Lessons learned. Describe the positive aspects of project implementation, the problems encountered and how (if) were they addressed. Describe how other parties could use the solution. Describe best practices that can be adopted or adapted. (15 to 25 lines)
Lessons learned. Lessons learned by the project staff are numerous. The best way to be able to help producers is to “do it ourselves” so we can really know the production challenges that are being faced by growers. The experimental hopyard is helping us collect valuable data but also allowing us to “experience” hops just like a grower. Through this process we are able to alert growers when pests arrive and/or share our mistakes with new growers. Hops are a complex crop. There are significant startup costs, both economically and in time and labor. Constituents have commented how invaluable they have found the Building a Hopyard YouTube videos and construction costs fact sheets, and how much they have appreciated the opportunity to be able to visit a hopyard prior to constructing one themselves. Variety selection is a major decision, and we are proud to be able to offer some baseline data on variety suitability through our research. Hops are very disease susceptible, particularly to downy mildew, which is a consideration that every grower should be undertaking, but other pest factors seem to be worth consideration as well. There are numerous hop pests and beneficial insects specific to the Northeast that are not found in the main hops production areas of the world. Further work is certainly needed in this domain. Planting varieties that don’t thrive or yield well in this climate is economically unsound. Our first year harvest data is an indicator of the potential of each of the 20 varieties trialed, but as hops take three years to reach peak production, further research is needed. Small-scale infrastructure is a continued stumbling block in hops production in the Northeast. The mobile hop harvester designed courtesy of a SCBGP grant has taken steps to alleviate this issue, as has UVM Extension’s work with small-scale hops balers and oasts. The future bears great promise once these works have been completed and made publicly available. CONTACT PERSON Xx. Xxxxxxx Xxxxx, UVM Extension Agronomist, (000) 000-0000, xxxxxxx.xxxxx@xxx.xxx
Lessons learned. CRAFT programs were originally created by a community of growers with like minded commitments to the education of new farmers; experienced farmers both educated and mentored new farmers. The modified CRAFT model we developed and used for this program supports the education of new farmers by providing the organizational structure to allow expert farmers to be teachers. It was successful in part because of our regional collaborative partner whose farmer board provided a direct connection to the community of farmers in that region. These farmers were willing to commit to the project, lend their expertise to educate specialty crop producers, and promote the series. We recommend and plan to continue the approach of working with a regional partner in other areas of the state. Evaluations were lower in quantity than desired. We developed both paper and electronic evaluation formats. Paper evaluations could be either written in the field or taken home to be completed and later mailed to the NOFA-VT office. Electronic evaluations were available in Survey Monkey. The paper evaluations handed out in the workshop contained a link to the electronic evaluation. We received 12 paper evaluations and 12 electronic evaluations from participants. However, our collaborative partner conducted their own evaluation which had 16 responses, so we gleaned additional information from their survey. Next year we will use a simpler evaluation format to increase participation with check box options. We also plan to ask farmers how many new practices they learned so we can start to quantify the learning experience. CONTACT INFORMATION Xxxxx Xxx Xxxxxx, Ph.D., Vegetable and Fruit Technical Assistance Advisor for NOFA-VT Phone: 000-000-0000 x00 and email: xxxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx ADDITIONAL INFORMATION The beginner farmer workshops were marketed through a catalogue of summer workshop offerings; the whole catalogue can be viewed at xxxx://xxxxxx.xxx/sites/default/files/SWS2010.pdf. Below is one section describing the beginner farmer workshops. Note that only some of the workshops (those targeted to specialty crop farmers) were part of this project. Beginning Farmers & Apprentices Workshops 1, 2, 5, 7, 8 & 9 are produced in partnership with the Rutland Food and Farm Link (RAFFL) and funded by a USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant; they are offered at no charge. 1Wednesday, July 14 • 6:30 - 8:30pm Marketing Strategies for the Small Farm Xxxxxxxxxx Family Farm • Granville, NY Learn the basics of market...
Lessons learned. Please describe the strengths and weaknesses of your study and provide details of lessons for future projects.
Lessons learned. The Farm-to-Table program begins 2011 in a much stronger position than it began 2010. This is partly due to better financial planning and more diversified funding sources, including an increase in program-generated revenue. It is also due to the organizational partnership (soon to be merger) between Food Works and CVCAC, which will in the long run increase both the financial stability, as well as the outreach and educational opportunities, of all of Food Works’ many intersecting programs. However, the strength of Farm-to-Table is also due to the commitment of the primary growers to working collaboratively on production planning and marketing strategies Reflecting on the experience of this past year, however, brings several critical issues to the fore: First and foremost, the rapid expansion of sales (and the volume of product) strained the capacity of program staff, especially in the fall months. The planned increase in work processing parties, and consequent expanded availability of “lightly processed” products, did not occur, due to limitations in capacity. Likewise, the proposed increase in statewide outreach and modeling of the program did not occur. It is becoming increasingly evident that a new staff position will soon be necessary, although the current budget does not provide for this. In concert with our new partners at CVCAC, we are actively exploring new funding sources. An unexpected outcome also occurred as a result of achieving one of the more specific proposed goals; namely, the increase in the number of community buying clubs. The creation of five new buying clubs in the summer and fall months put an enormous burden on staff and volunteers filling the orders on delivery days. An evaluation of the cost effectiveness of the current buying club pricing structure needs to be made. Between the growth of the buying clubs and the vastly increased sales to the rest of the commercial customer base (workplace and college cafeterias, etc.), it may soon be necessary to revamp the packing, delivery, and billing procedures that have been in place since the inception of the program. In short, an “upgrade” to the entire system will soon be necessary. Farm-to-Table is now at a point where its success may lead it to re-invent its processes. However, its commitment to its dual mission – to benefit the nutritionally at-risk members of the Central Vermont community by providing access to healthy local foods, while at the same time increasing the viability of loc...
Lessons learned. Project communication. Project communication with all parties is critical to the success of a collaborative effort. In the beginning stages of the project, the sheriff’s office did not provide the Round Valley Tribal Council with information about the project. The lack of communication at the onset of the project resulted in additional meetings and project delays. Providing a project briefing or document would have helped to ensure community stakeholders were identified and included from the onset.59 Community meetings. Monthly community meetings were key to this project to build trust between the community and law enforcement. The initial meetings had a strong focus on past concerns, and it was difficult to focus on the future. To maximize time spent during the meetings, the sheriff’s office established ground rules and a published agenda, which helped meetings move forward. The sheriff implemented the following rule for community meetings: if an issue was addressed and resolved in a previous meeting, it will not xx xxscussed again.60 Xxxxxx stated, “you cannot fix the problems of the past; you can only improve how you respond to the issue in xxx xuture.”61
Lessons learned. Describe the key lessons learned (a) during this grant period, and
Lessons learned. Issue How did you overcome the issue? Lesson learned Insert additional rows as necessary
Lessons learned. We here summarise the two most important lessons which need to be taken into account when deriving a key agreement protocol, offering resistance in the CK model and being less vulnerable for DoS attacks. • Resistance in CK model: Any possible definition of the SK should consist of a combination of both the local state variable and the private key of at least one entity. For instance, in [10,11], the SK can be written in a form only consisting of local state variables of the two entities and in [12], the SK is derivable to a form only consisting of the private keys of the two entities. • Resistance to DoS attacks: In [10–12], the SP only retrieves the identity of the SMs after receiving a second message and is not able to detect malicious behaviour. Therefore, to avoid the SP keeping open a huge amount of (potential malicious) sessions, it is better to let the request initiated by the SP. The SM is less vulnerable since it can react when too many requests are sent as they are coming from only one entity, i.e., the SP.
Lessons learned. Experience with the implementation of Phare CBC programmes in previous years and evaluation have led to a number of general lessons being learned. These lessons are reflected in the design and implementation of the 2004 CBC Programme Bulgaria-The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The most important lessons relate to constraints on Bulgarian administrative capacity specifically in the Ministry acting as Implementing Agency. Medium to long term efforts to reinforce this capacity are already under way and are supplemented in Phare 2004, but in the meantime additional measures have been put in place to assist. These include efforts to support horizontal public administration reform, limiting the number of grant schemes as these place extra burdens on administrative capacity and avoiding complex multi-phase contracting. Another key lesson is that the success of Phare projects depends on continuity of key senior and working level personnel. In addition to conditionality in project agreements, this issue is being addressed in the context of public sector reform and strengthening, e.g. by developing civil service contracts and conditions to avoid politically motivated staff transfers. More specific lessons relating to individual sectors are reflected in individual project documents
