experiences elsewhere [for example, see Groverman, Cook and Thomas, 1994] have convinced us that a number of critical determinants underlie the successful formation of groups. Four of the major ones are as follows:
Box
9: Work
Sharing Builds Group Participation and Trust During the last year, five farm families in the Green Hills cluster worked together to home-process 3,000 broilers. They also laid water lines and repaired the storm-damaged barn at the University of Missouris research station. The Resourceful Farmers cluster also focused on cooperative chicken processing. Their coordinator stated: "Spending several mornings together working and enjoying each others company is important. I remember a particularly beautiful day last October ... I couldnt think of a more beautiful day." The Rolling Prairie cluster builds common identity through their weekly deliveries, and the Kansas Organic Producers share work of cleaning seed, transportation, and fixing up a small processor that they are considering purchasing. |
Box
10: Find
Appropriate Roles for Farmer Group Members The Rolling Prairie cluster uses its more extroverted members in dealing with the public, a math-minded member to be the accountant, a respected grower to monitor quality control, a former chef to sell excess produce to restaurants, and a member with years of military experience to coordinate production. A fair proportion of farmers dislike book work. Consequently, expecting them to handle paperwork is unlikely to be acceptable, but they may be able to make good public presentations. Alternatively, some farmers dislike public speaking roles but are very much at ease in roles that coordinate work days, transportation, or tables and chairs. |
Box
11: Self
and Group Awareness Exercises Can Enhance Leadership
Development The Tallgrass Prairie Producers cluster used a DiSC Personal Development Profile and a CARE Profile as tools to identify how individuals fit together in an effective business team. The cluster coordinator reflected: "One great session involved a personality analysis exercise where we learned how we tend to function in a group. We learned that people have very different roles in a group. And instead of being upset that everyone is not like us, we can be reassured that these different personalities complement each other and give the group strength. For example, I tested out to be an objective thinker described as restrained, logical, calculating, and precise, whose goals are correctness and accuracy. Another member in our group tested as a promoter, who is described as enthusiastic, sociable, entertaining and spontaneous, and whose goals are approval and popularity. No, I dont think these tests are foolproof. But I know in many ways, this fellow and I are opposites. Sometimes his lack of organization drives me crazy. But guess what? When we had our first promotional activity, we needed someone to go out in the crowd and draw in people. And who do you think was good at it? I was petrified and begged to come in as quickly as possible. I couldnt do it. He went out and stayed out all day. He just loved it, and people loved him. He was a wonderful asset to the group. Everyone is going to have their strengths. When you are forming a group and thinking about bringing people in, think of all the different levels of strengths and assets that they can bring to the group." Annie Wilson, Tallgrass Prairie Producers Cluster |
Box
12:
Different Challenges Can Develop Leadership Qualities The Kaw Valley cluster coordinator, Darrell Parks, agreed to spend two days last summer traveling with three professional people from the Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture to meet the Kansas media and discuss the new farm bill. He later said: "I was not really comfortable to begin with doing it or even agreeing to do it. Actually, I was extremely nervous at first, but it got easier. I never got completely comfortable, but I did feel I made progress ... It was a crazy couple of days. As chairman of the KRC, I felt I had a responsibility to be a spokesperson for the organization." He now feels it was a good learning experience, helped raise public awareness about policy issues, and gave him new confidence. |
Box
13:
Leadership Can Benefit from Transparency County Extension and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) agents visiting sustainable agriculture farms often view the farmers within the context of the outside social community. It is quite likely that such farmers will have established some sort of reputation from past interaction with those public agencies, civic and religious organizations, and other farmers. One farm family opened their financial books for the past few years and invited their farm accountant to comment on their transition. The books showed that during this transition, they had lost money for the first time, and the husband was forced to take an off-farm job. It was obvious that this was not easy for this farm couple to share, but they wanted to be fully honest with their visitors. This farm visit received the highest rating with respect to a training program that took place during those two days. It is likely that the favorable rating was based partially on the trust that is generated when people are willing to be honest and open even to the public and strangers. Jerry Jost, Kansas Rural Center |
Box
14:
Members of Groups Are Important in Providing Support for
the Leadership If leadership involves advocating something unconventional (e.g., sustainable agriculture), then it is important to have a supportive group. An unwritten rule of many rural communities is that behaving differently from the generally accepted norms isnt welcomed. The challenge is to provide a sense of belonging for individuals with imagination, innovation, and critical questions. One grazing cluster in their first focus group talked about the barrier of reactionary negativism within their community. The first meeting of mostly strangers resulted in a transition towards a group of friends. Cluster talk now occurs in the church lobby, parking lot, county extension office, and on each others farms. |
Box
15:
Interaction between Farmer Groups Helps Information
Exchange The Smoky Hills and Four Seasons clusters had a joint tour of the Hubbard ranch and after supper discussed topics of mutual interest. Conference calls between clusters have been used to resolve issues relating to the transition into new farming practices (e.g., management intensive grazing and pastured poultry). Conference calls also have been used to plan Heartland Sustainable Agriculture Network activities. During the next two years, the Heartland Network will use the conference call system to extend the direct marketing of farm products in the north central region of Kansas through a SARE grant. |
Box
16:
Network Meetings Can Build Bridges with Outsiders The annual Heartland Roundup is targeted to Heartland farmers but also attracts interested outsiders (e.g., KSU staff, conventional farmers). After one such meeting, a county agent stated: "Fantastic! Incredible! It really rejuvenated my emotional battery. I went back to the office the next week and wrote my newspaper column on creating a vision for your farm and setting goals. It was so good to spend an entire day with people who really cared about the land, quality of life, and their families." Also a farmer wrote the following lines: "It opened my eyes. My goals are changing ... Best of all was just talking to Heartland Sustainable Agriculture Network people and hearing their enthusiasm and success stories. No, best of all was having our conventional agricultural friends attend with us and listening to their positive feedback about it the whole way home! One was talking about the people he wants to bring back next year!" |
Another ingredient that can be important in the development of groups, especially if the initial impetus for their formation is external, is the provision of funds and organizing assistance. However, we are reluctant to conclude that group success is dependent on external funding. Regardless of the funding, the purpose of the group must be accountable to the needs and vision of the members. In the case of the Heartland Project, some external funding apparently was important in the initial stages (Box 17), because farmers did not initially appreciate the benefits resulting from forming groups.
Box
17:
External Funding Can Facilitate Externally Stimulated
Farmer Group Formation Individual clusters have received between $1,000 and $29,750 over a three-year period. Roughly 40% went to cluster coordinators, and 60% went for local cluster activities. Jerry Jost, Kansas Rural Center "The financial commitment with Kellogg so far is the backbone of the whole education system that will allow the clusters to educate a lot of people by doing rather than just talking about it." Steve Burr, Smoky Hills Cluster |
DAY-TO-DAY OPERATION OF FARMER GROUPS
A key precondition to successful day-to-day operation of farmer groups is ensuring that the issues relating to their formation, which were discussed earlier, are addressed satisfactorily. If this is done, then optimal performance of farmer groups is achieved through common understanding and needs, transparency, and accountability in daily operations. More specific issues relating to these are:
Box
18:
Whole-Farm Planning Is a Shared Vision in Many Heartland
Clusters In many clusters, whole-farm planning is viewed as a key to having successful farm families. Setting long- and short-term goals, establishing a shared decision-making process, and monitoring progress toward goals is viewed as important in ensuring successful management. Holistic Resource Management (HRM) is one popular tool used by clusters to develop these goals. The cluster model can provide a supportive atmosphere to "group test" ongoing individual management decisions, identify weak links, and suggest creative options. Ideally, this enhances creativity, accountability, and honesty, thus paving the way for wiser management decisions. Six clusters have sponsored HRM planning or training. The Green Hills cluster and the University of Missouris Forage Systems Research Center are jointly developing an HRM goal for one of the universitys demonstration farms. Farmers have stated that: "This training was helpful in looking at the entire farm including family and lifestyle. It was a major stepping stone to get more family involvement in the farm. When I make decisions, I use the testing guidelines so that I can know Im not kidding myself ... One thing I didnt realize at the time when I first started in the cluster was the potential value of HRM. What I gained out of the class I attended was that grazing was not the end. It was just one tool that makes a lot of sense. You have to change your whole way of thinking." |
Box
19:
Ensure Transparency in Communication within Farmer
Clusters One of the cluster coordinators in the Heartland Project wasnt familiar with the words sustainable agriculture until well into the project. He was attracted to the cluster because he was frustrated with what conventional agriculture was doing to family life, and he thought that management intensive grazing was a better alternative. A little less than 3 years later, he was talking to an annual conference of Kansas extension agents about how sustainable agriculture took shape on his farm, participating in a KSU focus group about indicators of sustainability, and hosting 40 KSU and NRCS agents on his farm and explaining this alternative agricultural practices. Practical benefits from change attracted this individual -- not any "popular appeal" relating to sustainability of agriculture. |
SUSTAINABILITY OF FARMER CLUSTERS
Many of the factors relating to the sustainability of farmer clusters relate back to issues discussed with respect to the formation of clusters and their day-to-day management. Without continuing satisfactory resolution of those issues, farmer clusters are unlikely to be sustainable in the long run. Three other critical factors influencing the sustainability of farmer clusters are the following:
Continued external funding is certainly helpful in keeping the momentum of clusters going. At the very least, this support should be used in organizing new groups and in helping the transfer of information between existing groups. However, sustainability of farmer groups remains dependent on leadership development, farmer empowerment, continuing perception of net benefits as far as members are concerned, and local control.
The experience of the Heartland Project with respect to farmer groups has been very positive, and we are convinced that they can play a critically important role in encouraging and nurturing the implementation of sustainable agriculture. In conclusion, this is because:
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