Season Creation

In partnership with Green Edge Organic Gardens, Rural Action Sustainable Agriculture educates Appalachian Ohio farmers and regional agriculture educators on year-round growing using high tunnels. Rural Action and Green Edge have created an educational curriculum and professional toolkit for farmers and educators looking to replicate the Amesville, Ohio farm’s Season Creation model. This training outlines and highlights the innovations and experiences of Green Edge staff developed over a 10 year period as an “agriculture of the middle” success story employing a dozen full-time staff year-round. Materials created include a Season Creation manual and an accompanying video. Workshops are held through funding by the USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) Professional Development Program.

Since 2009 Rural Action Sustainable Agriculture has organized yearly food safety training presented by Ohio State University Produce Safety team members. We have created food safety tool kits for farmers and a short food safety video (above) highlighting key points. The food safety training we coordinate in conjunction with OSU is based on the Good Agricultural Practices (GAPS) curriculum developed by Cornell University and others. Local producers are often limited by fluctuating food safety legislation and regulatory changes. Food safety training coordinated by Rural Action gives Appalachian Ohio producers the tools and education they need to understand food safety regulation, reduce risk on the farm, and increase total production.

Listed below are just some of the other educational programming and technical assistance we coordinate with regional food system partners: