The Beginning Farmer Irrigation Basics Webinar and In-Person Workshop Series was created in response to discussions and feedback received from producers at the 2023 KY Fruit and Vegetable Conference. I worked with UK Dept. of Horticulture faculty to develop this series for those new to irrigation. The series consisted of a webinar followed by an in-person workshop held at the UK Horticulture Research Farm.  The webinar and in-person workshop were free and open to beginning farmers, county agents, and anyone interested in irrigation. I created a Qualtrics survey that led to registrations for both the webinar and workshop. I created a promotional flyer for advertising the event and promoted it through online newsletters including the UK Center for Crop Diversification (CCD) newsletter and KY Pest News weekly newsletter. I also sent the flyer and registration information to county ANR and HORT agents.

The webinar was held on March 26 via Zoom and had 30 participants. The hour and 30-minute webinar featured presentations from UK Extension Specialists in the Dept. of Horticulture, Dr. Rachel Rudolph and Dr. Brent Arnoldussen, discussing irrigation set-ups for high tunnel, field, and orchard production.  I set up and coordinated the session, recruited the speakers, moderated the session, and sent out poll questions during the webinar. The webinar was recorded and is available for viewing on the Kentucky Vegetable Crops Extension and Research YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@kentuckyvegetablecropsexte98/featured, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlXqRR0NezI). The recorded videos currently have 139 views. Attendance or viewing of the webinar was required in order to attend the workshop. 

The workshop was held on April 23 at the UK Horticulture Research Farm in Fayette County. The two-hour workshop was attended by 14 people. UK Extension Specialists Dr. Rachel Rudolph, Dr. Brent Arnoldussen, and I discussed irrigation basics in high tunnels, fields, tree fruit orchards, and small fruit production systems. I secured the event site, coordinated speaker presentations, registered participants, emailed participants/answered questions, and provided relevant UK publications at the event.