The investment made through this project will result in a sustainable structure for delivering a variety of educational programs to the agricultural community. The audience is producers, agricultural professionals, and Extension Educators. This project will serve as an improved resource for Extension educational programs. Alfalfa is the most important forage crop in the nation and distributed worldwide. Grown on 27 million acres in the US, it is used for feeding millions of livestock and in many cropping systems.
Information needs are present in every state and internationally.
The NAIS will be developed through national and international cooperation, putting the best science-based alfalfa information and expertise at the fingertips of producers, consultants, extension workers, instructors, researchers, and users. This network will present and promote new and existing educational information from land-grant universities and colleges while publicizing the extension, resident instruction, and research programs of those institutions. This project establishes a library of Internet-based teaching modules in plant biotechnology that facilitate interactive learning. The modules will be developed as lessons and networked by educators to assemble programs that target the educational needs of agricultural professionals. The American Society of Agronomy will facilitate the development of a review and evaluation process for the modules.