Updated: April 30, 2021
By Darren Jarboe , Andrew Kness , and Erika Crowl

Many new hires to various governmental agricultural service providers have limited understanding of common agricultural practices, especially those in the Mid-Atlantic Region. Many have strong backgrounds in the environmental or biological sciences, but may have never been exposed to real-world agricultural production. The United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA- NRCS) and University of Maryland Extension (UME) believes this gap in practical agricultural production knowledge needs to be addressed in order to keep farms viable into the future and service providers safe when on the farm. Through a partnership and funding through USDA-NRCS, UME developed the "Ag 101" program outlined in this curriculum. The basic structure and format of the program could be adapted for other regions of the United States that wish to implement a similar program.

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