University Park, PA: Imagine a renewed demand for indoor gardening in 2020 due to the CVD-19 epidemic. Webinars series to support gardeners across the country.
A.D. In 2021, the original Gardener Program and the Penn State Extension Vegetation Team expanded this effort – with a view to reaching out to the Latino community – and webinar is now available in Spanish.
In addition to webiners, the nine fact sheets were translated by team members to provide additional information to gardeners and new farmers.
Maria Gorgo-Gorovich, a teacher of horticultural extension, said that the native Spanish speakers translated Webnar scripts and PowerPoint slides. All 10 webmasters are also subscribed.
It is part of an action community called the Latin Agricultural Network, an extension of support for the growing Spanish-speaking population in Pennsylvania. Teachers, students, faculty, administrators and basic advisors work to enhance communication and learning efforts across all extension portfolio sectors.
The members of this network responded quickly to the Covide-19 epidemic and coordinated efforts to support cultural interests and produced a number of up-to-date products. The impact will continue to increase as network members add more resources.
According to Gorgo-Grovic, the Latino community accounts for 75% of the agricultural workforce in the United States, and 90% of the workforce, such as some mushrooms, is Latino.
According to USDA, the number of Hispanic major farm operators supported by the Penn State Extension Garden Program has increased by 24% to 112,451 in 2012-2017. There were 759 Hispanic agricultural operators in Pennsylvania in 2017, up from 652. In 2012, these operators and their families make significant contributions to the safety of Pennsylvania.
For more resources, visit the Extension Spanish Facebook page or contact our Gorgogorovich at mag38@psu.edu. In addition, the 800-PENN-IPM hotline: 800-736-6476 – for Spanish fruit, fruit and vegetable growers and Spanish-speaking stakeholders in the green industry .
More information is available online at https://extension.psu.edu/programs/master-gardener.
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