November 2024 on Zoom
Join us for this live, interactive workshop series starting November 7th!
Western Water Resilience Workshops: Empowering Ag Advisors to Partner with Small-Scale Growers
These workshops are designed to equip agricultural advisors in Washington, Oregon, and California with the tools and strategies needed to support small-scale and historically underserved growers.
This live, interactive series focuses on building stronger networks and addressing the challenges of water management, economic resilience, and equitable advocacy.
Event Details:
When: Thursdays, 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM (PST)
Dates: November 7th, 14th, 21st, December 5th (No session during Thanksgiving week)
Format: Live, interactive, virtual workshop series on Zoom
Why Attend?
Water access and management is becoming an increasingly complex challenge for small-scale growers. Through this series, you’ll gain practical tools, strategies, and connections to better support growers through shared knowledge, innovative approaches, and collective problem-solving.
We know you’re busy, so this series will focus on collaboration and practical water resilience strategies, bringing together the ecosystem of ag advisors across the region. By leveraging our collective capacity, we can achieve more together than we can alone.
Workshop Topics for the 4-part series include
- Beyond Barriers: Tailored water management solutions for small-scale growers. Case studies and facilitated discussions will provide insights into water management strategies for small-scale and underserved growers within the context of financial and systemic barriers. Featured Speakers: Spencer Suffling, Tanager Farm; Aysha Peterson, Resource Conservation District of Monterey; Berit Dinsdale, Oregon State University Extension.
- Strengthening Grower Support Strategies: Integrating Economic Realities and Water Resilience. Through real-world examples and group discussions, participants will learn strategies to help growers build financial resilience, navigate government programs, and adapt to climate challenges. Panelists: Evelyn Nordberg, Resource Conservation District of Monterey, Sara Cross, Producer Support Funds Program Manager – Oregon Food Bank, Stephanie Payne, Oregon Urban Ag Conservationist, Natural Resources Conservation Service.
- Coaching for Water Resilience: Empowering Ag Advisors to Partner with Small Scale Growers. This session will guide ag advisors in transitioning from experts to coaches, focusing on building trust, fostering peer learning, and using tailored communication techniques. Advisors will explore coaching tools, observe a demonstration, and discuss how to integrate these strategies into their work, empowering growers to take ownership of their decisions while working alongside them as supportive partners. Presenter: Addie Candib, American Farmland Trust.
- Catalyzing Your Power and Collaborative Partnerships: How to Advocate for Growers Facing Structural Barriers. Participants will learn strategies to advocate and build partnerships that support historically excluded growers. The session will focus on using our roles to advance equity across individual, organizational, and systemic levels, empowering participants to create lasting change. Real-world examples of multi-stakeholder collaborations will showcase how collective efforts lead to structural change.
We’ve designed each session to build upon the next and foster community. We understand that you may not be able to attend all four sessions—join as many as you can!
Who:
Anybody who supports small farms in the West is welcome to join. Our target audience is advisors who work with small-scale and historically underserved growers, or those interested in starting. We expect attendees to include Extension professionals, federal and state agency employees, conservation district staff, private sector consultants, non-profit staff.
And growers, producers, farmers, you are welcome — this training won’t be as geared towards you as other events we host, but we are happy to have you.
What to Expect:
Learning: Explore innovative strategies for adapting to water challenges on small farms. This is a unique opportunity to learn from other West Coast states. Each session will feature case studies!
Community: Connect with fellow farm advisors across institutions. Yes, there will be break out rooms! And, activities where we can problem solve and learn skills from each other.
Resources: Gain valuable tools and insights to support diverse and historically underserved small-scale farms.
What we WON’T cover
We will not be diving into the details of water rights or water law–these topics are state and watershed specific–a challenge to cover in a multi-state conversation. We will provide resources and connections to folks who are focused on water rights education for producers and ag advisors.
Interested but can’t attend? Fill out this email form to get info on our 2025 workshops
Questions? Contact organizer: ashley@dryfarming.org
About this project:
This is part of a multi-year federally funded collaborative project led by American Farmland Trust focused on increasing water resilience on small farms on the west coast and better supporting historically underserved farmers.
2024 Planning Team
Ashley Rood, Dry Farming Institute – Evelyn Nordberg Monterey Resource Conservation District – Lindsey Kelley, University of California Cooperative Extension – Maria Zamora Re, Oregon State University – Melissa Borsting, King County Department of Natural Resources & Parks – Naomie Peasley, Intertribal Ag Council – Qi Zhou, CA Resource Conservation Districts (CARCD)- Stephanie Payne, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Oregon – Teal Potter, Washington State University – Yolimar Rivera Vázquez, Coquí Consulting, LLC.