Extension and Education

The proposed extension and education activities aim to equip the current and next generation of rice farmers, consultants, and researchers with the necessary skills to embrace new climate-smart agriculture (CSA) tools and technologies as solutions to mitigate the impacts of climate change on rice farming. The adoption of novel technologies and practices by farmers is crucial for a sustainable rice farming system. To accelerate the adoption of the CSA technologies, the project will strengthen Extension programs in each participating state by utilizing the latest online and field-based tools to disseminate technologies, resources, and practices successfully to the farming and consultant communities.

The following activities are planned to strengthen the education and extension programs.

Camp CRISP-RICE – An annual summer internship program to expose high school students and teachers to advances in agricultural science. The students will participate in research activities in multiple fields to enhance climate resilience: breeding, genomics, pathology, entomology, integrated pest management practices, artificial intelligence, and precision agriculture. Lectures, hands-on training, demonstrations, field trips to research stations, and visits to laboratories of researchers associated with this project will be organized.

An Interdisciplinary Special Topics Course – Develop an interdisciplinary seminar class focusing on sustainable farming systems and climate change for the graduate students.

Mini-symposium: Hosting a two-day mini-symposium on sustainable rice production toward the end of this project at Clemson University. Researchers, growers, and students will participate in this symposium.

Working with LA - 4H - Working with our GIS and UAV experts to introduce young researchers to precision agriculture and upcoming green technologies. The activities will include workshops and training on the use of UAV and decision support tools for crop scouting, field mapping, plant stands estimation, and nutrient stress detection for in-season agronomic management.

Expanding the Rice Research Verification Program (RRVP): Cooperating with commercial farmers to demonstrate research-based recommendations implemented at the farm scale. It will be expanded to highlight sustainable integrated pest management (IPM) and best management practices (BMP) developed from the project. These will be further supported by on-station demonstration trials and annual field days. Farmers will receive demonstrations and hands-on activities on the impacts of BMPs on rice plant health, growth, and development.

Rice Production School – Organizing a Rice Production School to educate and train a small group of participants (20-30) through lectures, discussions, and on-farm demonstrations covering all facets of the rice production system.

Expected outcomes:

The stakeholders will improve their knowledge about the stress-tolerant cultivars, climate-smart farm production practices, and technologies and resources available to them for enhancing the sustainability and profitability of rice farming. The project will generate trained personnel with improved skills for employment in both the private and public sectors. Curricula will be enhanced due to additional courses on sustainability and climate change and the use of resources generated in the project. High school students will gain a better understanding of the climate-smart agriculture concept and their participation in the summer internship program may lead them to consider agricultural science as a potential career choice.