UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A newly relaunched Penn State Extension online course, titled “Ag 101,” covers the basics of agriculture — including crops, livestock and natural resources — common to Pennsylvania and other mid-Atlantic and Northeast states.
The course is designed for conservation professionals and others who interact with farms. These specialists often help farmers with soil and water conservation practices, such as planting riparian buffers or writing manure management plans.
Nicole Santangelo Thompson, field and forage crops team leader and agronomy extension educator, who helped create the course, said that the course succinctly brings together different pieces of agriculture to prepare someone for a first visit to a farm. Jennifer Fetter, water resources extension educator and team leader, co-designed the course.
“The idea is to help our environmental and conservation professionals put themselves in the shoes of the agricultural community before they go out and work with that community,” Fetter said.
This course updates the technology and format of the original “Ag 101,” a widely used webinar series developed a decade ago with support from the Pennsylvania office of USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service.
To upgrade the curriculum, Thompson dove into 10 years of reviews from prior participants. Extension educators from across the agricultural spectrum contributed expertise on course topics ranging from livestock and agronomy to forestry and fruits and vegetables.
In the course, these experts discuss common types of farms, farm implements and terminology, and the use of natural resources in faring. Participants can learn about best practices in biosecurity and integrated pest management.
The self-paced program uses educational videos and knowledge-check questions and takes approximately 11 hours to complete.
Registrants will gain access to the course for 365 days from the date the course is started. The registration fee is $119. More information is available at https://extension.psu.edu/ag101-introduction-to-agriculture.
