News

Three convenings held virtually over a three-month period were the first opportunity to follow-up on the release of the publication Feeding North America through Agricultural Extension: A report from the North American Agricultural Advisory Network (USDA, 2022) to expand the mapping and deepen the dialogue between Canada, Mexico and the United States.

Convening Summary:

A collective convening summary was prepared by the NAAAN Secretariat and the Sr. Staff from the three countries and is available on the NAAAN website in French, Spanish and English. The NAAAN Steering Committee approved the release of the summary during its meeting last month. From this summary, we will build and continue to develop the organization and programmatic components of the NAAAN. We look forward to working together to elevate the importance of rural advisory and extension services in North America in the coming years.

Directory:

The North American Agricultural Advisory Network (NAAAN) Digital Directory prepared by the NAAAN Secretariat contains over 150 trilingual entries and reflects the participants of the 2022 Country Convenings and other agricultural extension and rural advisory service experts across Canada, Mexico and the U.S.

Each directory entry includes name, title, organization, country, email, and a short biography. This information was obtained through the country convening registration, and each member has given permission for their information to be included in this new tool.

The web-based directory is alphabetized by first name and is searchable and filterable by the NAAAN’s three member countries or by the NAAAN’s three thematic areas of expertise including biodefense and management of natural disasters, soil health and water management, and building the next generation of leaders in agriculture. To view this tool in your preferred language (French, Spanish or English), please use the language drop-down menu in the top center of the webpage.

The NAAAN is the newest member to join the existing networks of the Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services (GFRAS). The NAAAN includes a mosaic of professionals and organizations across North America. The digital directory represents the first time collaborators and rural advisory experts can learn about current professionals within the three North American countries and build new connections and partnerships across the network. This resource will improve communication and collaboration between the NAAAN countries by enabling members to search for others in the database and form new connections.