FaRM Partner Info

Mentor Recruitment

When recruiting mentors please have mentors fill out the form to start the process for the mentorship training.  

Farmer’s for Climate Solutions will be providing a mentor handbook to provide additional support and guidance to mentors.

1. Have interested individuals sign up to become a mentor through this link.
2. Discuss requirements of the mentorship process with the potential mentor.
3. Confirm the mentor and finalize an annual contract.
4. Share the contract and contact information with CFGA

Website Updates 

Farmer’s for Climate Solutions will be providing content for each provincial partner to host on their website.  There will be links from the FCS website to each provincial partner’s webpage so that participants can find training workshops and grazing clubs easily.  We will be updating This content as a guideline and can be adapted as needed to reflect your specific needs.  

1. Create a program page on your website.
2. Add the link to the program page to begin gathering participant information.
3. Send the link of the newly created webpage to CFGA so they can link back to your page.

Curriculum and Content

The month of March has been busy receiving, reviewing and branding the content in order to implement the program for our first mentorship training session.  Some timelines have been compressed for a variety of factors so we are expecting to update the curriculum review from each province in the month of May while keeping the content as it currently has been developed for the initial launch.  We hope this will balance accuracy, regional differences and what is often a busy part of the season.  

Review Process

 All modules are now available to review.

1. Click on this hidden link to view the content and access the form to provide feedback.  If you are reviewing in a committee style, this link is available to be shared with all members of the committee. 
2. Click on any module and review the content.  
3. Click on the button on the page and fill out the form to provide input on that module. Once again if you are doing this by committee, each committee member can provide independent input or it can be done collectively as a group. This is the link. 

When finished there should be a minimum of 7 responses from each province although we may have more if committee members decide to review independently.

We will also be providing a feedback form to collect the information.  This will help the curriculum developers organize, manage and review the content systematically to ensure that there isn’t conflicting information.  

We anticipate doing a second review process next winter that will be less intensive but follow a similar format.  We will follow up with more details at that time.

Planned Events

Regular meetings with Steve will be scheduled for the mentors to have continuous support and training in this area.  These will be an open format discussion where questions can be addressed as they arise in the field and can range from technical questions to specific to the mentorship process.  The following dates have been scheduled and we will provide registration links shortly:

• May 3 
• June 7
• July 5 
• Aug 2
• Sept 6
• Oct 4
• Nov 1
• Dec 6

Register from the same link choosing the dates you would like to attend from a dropdown menu.

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Manitoba Beef & Forage Initiatives is hosting a Grazing Workshop series with Manitoba Agriculture over the spring and summer that is complementary to the Advanced Grazing Systems learning framework. These workshops are targeted toward farmers interested in learning more about how to

• Start a grazing plan (Workshop 1, May 3, 4, 5),
• Fencing and remote water solutions (Workshop 2, June 1),
• Pasture and soil health assessment (Workshop 3, July 6),
• Diversifying grazing with annual forages (Workshop 4, August 3).

Please contact MBFI  for more details on the workshop series or how to participate in the Advanced Grazing Systems mentorship program in Manitoba. 

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We hosted the online training for all mentors across Canada April 19 and 22.   We were able to gather some feedback on the program and will be updating using these suggestions and those from the review process in May.

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The Atlantic provinces hosted a synchronous mentorship training program on March 17 and March 24.  The turnout was great and a follow-up session was planned to review the grazing template.   

Official Language

With most of our materials completed, we have begun submitting the information for translation.  We anticipate being able to offer a fully translated program in May.  

Learning Management System

CFGA is developing a learning management system to host this program that will parallel the FCS system.  Both systems are expected to be launched around the same time.  Work currently is on creating the learning environment for the program and creating a curriculum for both the farmer training and the mentor training.

Provincial Partner Contracts

All provincial partner contracts and program scopes have been sent out for the Advanced Grazing Systems Mentorship Program and are filtering in as provincial board approvals have been met.   If there are any outstanding questions, feel free to call Carlene at 780-729-3552 or email for a meeting at [email protected]

What is a learning management system?

A learning management system (LMS) is a software application that helps to organize learning materials and provide more engagement in an online learning environment.  As most extension professionals in agriculture are aware, there is often more to the learning process than just reading a document or attending a webinar.  The LMS mirrors what extension professionals do offline in an online environment

An LMS allows for:

• social engagement (discussion boards, game-based learning),
• reinforcement of knowledge (reviewing reference materials or pre-recorded presentations)
• evaluation of learning (assessments, discussion, activities)

The benefits to augmenting traditional learning with an online learning environment for agriculture could be

• ability to reach more farmers who are at a further distance
• learners who are not able to attend sessions due to time restrictions (off-farm jobs, young families, elder care etc)
• those who prefer to learn independently or with different learning styles (listening to audio while doing tractor work, videos later in the evening, filling out paperwork over the lunch hour)
• the ability to connect with others in other provinces
• the ability to learn using either a mobile device or a desktop.

CFGA/ACPF will be using Growth Engineering as the LMS service provider.  This platform was chosen based on security, mobile device functionality, value and social components.  

FaRM Program Process

Provincial Partner Process

1.  Contract signed with CFGA
2. Review documentation from FCS specific to IPs
   IP Scoping document
   Mentor Selection Criteria
   Participant Selection Criteria
   IP troubleshooting guide
   Terms of Use and Privacy of Information Statement
   Zoom Skills for IPs and Mentors
   Reporting Template
3. Hire / appoint / onboard project staff
4. Recruit mentors
5. Submit mentor nomination form
6. Upon approval of mentor nomination - register mentor
7. Upon mentor registration provide mentor with
   Mentor Orientation Manual
   Terms of Use and Privacy of Information Statement
    Zoom Skills
    Mentor Contract
    Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form
    Contractor Confidentiality Agreement
    Code of Conduct - signature required
8. Register the mentor for the next training sessions
9. Register the mentor for the on-demand training
10. Discuss with the mentor how and when they would like to mentor
11. Discuss with the mentor methods to recruit participants
12. Discuss how the mentor would like to provide follow up support (monthly meetings, calls/emails)
13. Finalize dates for monthly COI
14. Discuss reporting needs for the mentor
15. Finalize dates for live participant workshops, ideally both spring and fall dates
16. Create and registration links for participant events
17. Share registration inks with FCS, update CFGA website, intake form, other event boards
18. Forward event information on to CFGA to update forms and website
19. Create marketing materials and distribute according to mentors needs
20. Host/support the mentors workshops
21. Administer the post training workshop survey
22. Report to CFGA on each event
23. Monthly Reporting
24. Provide feedback to curriculum developers after the first trainings
25. Provide feedback to curriculum developers after the second trainings
26. Report on the follow up sessions 
27. Pay the mentors 

FaRM Troubleshooting Guide for IPs

FaRM Waiver of Liability

IP Scoping Document - FaRM Program

Mentor Contract - Sample (English)

Mentor Contract - Sample (French) - Coming Soon

Mentor Selection Criteria - FaRM (English) 

Mentor Selection Criteria - FaRM (French) - Coming Soon

Participant Recruitment Criteria - FaRM

Participant Recruitment Criteria - FaRM (French) - Coming Soon

Terms of Use and Privacy of Information Statement

Terms of Use and Privacy of Information Statement (French) - Coming Soon

Zoom Skills for Mentors and IPs

Mentor Nomination Form (English)

Mentor Nomination Form (French) - Coming Soon

Terms of Use and Privacy of Information Statement (English)

Privacy of Information Statement - French 

Mentor Code of Conduct

Mentor Registration Form (English)

Mentor Registration Form (French)

Mentor Orientation Manual - FaRM (English)

Mentor Orientation Manual - FaRM (French) - Coming Soon

Mentor Training Survey Link

Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form (English)

Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form (French) - Coming Soon

Contractor Confidentiality Agreement

Contractor Confidentiality Agreement (French) - Coming Soon

Zoom Skills for Mentors and IPs

If you require FCS logos or a prepared PowerPoint, please contact Carlene at [email protected] to receive the logo files.  To download any of the images below, right-click the image and scroll down to "download".  

FCS Brand Guidelines

FCS Mentorship Program IP Amplification Package

FCS Mentorship Program - Factsheet

Images

Facebook/Instagram Post

Twitter Post

Instagram Story

Advanced Grazing Systems - Twitter

Advanced Grazing Systems - Facebook/Instagram