The 2011 ASHS Annual Conference

Objective(s):
Brainstorming Session, 2 hrs. Workshop participants will: 1) Understand what eXtension and eOrganic are. 2) Become familiar with eOrganic’s content (articles, videos, webinars) 3) Brainstorm strategies by which the ASHS community can get involved wit

The growth in organic market opportunities has increased the demand across the country for information on all aspects of organic agricultural production. Until recently there has been little published Extension information on organic agricultural practices as science-based information was scarce. In addition, science-, experience- and regulation-based organic agriculture information must be integrated to produce information of the greatest utility to farmers and agricultural professionals. eOrganic works to fill this need and become an important national source of organic agriculture information by 1) convening a national community of researchers, extension and other agricultural professionals, farmers, and certifiers at eOrganic.info, 2) facilitating project management, networking and co-learning, 3) supporting collaborative development and publication of peer-reviewed articles, FAQs, and videos at eXtension.org/organic_production, and 4) facilitating engagement with farmers and agricultural professionals through webinars, short courses, Ask-an-Expert, and other interactive tools and activities. 

First, we will tour eOrganic’s community portal (eOrganic.info), where eOrganic CoP members work and network. We will then tour eOrganic’s public content for farmers, extension professionals, researchers and others (http://extension.org/organic_production ). We will also demonstrate the Ask-an-Expert system, our videos at eXtension  (http://www.extension.org/pages/18726 ) and Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/user/eOrganic ) and our webinars http://www.extension.org/pages/24989. Finally, we will discuss how the ASHS community can get more involved!