Evaluation of Farm to School Program Training and Curricula for State Agencies and Producers (S/L/T - 1 of 2)

Attachment C: Trainer Post-Training Survey (Online)

OMB# 0584-0524 Exp: 12/31/2022

RETAIN FOR YOUR RECORDS

OMB BURDEN STATEMENT: This information is being collected to assist the Food and Nutrition Service in understanding the impact of the effectiveness of the training to inform the development of the farm to school curriculum, and examine areas that might be improved in follow-up technical assistance following the training. This is a voluntary collection and FNS will use the information to evaluate the effectiveness of the farm to school producer training. According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, an agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB control number.  The valid OMB control number for this information collection is 0584-0524.  The time required to complete this information collection is estimated to average 5 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service, Office of Policy Support, 1320 Braddock Place, Alexandria, VA 22306 ATTN: PRA (0584-0524).

PRIVACY ACT STATEMENT: This information is being collected for statistical research or reporting purposes only. Please refer to System of Records Notice for FNS-8, “FNS Studies and Reports,” located in Federal Register Volume 56 Number 80, for System location, categories of individuals covered, categories of records, purpose, routine uses, storage, retrieval, safeguards, and retention and disposal. FNS-8 is located here: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PAI-2017-USDA/xml/PAI-2017-USDA.xml#fns8. Records will not be retrieved by personally-identifiable information and retention requirements will be followed in accordance with FNS Agency Records Retention Schedule and Records Management Policy 270-1.

The Producers You Work With

1. What state do you reside in?

2. Which best describes the organization you work for? (Please mark the most relevant answer). 

Cooperative Extension

University or college (non-Cooperative Extension)

State Department of Agriculture

USDA technical service provider

Other federal or state agency

Producer association

Commodity or trade association

Nonprofit organization

For-profit business

Individual consultant

Other (please specify)________________________________________________

3. What is the geographic reach of the farmers and ranchers (producers) you work with, serve, or train? (Check all that apply)

Local/county

Multicounty

Statewide

Multi-state or regional

National

Tribal

Other (please describe): ________________________________________________

4. Approximately how many producers do you work with, serve, or train in this geographic area(s)?

5. Please estimate the percentage of the producers you work with, serve or train that have gross annual sales in the following categories (Should add to 100%)

Small farms with gross sales less than $350,000 : _______

Mid-sized farms with gross sales between $350,000 and $999,999 : _______

Large farms with gross sales of $1 million or more : _______

6. Which of the following products do your producers produce?

	Yes	No
Fresh fruits		
Fresh vegetables		
Meat, poultry, & eggs		
Grains & legumes		
Fish		
Milk & dairy		
Nursery, floriculture, and greenhouse items (including plants, mushrooms, cut herbs, and flowers)		
Value added food products (processed/prepared food, baked goods, preserves, etc.)		
Other food products		
Other non-edible farm products (e.g., feed and forage)		

7. Please estimate the percentage of your producers that sell to farm to school—defined as Pre-K through 12^th grade— including those that sell directly to farm to school and through intermediaries, such as food hubs or distributors (if you know).

________ Percent selling directly to schools

________ Percent selling to schools through intermediaries, such as food hubs or distributors

________ I don’t know

8. In your view, how has the use of farm to school markets—that is Pre-K through 12^th grade—changed among your producer clients over the last 5 years? 

 Increased greatly  Decreased some

 Increased some  Decreased greatly

 Stayed the same  I don’t know

Opened ended: “Please explain your answer”

9. How interested do you believe the producer groups you serve are in entering or expanding sales made directly to schools (Pre-K through 12^th grade)?

	Very interested		Slightly interested
	Somewhat interested		Not interested
	I don’t know

10. How interested do you believe the producer groups you serve are in entering or expanding sales made to schools (Pre-K through 12^th grade) through intermediaries (such as food hubs or distributors)?

	Very interested		Slightly interested
	Somewhat interested		Not interested
	I don’t know

Farm to School Training

11. Now that you have taken part in the farm to school training, how would you rate your current overall knowledge in terms of your ability to train producers to access/expand farm to school marketing and sales?

	Very high		Low
	High		Very low
	Medium

12. How much do you feel the training changed your level of knowledge about farm to school?

	Major change		A little bit of a change
	Somewhat of a change		No change

13. When thinking about being able to help producers with information about farm to school, how do you rate your level of knowledge about the following topics?

	Very high	High	Medium	Low	Very low
Identifying and communicating with schools that are interested in purchasing products directly from farmers					
Developing purchasing relationships with schools					
Understanding regulations, policies, and practices about procuring local foods (e.g., geographic preference or cooperative purchasing)					
Responding to a solicitation from school foodservice (e.g., Invitation for Bid, Request for Proposals, or informal solicitation)					
Crop planning, based on school menus and schedules					
Food safety and traceability requirements of schools					
The infrastructure/capacity farming operations need to sell to schools					
Developing long-term relationships with schools					
Understanding points of entry into Child Nutrition Program markets (e.g., National School Lunch program, summer foodservice program, Fresh Fruit and Vegetable program)					

14. How comfortable do you feel conducting a farm to school training for the producers and other stakeholders you serve?

	Very comfortable		Uncomfortable
	Comfortable		Very uncomfortable
	Neither comfortable nor uncomfortable

15. How comfortable do you feel with modifying the curriculum for your producers and other stakeholders (i.e., based on region, products, scale of production, interest, etc.)?

	Very comfortable		Uncomfortable
	Comfortable		Very uncomfortable
	Neither comfortable nor uncomfortable

16. What were the three most useful things you learned from the farm to school training?

17. What were the three least useful things that were part of the farm to school training?

18. Are there any topics related to helping farmers access school markets that you would like to receive additional training or information?

19. Do you have any suggestions about how the farm to school training you recently completed can be improved?

Implementing Producer Farm to School Trainings

20. How likely is it that you will conduct a producer training on how to sell to schools within the next year?

	Very likely		Unlikely
	Likely		Very unlikely
	Neither likely nor unlikely

21. [If they answered very likely or likely to Q20] What are you plans for the training(s)? For instance, when and where do you plan on holding the training(s) and how many producers do you think will attend?

22. [If they answered very likely or likely to Q20] Will the training(s) take place during organizational meetings that other partners are holding, such as a conference, and/or as a stand alone event? (Check all that apply)

Through other organizational meetings

Stand alone event

Other, please specify:

I don’t know

23. [If they answered very likely or likely to Q20] What partners do you anticipate involving in a farm to school producer training(s)?

24. [If they answered very likely or likely to Q20] What challenges do you anticipate when conducting the training(s)?

25. Do you feel you have the partnerships you need in your area to conduct farm to school producer trainings?

Yes

No

I don’t know

26. What additional support, resources, or partnerships do you need to conduct farm to school producer trainings?

27. If you have any other comments for the evaluators, please let us know here: