SARE 1999 Highlights

Satellite Broadcast Blankets the West with Composting Information

Responding to demand from agricultural educators who were fielding more questions about composting from farmers and ranchers, a group representing nine Western states and two Canadian provinces created a varied satellite program - with a local touch. Composting photo by Bob Rynk, Studio photo by Barbara Smith

Agricultural professionals throughout the West seeking to respond to increasing interest in composting received fresh information through a series of SARE-sponsored satellite workshops and other educational products. University of Idaho educators led a diverse project group of professionals from nine states and two Canadian provinces that filmed farmers and ranchers composting or using compost successfully. Using those examples, the project team created two, two-hour programs and broadcast them via satellite to more than 40 locations. The large scale of the project did not neglect the local nature of agriculture. On-site facilitators created tie-ins to local issues and distributed notebooks of relevant composting resources. Project leaders estimate they reached about 600 people in each workshop of the multi-state, multi-site professional development project, including extension educators, conservation agency professionals and producers. The project team also established a regional agricultural composting newsletter and will offer a college-level composting course via the Internet. View project information at http://www2.aste.usu.edu/compost/ [For more information about this Western Region project, go to www.sare.org/projects/ and search for EW97-012.]

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