“This team exemplifies the Cooperative Extension goal of making research-based information more accessible to the public. They are very resourceful and quick to use the Extension Services to introduce their clientele to all that Penn State University has to offer.” —Dr. Dyremple Marsh, NTAE Catalyst
paper. This method was easy to explain and distribute to educators across the state, as 2023 was the first year we did this project. However, during the development of “Market Fresh” we came across something called the “Dot Meth- od,” which is a quick and effective way to col- lect data from large groups of people. Although it requires a bit more set up than a Qualtrics survey, we think it may be easier for market go- ers to respond t o. As this project progresses we plan to learn more about the “Dot Method’ and figure out an efficient way to incorporate it into “Market Fresh.”
in a newsletter. From that first communication, eight managers reached out to us to set up a date for a food demonstration. On top of that we were able to connect with over 12 Extension educators across the state to make this project come to life! Working with this many individuals is rewarding, but it reinforc- es the need for a program model to keep organized and on the same page. With this in mind, we’ve begun to develop some mate- rials that we think will do just that. As part of our partnerships with these markets, our internal marketing team made the digital and print marketing materials we provided to the managers for promotion. That made it easy for them to promote Extension. Is your program a model that Extension teams at other LGUs could adopt/adapt? Yes! One of the resources that our team put many hours into is the “Educator Tool Kit,” which is designed to help guide our edu- cators set up a food demonstration at their local farmer’s market. The tool kit provides information about our team and this project, via the case statement we developed earlier this year for NTAE. Having the case statement on hand makes it easy for educators to tell market managers about who we are and how we plan to collaborate. The tool kit also contains a supplies and materials list to en- sure that all our team members are prepared and ready for the demonstration. The tool kit is really a wonderful resource for our team, but any Extension team would be able to use it to help guide them through setting up local food demonstrations. The tool kit also has a section dedicated to the evaluation of the food demonstrations. For this project we use a short Qualtrics survey that could be filled out via a QR code or on
What lessons can you share with other Extension teams interested in implementing a similar program? Food demonstrations are complex, governed by regulations and the need to follow food safety protocols. We learned that different counties have different food safety regulations. The market managers connected us with local health inspectors, who answered our questions. Food safety considerations included having a handwashing station, coolers with food thermometers to keep food at safe temperatures, and preparing the food in a licensed kitchen. A crucial lesson we learned is that having adequate staffing is critical. Our team was small and we were unable to meet the demand. We had to pivot.
See the Buy, Cook, Eat Local team members on page 80.
Can you tell us about that pivot?
We wanted to assure that the entire state was represented when we chose locations for food demonstrations. The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture covers the state by having staff cover certain regions, so we thought it would be reflective of the whole state to make sure that each region had a scheduled food demonstration. We received a lot of requests from one region. At first we were so excited and said “yes” to all of these markets. We soon realized that our small team couldn’t spend the travel time to all sites in the same area. We also realized that would take away from our goal of representing the whole state. So we went back to the drawing board. We reviewed our educator coverage maps, the local food safe- ty restrictions, and made a decision about whether to cancel or move forward with a demonstration event. The large number of requests from the one region did confirm the real need for an Extension educator in this area. ■
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EXTENSION FOUNDATION/NTAE | 2022-2023 YEARBOOK
2022-2023 YEARBOOK | EXTENSION FOUNDATION/NTAE
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