Outcomes

This section will lead you through a series of steps and questions that will help you state the anticipated results or outcomes producers will accomplish as a result of participating in your project. For each proposed result, you will be asked to identify the topic area, specific topic, the producer action, and the number of producers you anticipate will achieve that action. You will also be asked to identify how you will verify each proposed results.

Results

Identify each result/outcome that you want producers to understand, develop, decide, or implement as a result of participating in your project. At the end of your program delivery, the proposed results should put producers in a better position to improve their farm or ranch economic viability. (Word Limit per result: 25)

Topic Area and Topic

The verification system organizes topics by topic area. For each proposed result first select a topic area, and then choose a corresponding topic from the list provided (see list at end of this section).

Producer Action

Producer actions describe what program participants will do relative to the specific proposed result. There are four levels of producer actions which are listed in order of increasing producer engagement.

Understand - learn, increase awareness, identify, gain confidence

Develop - write, conduct, obtain, create

Decide - commit to, indicate, choose, plan to act

Implement - adopt, establish, incorporate, initiate, use

You may have several producer actions for a component of your program. For example, a proposed result may be that producers will understand how to write a marketing plan with the producer action being “Understand”. You may have a second proposed result that producers will write a marketing plan with the producer action being “Develop”. Finally, you may have a third result that producers will implement their marketing plan with the producer result being “Implement”.

When Measured

Enter when you expect to evaluate how many producers accomplished each proposed result. This may be entered as a specific date or it may be entered as a time during the project implementation, such as 6 months or 10 months after project start date.

Estimated Number

Enter the estimated number of producers you expect to achieve the proposed result. This estimated number may vary based upon the level of producer engagement required.

How Will You Verify

Enter the method and/or tool that you will use to verify (measure) how many participants were able to accomplish the proposed risk management results you listed in this section. Give careful consideration to the type of verification tool(s) that can most effectively measure the risk management accomplishments of the producers.

(Word Limit: 10)

Input Controls

Add New Item

To enter a new Result, click on “Add New Item”. A new screen below will open, allowing you to enter or edit results.

Re-Order Results

The order in which the Proposed Results are presented can be changed by clicking the icon on the left side and dragging a given result to its desired location.

Edit Result

Click on the pencil icon to edit a result.

Delete Result

Click on the red ‘X’ to delete a result.

Topic Areas and Topics

This section of the Initialization asks you to identify a Topic Area and a Topic for each Proposed Result from the following list:

• Production

  • Conservation

  • Field Crops

  • Fruit-Nuts

  • Livestock

  • Pasture / Rangeland

  • Trees-Ornamentals

  • Vegetables

  • Agri-tourism

  • Economic risk of new technologies

  • Insurance products

  • Product and enterprise diversification

  • Water management

  • Soil management

  • Pest, weed and disease management

  • Organic production

  • Urban farming

• Marketing

  • Analysis of market fundamentals

  • Cash and futures pricing tools including commodities and inputs

  • Marketing plans and strategies

  • Branded, certified or identity preserved marketing

  • Local, regional, and direct marketing

  • Contract production

• Business Management

  • Acquiring and managing credit

  • Asset management including leasing and renting

  • Access to land

  • Business and strategic planning

  • Cost of production and farm financial benchmarking

  • Economics of input decisions

  • Financial records and analysis

  • Value-added enterprises

• Legal

  • Federal and state farm programs

  • Contracts and leases

  • Environmental regulations

  • Food safety liability

  • Labor regulations

  • Personal and business liability

•  People

  • Employee management and communication

  • Health, stress, and well being

  • Interpersonal, family and business relationships

  • Labor supply, recruitment, and retention

  • Transferring the farm

  • Mentoring, apprenticeships, and internships

  • Farm safety