One of the clearest examples of a well-matched instructional strategy from the past year is the 2025 Cornell High-Cannabinoid Field Day, held September 10 at Cornell AgriTech in Geneva, New York. Roughly 100 people attended — consistent with 2024 participation — drawn by interactive workshops, live demonstrations, and panel discussions covering soil health, disease management, tissue culture, post-harvest practices, and NYS Office of Cannabis Management updates. The format worked because it met learners where they were: in person, alongside peers, moving through stations at their own pace, with immediate access to experts for questions. The $35 registration and DEC credits signaled professional value. Peer-based learning was built into the design, not added as an afterthought. For an audience of active growers and industry professionals, that structure was a strong match for the intended outcomes.

What that experience also revealed, however, is what a field day cannot do. It happens once a year. It reaches people already connected to Cornell and/or CCE networks. It cannot help a grower in Suffolk County who missed due to location, or a first-generation farmer who could not take a day off work, or someone who needs to revisit a soil test result three months after the event.

That gap is exactly what the work we are building toward this year is designed to fill. The nys-csativa.streamlit.app website — with its Soil Assessment, Economics, and Crop Overview tools — extends the instructional reach of the field day into a self-paced, always-available format. A grower who attended the September session on soil health can go home, upload their lab report to the Soil Assessment tool, and work through their fertility decisions using the same research-backed framework we discussed in person. Someone who never made it to Geneva can access the same content on their own timeline. The seven newsletters in the portfolio serve a similar function: a two-page printable resource a farmer can keep on the dashboard of their truck or share with a lender.

The implementation plan we developed this year formalizes this layered strategy. The field days remain the anchor — high-engagement, in-person, trust-building events that nothing digital can replicate. But they now feed into a persistent digital learning environment that keeps the conversation going. Needs assessment interviews beginning after the September 11 public launch will help us understand whether we are reaching the audiences who did not show up in Geneva, and what they would need from the tool to actually use it. That feedback loop — field day to digital tool to needs assessment to program refinement — is the instructional strategy I want to keep building toward.

I helped plan a program in collaboration with another non-profit organization called Soil Building Methods for Organic Growers based off feedback from an Ag Programing Committee in one of the counties I work in. The opportunity was short of last-minute, that only allowed a few weeks to identify and divvy up the topics for the program and promote the event. The program had 26 attendees with backgrounds that ranged from hobby gardeners, homesteaders, to small commercial you pick and farmers market operations. Up here in Northern New York, that is a pretty good turnout. Unfortunately, the weather was not suitable for outdoor instructional activities, so it turned into a presentation that encouraged audience participation. Everyone was interested in the topics which were broad and it became quickly evident that each topic could/ should have been its own program. Topics included soil testing and soil analysis interpretation, cover cropping, organic amendments, and composting. 

It was a great learning experience for me, helping me recognize that it is beneficial to make a compromise between the amount of material and the depth to which each topic is discussed (quantity vs quality). It was nice to talk with everyone during the break, giving me a better understanding of their individual interests and the community as a whole. From a half full glass perspective, the shortcomings of the event are disguised opportunities for more programing in the area. Outdoor instructional and observational activities would certainly improve the delivery of information and learning experience for the participants, leading to better outcomes.

- Last year I planned and implemented two blueberry pruning workshops. One was for county-based farmers and open to everyone, and the other was a bilingual workshop for a particular farm. Hands-on instructional activities were a good match because growers could carry out lecture-based pruning, as well as ask questions and work in groups.

- I think hands-on or guidance-based activities will help move my project forward; the long term goal over all is to have growing degree days for berry crops that will inform growers when to be on the look out for pests, activities, etc. So, providing this guidance will help them make these decisions when it can seem hard to do so. Additionally, this will help specialists make the best recommendations based on the season.

- Growers use GDDs to inform them about tasks for tree fruit and field crops, and it has been asked of me about GDDs when it comes to berry pests. So, I could send out survey asking if they would find this helpful. Talking to the Northeast Berry Call specialists, they overall thought this would be helpful for research, production, and general recommendations.

- When things start to unravel, it will be helpful to talk about Berry Growing Degree Days at conferences and in twilight meetings. Growers already have GDDs for other crops, and I think would be happy to have another tool in the toolbelt for pests and production tasks. In person events where this is discussed and feedback is asked for sparks good conversation and gives us good insight.

I have planned and delivered the following programs in the last year:
Watershed conservation lesson series in HS conservation classrooms, including water quality, stream macroinvertebrates, and fin fish aquaculture
Brooke meets a stream doctor positive youth development program (3rd-6th grade)
Take a Hike Program - connecting community members with natural resources areas and CCE
Tree planting program workshop
Invasive Species ID and Reporting workshop and presentations
Co Planned and Delivered:
BioBlitz with State Parks
Fall into Fishing with State Parks - an event that provided hands on academic and recreation experiences around aquatic ecology topics to high school students, home school students, and the general public.

Most of the instructional activities fit the outcomes of each program pretty well, but the planning and coming up with a consistent foundation for delivery is challenging.

Pivoting or adjusting the parts of the plan that didn't work well or removing them would be the strategy I would use to move closer to my program outcomes.

Having info sessions or advertising early/in person have been great for feedback opportunities. I think assessing needs in registration surveys. For reoccurring programs, adjusting my delivery to meet different learning styles, or surveying preferred learning styles of my target audience is important for engaging and motivating learning.

Program dependent, I always try to talk less and have the audience do more. Some of my programs are all action with information mixed in while others require up front systems information delivery. Trying to apply the appropriate amount of up-front information based on the audience is something that I am working on improving. With the internet in the palms of our hands, I usually start by sharing meaningful resources up front and then try to make in person activity engaging and hands on. This helps with getting the audience invested in the process.

What learning strategies might you add to your programs and activities to help your learners to be engaged, learn, and want to come back?
This question is precisely why I want to partner our nutrition education program with gardening opportunities! I've worked in Rockland County for over 5 years now with SNAP-ED, and getting folks to consistently show up to nutrition education lessons is HARD! I understand that not every person is a huge nutrition/public health nerd like I am, so I wanted to find something both practical and enjoyable to tie in. With the huge interest in gardening my population has shown, I felt like this was a natural progression. Our MG program in Rockland already works with Meals on Wheels, but as a therapeutic horticulture program, and I thought: why not go one step farther and have them grow something edible? It seems like a way to make nutrition education more accessible and interesting by tying in an expressed interest that could potentially improve food resource management and (farther down the line) food insecurity.

I've struggled a bit with this question as in my role I don't plan and deliver programs, but instead develop, manage, and support PSE/systems change initiatives (which may include workshops as a direct education/program component). I've take some liberties with responses using this lens.

I find it always helpful to learn what has worked well and what hasn't, to avoid reinventing the wheel and build on past good work! I've learned a lot from colleagues' strategies to engage/reengage partners in FVRx and other Food as Medicine interventions. 

I can continue to build relationships with our partners; this is time intensive but critical. This may include ongoing activities such as continuing to send quarterly FVRx referral progress to each referring site, but could be bolstered with tailored outreach and/or a quarterly call to walk through opportunities to increase participant enrollment and completion once the referral is sent, further building buy-in of our partners and learning more about their patient/client unique needs.

At this point in my position, which I have been in for less than a year, I have collaborated on several programs and contributed to the development of business-related educational content. Many of the Farm Business Management needs I see come from new and beginning farmers or from farmers who are looking to expand their operations and need information on financing, business planning, and growth opportunities.

Reviewing previous programs has helped me see the importance of developing programs that meet farmers where they are in their business journey. I have found that larger, more established operations often have consistent financial structures in place, unless they are facing major transitions such as succession planning or business transfer decisions. In contrast, newer and growing operations often have more immediate educational needs and are actively seeking information and resources.

One strategy that I have seen work well is creating programs that address a specific need while also opening the door for additional one-on-one support. For example, if a landowner wants to lease their land, I can provide educational information and tools through an Ag Leases 101 program. Participants can learn about lease considerations, available resources, and best practices during the workshop, and then follow up individually for assistance specific to their situation. I think this approach helps participants gain knowledge while also strengthening Extension's ability to provide ongoing support beyond the program itself.