(Article published by Moscow-Pullman Daily News, July 2005, reprinted with permission)

Small dreams can come true
Blossoming program illuminates world of ag
while educating enthusiasts

By E. Kirsten Peters
Daily News staff writer

Small-scale agricultural dreams can come true. That’s the message behind small acreage education programs run cooperatively by the University of Idaho, Washington State University and Rural Roots, a nonprofit farmer organization.

“Cultivating Success” is a community-based program with several  different classes planted back in the fall of 2001. Since then it’s been
busy setting down deep roots into the region’s small ag and forestry
operations.

“It’s a very good program because it forces you to really do your  homework on everything involved in what you hope to do with your land,” said Sean O’Neill, who has completed some of the classes. O’Neill, who has 100 acres outside of Troy, produces hay and wood as well as beef, pork and lamb. “Even though I have a business background, I learned a lot (in “Cultivating Success”) that I’m using now. The program walks you through things you could easily have overlooked,” he said.

Although it’s less than four years old, more than 800 people have taken one or more classes offered through the program.

“We grew very fast. We wanted to make the classes available to community members, to students, and to extension agents, too, and that has all worked out and been one of our strengths,” said Cinda Williams, a UI staffer working in the program since it began.

In addition to the two area universities, Rural Roots plays a key role.
It’s a non-profit organization of small acreage farmers in eastern  Washington and Idaho. “That has been a strength for us, too, because it adds real depth to the program — just as the university resources here in the area add to what we can do in terms of ag education and educating the next generation of extension agents while they are still in school,” Williams said.

Colfax-area resident Cathy Cochran is a former student of the program who has one foot in small farming and one in large-scale traditional agriculture. “My husband’s family farms conventionally, and I have one acre carved out of that land for what I do,” she said.
Cochran sells eggs from her garage using a sign on the highway to direct people into her property. With 37 hens, she knows she’s only just getting started in a small operation, but she needs to learn as she goes. “It’s like they say in the program, you don’t want to quit your job in town until you know the economics will all work out,” she said with a laugh. Cochran has dreams of one day operating a commercial goat-milking operation. “But one thing about ag, and this is the sort of thing that the program can help you learn, is that there are a lot of regulations,” she said.  “Like it takes a mechanical milking machine in order to sell goat milk (for human consumption).”

Heidi Heffernan, who’s working on a bachelor’s degree in agricultural
science and technology at UI, has learned much about what resources are available. “(Students) have been working on converting a piece of land near the Troy highway to an organic plot, and the program has helped me with that project,” she said. “I’ve learned a lot about what resources are available in terms of pest management, for example,” she said.

Other areas around the Northwest are in line to benefit from the  Palouse-based program. “This fall we’ll be piloting a Web-based portion of the course that we hope will increase our outreach and cut down the number of times some students have to come here to Moscow,” Williams said.  Extension offices also are getting on board.

“I’d definitely recommend the program to my friends and neighbors,” O’Neill said. “The classes were real, practical help.”

• Several different fall classes in Small Acreage Farming will be offered for community members starting Aug. 25.

• Contact Cinda Williams at (208) 885-7499 or Theresa Beaver at (360) 379-5610 ext. 230 for more details.