Author: Robert Pearce
Planning Unit: Plant and Soil Sciences
Major Program: Tobacco
Outcome: Intermediate Outcome
US Tobacco GAP (Good Agricultural Practices) is an industry led program designed to insure that tobacco growers in the United States are well informed and follow the best practices for the production of all types of tobacco. Kentucky is the second leading producer of tobacco behind North Carolina, but has the most tobacco growers of any state due to the relatively smaller farm size. Tobacco growers are required to attend an annual training session conducted by Cooperative Extension Specialists. In 2021 in-person training could not be conducted due to COVID-19 restrictions. Different methods were developed to ensure growers could get the training required by the tobacco companies. I developed 3 modules that including a training video and quiz questions for growers to complete as part of and online training option provided by GAP Connections. Dr. Andy Bailey and I conducted two “live” zoom sessions with growers in Kentucky and Tennessee that resulted in a total of over 700 growers being trained. Videos of these session were utilized in county Extension offices to train an additional 100+ growers. For grower without access to on-line resources a mail-in training was offered. I wrote three training sheets and the accompanying quiz questions. Through this combination of training methods we help grower get their required trnaing prior to the June 30th 2021 training deadline.
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