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Project design involves an initial assessment of opportunities and challenges. It is important to build agreement among partners about goals and strategies. Proposals are then crafted in collaboration with experts and key partners. Ongoing management responsibilities often include meeting planning and facilitation, development and implementation of work plans, documentation and evaluation of project outcomes, and discussions with project partners.
NC Choices
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In 2006, the Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS) hired Curtis Consulting to manage NC Choices a project funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to promote sustainable pork production and direct marketing. North Carolina is the second largest hog producing state in the country, with the vast majority of production occurring on a large-scale, in confinement houses, and under contracts between farmers and vertically-integrated companies. NC Choices provides technical services, marketing assistance and policy advocacy for farmers raising hogs utilizing compassionate, pasture-based production systems without the use of antibiotics. As Director, Curtis Consulting manages project staff and consultants, coordinates project committees and partnerships, facilitates research initiatives, develops project funding proposals and deliverables, and assists with project outreach and education efforts. By spearheading an NC Choices initiative to develop conservation practices for outdoor hog production systems, Curtis Consulting wrote and secured a 2007 Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) from the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to fund on-farm demonstrations and farmer mentoring. Curtis Consulting has played a leadership role in developing greater farmer access to value-added processing opportunities and diversified market venues. CEFS has asked Curtis Consulting to develop its new statewide sustainable animal agriculture initiative, which aims to expand production and sales of local, sustainably-raised (e.g., humane and pasture-based) meat throughout the state.
Environmental Stewardship Standards
From 2003-2005, Curtis Consulting worked with Gerber Products Company to develop environmental stewardship standards for several of their crops grown and harvested for baby food. These standards include production and pest management practices and were modeled after those developed by the Wisconsin Eco-Potato Project for certification by the third-party certifier Protected Harvest.
In designing and managing this process, Curtis Consulting is:
- developed draft standards for individual crops within different growing regions,
- convened and facilitated technical reviews of the crop standards,
- worked with experts to develop a method for evaluating potential health and environmental impacts of pesticide use, and
- managed peer review and grower pilot-testing procedures.
Southern Appalachian Apple IPM
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In 1999, Gerber Products Company hired Curtis Consulting to determine how the Company could work in North Carolina to help develop alternative pest control strategies for its apple growers.
Curtis Consulting conducted a feasibility assessment, developed a four-state partnership between farmers, buyers and research & extension personnel, and facilitated the establishment of a fully-funded project housed at NC State’s Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and Education Center to test and validate various strategies to replace pesticides likely to be lost due to implementation of the Food Quality Protection Act. In coordination with NCSU staff, Curtis Consulting wrote a successful grant to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Pest Management Alternatives Program (PMAP) that launched the program. And in 2001, the project was awarded additional research and education funds through the USDA’s Risk Avoidance and Mitigation Program (RAMP).
Curtis Consulting then pulled together a steering committee of growers, pest management consultants, input suppliers, and university personnel from these four southern Appalachian states to develop a demonstration project to test and validate various strategies to replace pesticides likely to be lost under the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA). In coordination with NCSU staff, Curtis Consulting wrote a successful grant to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Pest Management Alternatives Program (PMAP) that launched the program. In 2001, the project was awarded additional research and education funds through the USDA’s Risk Avoidance and Mitigation Program (RAMP).
Curtis Consulting played an ongoing role as the project manager, facilitating steering committee meetings, assisting with industry outreach, developing a grower newsletter, and coordinating evaluation services and a project tour for EPA and USDA officials. Curtis Consulting also conceived and initiated a successful project with Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) staff to create a cost-share program in Henderson County for growers willing to utilize IPM practices. Now in its third year, the NRCS cost-share program serves as a model for IPM cost-share in other states. See article on the project.
The project accomplished many of its goals, including greater grower awareness and adoption of IPM practices throughout the Appalachian region. Additionally, all of the growers selling to Gerber eliminated their use of hazardous organophosphate insecticides in two years. In their place, growers used reduced-risk materials and pheromone mating disruption.
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