Regional SARE Educator

Jason Challandes became the Regional SARE Educator for Delaware and the Eastern Shore of Maryland in March 2009 as part of the Northeast SARE Professional Development Program (PDP). He is based at Delaware State University (DSU), but partners with the University of Delaware and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. He worked in the small farms program as a student at DSU and graduated in Spring 2008 with a B.S. degree in Environmental Science . During his college career, Jason's interest and ability for creating multimedia outreach projects grew as he produced two short educational videos: one for the promotion of a field course in Belize entitled Tropical Agriculture, Ecosystems, and Conservation, and another describing the Delaware National Estuarine Research Reserve. His efforts at creating more entertaining versions of educational videos with very limited budgets have been presented to the international Interdisciplinary Environmental Association (IEA). Jason now hopes to bring some of these ideas and experiences to the outreach efforts of SARE.

Jason's SARE activities focus on promoting sustainable agriculture techniques in the region. This goal is accomplished largely by educating agriculture service providers in the area so that they, in turn, will share this knowledge with the farmers that they assist. Three current areas of focus are reduced-tillage systems, season extension, and small-scale ornamental production. Jason also assists farmers directly, promotes SARE grant programs, and maintains research and demonstration plots.