Design and Goals of the Workshop
Similar to last year’s course, this workshop was designed for participants in the TOA-MD course that began in March 2013. In the first “self-guided” part of the course, participants studied the Basic Learning Module and the Advanced Learning Module and completed exercises from each module. On-line question-and-answer sessions were also held. Before coming to the Workshop, participants worked on their system designs and prepared data from their research projects. The goals of the workshop were to review the BLM and ALM, discuss climate change and ecosystem service analysis using TOA-MD, and make progress in the participants’ case studies.
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Workshop Attendees |
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| Last Name | First Name | Institution |
| Anderson Brekken | Christy | Oregon State University, Applied Economics |
| Faye | Amy | University Cheickh Anta Diop of Dakar, Senegal |
| Murage | Alice | International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe), based in Mbita point Kenya |
| Musumba | Mark | Tropical Agriculture & Rural Environment Program, Earth Institute at Columbia University |
| Pede | Valerien Olivier | International Rice Research Institute |
| Sissoko | Manda dite Mariam | International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) |
| Suwadu | SAKHO JIMBIRA Maam | IPAR (Initiative Prospective Agricole et Rural) |
| Turinawe | Alice | Department of Agribusiness & Natural Resource Economics College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala |
Workshop Agenda
We will begin on Monday June 17 at 8:30 AM at Kelley Engineering Building, Room 1005 (see map below). Each day’s session will run from approximately 9 AM to 5 PM with lunch provided at the meeting room at noon each day. On Wednesday we will work in the morning and take a field trip to the Willamette Valley in the afternoon. The workshop will conclude by 3 PM on Friday.
Sunday June 16
- Participants arrive in Corvallis
Monday June 17
- Introductions and review of goals, agenda
- Presentations by Participants
- Identify priority topics for the week; review BLM, ALM topics
- Reception at home of Susan Capalbo and John Antle (112 NW 29th St)
Tuesday June 18
- Stratification strategies; advanced topics in impact assessment
- Participant project development
Wednesday June 19
- Modeling livestock sub-systems; climate change impact & adaptation
- Field Trip to Willamette Valley Winery and Rogue Hop Farm followed by a training workshop dinner at del Alma
Thursday June 20
- Special topics requested by participants; ecosystem services
- Participant project development
Friday June 22
- Special topics requested by participants
- Participant project presentations
- Meeting ends 3 PM
Workshop Activities
During the workshop participants were presented with a brief history of how the TOA-MD model came about, as well as a few funny stories about what MD means to people (Doctor of Tradeoff Analysis perhaps?). There were helpful discussions about:
- Stratifying datasets when the data has skewed distributions such as a few very large farms vs. many small farms
- The use models to simulate data when real world data is not available, and
- How to identify when there may be problems with the data
- and many other incidental concerns regarding model setup
Each of the participants made presentations describing how they are applying the TOA-MD model to their projects, and at the end of the workshop they shared their preliminary results and highlighted areas in which further data was needed to complete the models.
During the workshop assistance was provided to participants as they worked through issues they were encountering. Participants also had time to discuss problem areas with other users, and work through data and application issues related directly to their individual projects.
Social Activities
After the first day of the workshop John Antle hosted a reception at his house, where everyone enjoyed some smoked Pacific Northwest salmon, local brews, and wine. There was also a field trip on Wednesday to tour the Willamette Valley Winery and the Rogue Hop Farm, followed by dinner at local restaurant in Corvallis.
The workshop concluded on Friday with a graduation ceremony in which each participant received a certificate of achievement proving that they did indeed successfully complete the 2nd Annual Global TOA-MD Workshop!!
