Conservation and Urban Resources Extension

This program has two parts: 1.) Capacity Assistance – Urban Agriculture Conservation Extension Educator: Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is experiencing a large influx of small-scale and urban producers and needs additional capacity to meet this demand effectively. To bolster customer service to urban producers, experienced Urban Agriculture Extension Educators will be employed to deliver technical assistance and link producers to NRCS conservation planning and program opportunities. These positions will be administered through the Cooperative Extension Service at the participating Land-grant Universities (LGUs) in the CURE program, in collaboration and coordination with NRCS state offices, will have priority duties that include: a) Working with NRCS to guide urban agriculture producers conserve, maintain, and restore natural resources on their lands while improving the health of their operations and creating a more productive and resilient landscape. b) Providing direct technical assistance to urban producers to help identify resource concerns and develop science-based solutions for addressing their conservation priorities. c) Assisting producers with awareness of zoning, permitting, and administrative complexities associated with conservation practice implementation. d) Assessing the conservation needs and assisting innovative forms of agricultural production including controlled environment agriculture systems. e) Applying experience and academic resources to provide urban agriculture training to NRCS employees and partners. f) Coordinating with NRCS and the Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production (OUAIP) to evaluate the needs of urban agriculture producers, tailor services towards these needs, and conduct outreach to best reach new customers. 2.)Impact Collaborative – Scalable urban agriculture service strategy: The other primary component of this initiative is the development of an Impact Collaborative for urban agriculture service delivery with prioritization towards the 27 Urban Agriculture identified areas (listed above). An Impact Collaborative is a program administered by the Extension Foundation (ExF) that helps partners inform, strengthen, and innovate their project and program development to create greater local impact in their counties and States. Its methodology is founded in design thinking and has been developed in partnership with Cooperative Extension professionals since 2014. There are currently 190 trained Impact Facilitators to assist with project designs, and Key Informants (Subject Matter Experts) that can be utilized to inform discussions. Attendees for this Impact Collaborative will include representatives from NRCS, including OUAIP, NIFA, NUEL, NUREC, and Extension professionals currently working in the urban conservation space. During the 3-day Collaborative, teams will develop solutions to questions that include: a) What are the needs of the urban agriculture producer, both general and unique b) What pieces of the puzzle can NRCS provide? c) Who can potentially address other needs beyond NRCS authorities? d) How can this project be scaled to other cities, suburbs, and towns? Outputs from this process will include: a) Plan for addressing technical assistance needs - state/national b) Plan for addressing financial assistance needs - state/national c) Plan for addressing needs beyond NRCS authorities - state/national d) Plan for scaling projects from urban focal areas to other locations and statewide e) Plan for National NRCS supporting the states going forward.