The AKAgrAbility team has been busy following up with current clients and working to hire and expand the team to assist with increased engagement of the project. In addition, the Alaska project is partnering heavily with the Alaska Farm Bureau to have an increased presence at the 2nd Annual Alaska Farm Bureau & Trade Show in November. The Alaska Farm Bureau has also paired up with the Alaska Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) to provide technical presentations for those working in agriculture during the event. The event is meant to bring awareness to agriculture from all aspects to educate the general public, those working in agriculture, and decision makers. The event runs three days and is filled with vendor booths, youth activities from 4-H & FAA, and has three concurrent track sessions throughout the weekend. There is a dinner banquet with a live action scheduled on Friday night to raise funds for scholarships, and a live concert (Farm Stock) on Saturday night featuring Jenny Tolman.
Art Nash, Jonathan Kamler (Ph.D. candidate in the UAF-Institute of Agriculture, Natural Resources & Extension) and Debu Misra had a town hall style discussion with the attendees of the Alaska Rural Water Association meeting at the end of October. Although the topic of discussion involved water-based contamination, during the introductory presentation, the AgrAbility project was introduced to the participants.
Submitted by DeShana York