Themes 2, 3, and 4: challenges of recruitment, membership, and leadership, and strategies to address them.
| Theme (challenge) | Sub-theme (strategy to address challenge) |
|---|---|
| Theme 2: Recruitment | 1. Target key individuals. Key individuals are those who are well-connected, knowledgeable, influential, and the largest growers. 2. Use public resources. For example, email lists from previous events and county-specific pesticide permit database to identify potential members and contact details. 3. Begin recruiting with direct communication. Face-to-face conversations and phone calls were more effective in persuading people to join than mass mailing. 4. Use social network of members to expand recruitment. Ask initial recruits to help find more members by directly contacting people they know. 5. Be aware of existing relationships. Prior collaboration between members facilitates group formation but it can take time to build trust between strangers. Past conflicts can be a barrier to group formation. One coordinator asked another member to approach a neighbor with whom they had past conflict; the other member successfully acted as a neutral “emissary” to recruit them. 6. Understand the barriers to member participation. Barriers mentioned were (a) limited time; (b) a lack of authority (e.g., to share information); and (c) a negative attitude toward the idea of a group, often linked to the difficulty of perceiving group impacts. |
| Theme 3: Membership | 1. Core membership should be staff dealing directly with issue(s) of concern. The most important members are considered “boots on the ground” decision-makers dealing directly with the issue(s) of interest. Ideally, the highest-level decision-makers (e.g., owners, executives) should be included, but this is challenging. Their occasional participation and support for staff involvement is critical. 2. Be inclusive of farming styles. Inclusivity of farming styles was important, but in one county group there was a debate about member job roles, fearing the purpose of the group was being diluted. 3. Adjacent organizations can support groups. Involvement of staff from adjacent organizations should be considered. In several groups in Napa County, the involvement of local extension professionals aided group formation, projects, or knowledge dissemination. 4. Sustaining membership. Membership can vary over time. Regular communication by coordinator is required to sustain membership, and effort should be made to replace individuals who depart the group, for example, if they leave their employer. |
| Theme 4: Leadership | 1. Committed coordinators are essential. Annual time commitment was estimated at 21 hr, plus time to recruit members, and potentially lengthy time commitments for group projects. Limited time to conduct the role was a key challenge as duties are considered “extracurricular” by many employers. 2. Dual coordinator roles can help address time burdens and succession. All coordinators were nominated by a few members or self-selected because they created the group. Existing members were encouraged to take the position when a new coordinator was needed. In one case, failure to replace a coordinator led to disbandment of a group. Dual coordinators relieve workload burdens and ensure the coordinator role can be passed on when required. |