Abbey Wick, associate professor in the School of Natura Resource Sciences and Extension soil health specialist, has been selected to receive a $89,817 grant from the North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program, known as NCR-SAR.

Her project is titled "Training for Effective Delivery of Science-Based Soil Health Information – It’s about More than Just Content, It’s About Messaging Skills."

"Educator training on communication skills addresses the 'delivery bottleneck' by providing training related to independent, effective content delivery and program development to increase adoption of soil health practices on-farm," Wick said.

The grant was awarded as part of NCR-SARE's Professional Development Program, which emphasizes training agricultural educators in Extension, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, private and not-for-profit sectors, using farmers as educators and addressing emerging issues in the farm community.

Funding considerations are made based on how well the applicant articulates the nature of the research and education components of their sustainable agriculture grant proposal.

NCR-SARE's Administrative Council decides which projects will receive SARE funds. The council is made up of farm and non-farm citizens, and includes a diverse mix of agricultural stakeholders from regional farms and ranches, the Cooperative Extension Service, universities, federal agencies and nonprofit organizations.

As a student-focused, land-grant, research university, we serve our citizens.