By Dr. Alan Raeder
Managing production and food system information is a challenge, whether you are managing 1,000 acres or a small garden. In this article, I will introduce my journey into information management, share my current efforts related to food production and information management at WWCC, and ask for your experience and thoughts to help shape future articles.
I got my first introduction to the challenges of information management while in graduate school and later while working in the agriculture chemical industry. While in graduate school, I realized the challenges of managing information in a research program with a large team and multiple contributors per project.
As I transitioned into the industry and began managing an herbicide research and development program, I quickly realized that I was in an even more challenging situation than before. I was accumulating more than 100 research trial reports per year from across North America and each report had information and data separated into multiple files. In addition, I was responsible for evaluating the full history of reports to fill technical service requests while preparing product use guidelines for labels submitted to US and Canadian regulatory authorities. It was a tough time, but I am now thankful for the challenge.
I was eventually able to devote two years to learning and developing new skills in information management, and at that time, I realized a new interest and passion. I also worked with a team that created some useful solutions for managing trial information, saving time, and eventually providing peace of mind in an often fast-paced development environment.
I am now an instructor at Walla Walla Community College (WWCC) and primarily teach an agroecology course series for the Agricultural Systems Bachelors program. In addition to the courses, I am helping to develop the Farm to Fork program on campus, which gives agriculture and culinary arts students an interdisciplinary experience while studying at WWCC. As the Farm to Fork program grows on campus, many notice crops growing in the raised beds, cow and calf pairs grazing the teaching pasture, and new equipment arriving on campus as we plan to expand and produce more food. What often goes unnoticed is the information management component that is also developing and expanding.
Managing information related to food production, distribution, preparation, and serving is a new challenge. We are working to bring programs and students that have traditionally been siloed together. Faculty and staff are working together to improve our use of technology and facilitate improved communication, planning, and overall food production that we can make available to the WWCC community. Among all that is developing at WWCC related to the Farm to Fork program, I am paying close attention to the information management component. I am excited to have our production plans intentionally lead to actions, see those actions develop into an accurate production history, and eventually teach students to use dashboards to analyze how soil health correlates with overall productivity and quality of food prepared by the culinary program.
I have been curious about applying information management principles to individual farms for several years. It would be great to hear your thoughts, experiences, opinions, and suggestions about the topic. I hope to develop this introductory news article into a series of articles that dive a little deeper into the topic. Your input will help shape the article series. Feel free to send an email to alan.raeder@rootsofresilience.org with your thoughts.