Implement Plan of Work for the Southern Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) Professional Development Program (PDP) Plan of Work

1. As part of the Professional Development Program team, the LGU liaison works with the Kerr Center staff to plan and implement annual SARE Coordinator training program. This includes annual trainings at the summer Southern SARE Administrative Council meeting as well as coordinator meetings in conjunction with the So. Sustainable Ag Working Group (SSAWG) annual conference. 2. Conduct two to three state visits per year. The purposes of these visits are to enhance understanding about the SARE program and receive feedback from stakeholders. Activities include educational seminars for potential grant submitters about the SARE grant opportunities; grantsmanship workshops will be conducted for university, extension staff, farmers and non-profit leaders; and, faculty focus groups. In addition, meetings will be conducted with college administrators to raise the profile of the SARE program, provide updates and to get feedback to be share with the SSARE staff. 3. Work on projects, as requested by the So. SARE administration. One of those projects is assisting with the cover crops initiative by conducting a region-wide post conference evaluation, including both the group of states involved in the grant as well as those states which were not part of the initial grant. Another is to assist the to-be-hired SARE 1892 minority and limited resource farmer specialist. A third follow up activities from the mideast Organic Professionals Summit which is focused on information access for organic growers.