Farmer Educator Network

UC SAREP coordinates the Statewide Farmer Educator Network (FEN), a group of individuals and organizations that educate and support California farmers and ranchers.

The goal of FEN is to build communication, collaboration and information sharing between organizations — nonprofits, financial institutions, government agencies, UC Cooperative Extension — involved in beginning/small-scale farmer training, land access, marketing and business development, production, and other extension/support services across California.

Join the Farmer Educator Network

A group of people gathered outside at a Farmer Educator Network meeting.

Are you a California-based farmer educator, technical assistance provider, or extensionist? Are you interested in connecting, collaborating, and sharing knowledge with other farmer-serving organizations? We invite you to join FEN. The statewide, organic, and regional FENs are connected through listservs, where upcoming FEN meetings and relevant events, funding opportunities, and resources are shared.

California Statewide FEN

Brings together individuals and organizations from across California that serve farmers and ranchers. Facilitated by Alicia Baddorf: akbaddorf@ucanr.edu.

California Organic FEN (Statewide)

Focused on those providing technical assistance and extension to members of the organic sector. Facilitated by Katharina Ullmann: kullmann@ucanr.edu.

Sacramento/Yolo/Solano FEN

A group of technical assistance providers and farmer educators based in Sacramento, Yolo, and Solano counties that meet regularly to discuss common topics of interest and engage in co-learning. Facilitated by Alicia Baddorf: akbaddorf@ucanr.edu.

Central Coast FEN

A group of technical assistance providers and farmer educators based on the Central Coast that meet regularly to discuss common topics of interest and engage in co-learning. Facilitated by Claire Tuohey-Mote ctuoheymote@ucanr.edu.

Regional Farmer Educator Networks

The established regional FENs bring together farmer-serving organizations and serve a variety of purposes: sharing best practices, resources, and upcoming events, engaging in co-learning, promoting collaboration, and addressing redundancies. If your region doesn’t have a FEN and you’re interested in starting one or learning how they work, contact Alicia Baddorf: akbaddorf@ucanr.edu.

FEN Background & History

In 2010, prior to the formation of the Statewide FEN, the Central Coast FEN was started as an informal network for farmer educators on the Central Coast to discuss their work with the farming population and agricultural education strategies. Building on momentum from the Central Coast FEN, FarmsReach and Multinational Exchange for Student Agriculture (MESA) hosted in a convening in 2015. Results from the convening spurred on a second convening in 2016 – the Farmer Education & Support Services Summit – hosted by FarmsReach and UC Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education Program (SAREP). The Summit was conceived as an opportunity for thinking strategically about the work farmer educators were doing – what was being done well and what could be improved – and to explore opportunities for working together and coordinating efforts more effectively.

Main Objectives of the 2016 Summit:

Information sharing about different organizations’ programming
Networking between organizations
Prioritizing shared goals to advance the work being done by this group

Outcomes from the 2016 Summit:

Directory of Organizations: contact information, mission statement and programmatic activities of farmer education and support service organizations.
Ecosystem Map: where each organization in the directory is located and where they are active in California.
Chart of Organizations: programmatic areas of activity for each organization and the methods they are using for delivering the information.
15 priority actions to advance the collective work of farmer support organizations.