Proposal Summary:
SMSU’s 2021-2022 MSRPC grant proposal builds upon our FY 2020 experiences and expands our educational efforts. In Phase II of our CCA Program, we will use virtual technologies to reach out to additional students in the MinnState System, enhance their preparatory efforts, and increase their success in achieving CCA certification. A portion of MSRPC grant funds will help SMSU develop a “lending library” of CCA-related print and electronic materials. SMSU students from our FY 2020 SMSU CCA program will lead by example and act as tutors and mentors for new students in the educational program.
Proposal Synopsis:
During Fiscal Year 2020-2021, an MSRPC Grant provided SMSU with needed resources to initiate a Certified Crop Advisor (CCA) educational program. Thanks to this support, SMSU students are more aware of the benefits of CCA Certification, and of the importance of CCA for their future careers. In addition, during SMSU’s Fall Semester 2020, seven SMSU students participated in educational workshops in preparation for taking the International and Minnesota CCA exams in Spring Semester 2021.

SMSU is submitting a 2021-2022 MSRPC grant proposal to build upon our experiences and expand our educational efforts. In Phase II of our CCA Program, our goal is to use virtual technologies to reach out to additional students in the MinnState System, enhance their preparatory efforts, and increase their success in achieving CCA certification.

As part of our FY 2021 grant proposal, SMSU will continue to coordinate our efforts with the Minnesota Certified Crop Advisors (MN-CCA) Organization. In FY 2020, we worked closely with Jessi Brunelle, the MN-CCA Executive Director, to share our progress and receive input to enhance the effectiveness of our educational program. We are grateful for the ongoing support of the MN-CCA.

SMSU is seeking support for our Phase II proposal because of our long term commitment to agriculture and the region we serve. Our vision is to permanently establish SMSU as an institution dedicated to offering educational and professional programming that meets the needs of Southwest Minnesota, and the wider world.

Proposal Goal Statement:
Phase II of SMSU’s educational program aims to increase student awareness, participation, preparation and success in achieving CCA Certification to better serve the needs our agricultural community.

Proposal Objectives:

The specific objectives for Phase II are:

• Increase SMSU’s public relations efforts to expand student awareness of the importance of CCA Certification through more effective use of social media and virtual technologies.
• To be prepared for contingencies associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, we will supplement our in-person workshop planning to include opportunities for virtual or online participation.
• Expand the reach of our preparatory CCA workshops to increase SMSU student participation, and invite agriculture students from the MinnState community and technical colleges to remotely join our workshops using virtual technologies.
• Invite SMSU students who participated in the FY 2021 SMSU CCA program to exercise their communication and leadership skills by acting as tutors and mentors for new students seeking to achieve CCA certification in 2022.
• Heighten SMSU student awareness of the ASA’s Greenfield and Go Scholars program, and encourage them to apply for these scholarships.
• Collaborate closely with MSRPC representatives, and invite them to talk with our students and take-part in our CCA preparation workshops.
• Continue to use a portion of MSRPC grant funds to partially cover student CCA examination fees. Students are also expected to share in the financial responsibility of the exam expense.
• Allocate a portion of MSRPC grant funds to develop a “lending library” of print and electronic materials that SMSU students can access as they prepare to take the CCA exam.

Update:
Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council
Date: May 30, 2022
Progress Report: FY21 CCA Phase II CCA Grant
Name of Co-Principal Investigators: Dr. Gerald D. Toland, Jr. and Dr. Adam Alford
Business, University or College:
Southwest Minnesota State University (SMSU)
Agriculture, Culinology and Hospitality Management (ACHM) Department
Marshall, MN 56258
Email: gerald.toland@smsu.edu
Title of Research: Phase II: Apply Classroom and Field Education Experiences to Enhance Student Participation and Success in CCA Certification

Progress Report for FY 21 MSRPC Grant – Due May 31, 2022

In Phase II of our MSRPC-funded Certified Crop Advisor (CCA) educational program, Southwest Minnesota State University (SMSU) continues to focus on increasing student awareness, participation, and preparation for success in achieving CCA Certification.

At this time, we are consulting with the Agronomy Society of America (ASA), and expect to have another set of scheduled exams in during Fall Semester 2022.

Dr. Adam Alford has taken on the responsibility to provide faculty guidance for all of our CCA preparation workshops. He continues to act as both professor and coach for the students preparing to take the CCA Exams.

As part of our FY 21 grant efforts, two of four scheduled CCA study sessions were held at SMSU in the Spring Semester 2022. Four students attended the study sessions for both events and were fed pizza using grant funds. Due to paternity leave, Dr. Adam Alford could not attend the last two study sessions but was available to help students or questions as needed.

Of the four students who attended the Spring Semester 2022 workshops, and planned on taking the CCA exam, only one (1) student actually took the MN CCA board exam and she passed. The remaining three student could not figure out how to utilize the international CCA exam discount code that would allow the cost of the exam to them to be $25. Unfortunately, none of the three students contacted Dr. Adam Alford about this problem until he was back from paternity leave. These students decided to not take the exam. Next year Adam Alford will be having a “Sign up for the CCA-Exam” night to ensure that our students actually register for the exam.

Building on the progress that our students achieved in our FY 20 CCA Grant, Phase II of our CCA program has also been a success. Of the eight (8) SMSU seniors who have taken a MN Local CCA board exam, and the International CCA Exam, we had five (5) seniors pass both exams. We will explore additional ways to increase study session participation in the future by identifying areas preventing study session participation.

We are grateful to the MSRPC for their strong encouragement and financial support to help SMSU move forward with this CCA Educational Program that increases our students’ knowledge and skills, facilitates their career advancement and better serves the real of our agricultural community.

Please also see the following uploaded MS-Word files:

• “SMSU Progress Report for FY 21 MSRPC CCA Grant”

• “Budget Summaries for FY 20 and FY21 MSRPC Research Proposals”.

View uploaded report

View uploaded report 2

Update:
Complete Project Title: Phase II: Apply Classroom and Field Education Experiences to Enhance Student Participation and Success in CCA Certification

Goal Statement: SMSU’s educational program aims to increase student awareness, participation, preparation and success in achieving CCA Certification to better serve the needs our agricultural community.

Project Methodologies:
• Build upon experiences and lessons-learned from our Phase I CCA Educational Grant to gain more student awareness and interest in CCA certification, and increase the pass-rate for students who actually prepare-for and take the CCA International and Minnesota Exams.

• Use social media and virtual technologies to increase SMSU student awareness of the importance of CCA Certification.

• Supplement our in-person workshop planning to include opportunities for virtual or online participation to adjust to educational programs that meet student needs during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

• Collaborate closely with MSRPC representatives, and invite them to talk with our students and take-part in our CCA preparation workshops.

• Continue to use a portion of MSRPC grant funds to partially cover student CCA examination fees. Students are also expected to share in the financial responsibility of the exam expense.

View uploaded report

View uploaded report 2

Project Results:

• Thanks to MSRPC support in consecutive years, SMSU students who sat for the International and MN CCA exams in April 2021 were offered a second chance to prepare for re-taking these exams.

• Dr. Alford informed about 40 different students across several different majors (Agronomy, Ag Communications and Leadership, Agricultural Solutions, Agribusiness Management, and Agricultural Education) about the importance of CCA certification, and the opportunity to participate in preparatory workshops.

• Dr. Alford provided faculty guidance for students preparing to take the remotely-proctored CCA Exams in November 2021. The effectiveness of Dr. Alford’s October 2021 CCA educational workshops benefited from our prior educational efforts, as well as the ASA statistical analysis of our students’ April 2021 exam performance.

• To help motivate our students, Dr. Alford also volunteered to take the CCA exams.

• Twelve SMSU students paid their share of the exam registration fees, and took the remotely-proctored CCA exams during November 3-10, 2021.

• Our students’ November exam results were a noticeable improvement over the April 2021 outcomes. Five (out of 12) students passed the International CCA Exams. Four students passed both the International and the MN CCA exams. Dr. Alford also passed the International CCA Exam.

• Thanks to his direct participation in the entire CCA certification process, Dr. Alford is now aware of the changes that SMSU should make in our Agronomy Program to better align course content with the knowledge areas emphasized in the CCA Exams.