Cooperative Extension (CE) is a nationwide system that addresses leading concerns for United States residents from agricultural production to healthy youth development. As 80% of Americans are not meeting the Physical Activity Guidelines (PAG), promoting physical activity is a recent addition to CE priority areas. To build capacity of CE to offer physical activity, training on physical activity within the system is needed. Since yoga is a public health intervention growing in popularity due to its link to flourishing and mental well-being, this is a holistic practice that may target physical and mental health in the United States. Due to the variety of yoga practices one could engage with it is important to clarify the link between physical activity and yoga. This dissertation included four studies to promote physical activity and yoga within CE. Study one established the efficacy of a virtual micro-credentialing program for CE professionals (N = 64) that increased their knowledge about physical activity programming and increased their own physical activity levels. The second study was an iterative and pragmatic investigation of wellness initiatives for CE professionals to increase flourishing and physical activity within themselves. The third study explored the degree to which temperature and tempo of yoga classes impacted measured heart rate and rate of perceived exertion. Preliminary evidence suggests that ~30% of the yoga class contributed to moderate-vigorous physical activity, regardless of the temperature and speed. The fourth study was a systematic appraisal of urban and rural yoga studio offerings. The results included that most studios offer 60-minute classes, focused on asana (movement) rather than the other limbs (components) of yoga. This work also resulted in a studio audit form for CE professionals to assess yoga studios for appropriateness to recommend to their participants. Future work includes scaling out the micro-credentialing program and determining the degree to which knowledge of physical activity leads to physical activity program adoption (study 1); ensuring CE professionals have access to wellness initiatives to avoid burn out (study 2); ongoing investigation of the physiological benefits of yoga (study 3); and testing the utility of the studio audit form (study 4). / Doctor of Philosophy / Physical activity is an important part of living a healthy life and can look different for everyone. The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommend for people to get 2 days of full body strength training along with 150 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic activity each week. Aerobic activity is activity that gets your heart rate up. In the first manuscript of this dissertation, Cooperative Extension professionals were trained in how to promote physical activity and physical activity programming. Cooperative Extension is a nationwide program that helps get research knowledge from the universities to the public. The second manuscript looks at how Cooperative Extension professionals were able to incorporate more mindfulness, yoga, and self-care for themselves through employee wellness programs, and which programs worked best in a practical way. The third manuscript looks at if the physical practice of yoga can increase heart rate to moderate to vigorous intensity zones in order to determine if a typical community-based yoga flow could contribute to meeting the aerobic components of the Physical Activity Guidelines. Based on this study, yoga can help participants get into the moderate intensity aerobic activity zone. The fourth manuscript explores the research and development of a yoga studio audit tool. This tool helps assess yoga studios so that public health professionals can recommend the studio that is the right fit for their clients.

Food systems include food production, processing, distribution, marketing, access, preparation, consumption, and disposal and influences of social, economic, and environmental conditions. Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE) has professionals, paraprofessionals, and volunteers with expertise in food systems dimensions integrated into Virginia communities. Current VCE programming has unequal reach for Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) communities. Community health workers (CHWs) are lay outreach workers who are from the communities they serve and can be effective health educators within BIPOC communities who experience health disparities. The CHW model is underexplored in food systems, despite the importance of food systems for health. A scoping review of United States CHW educational food systems interventions found CHW reach to BIPOC communities primarily through education on food preparation and consumption. Garden-based programming educated on the highest number of food system processes, highlighting a potential role of CHWs within food systems. These results guided development of a feasibility evaluation for the CHW model for garden-based food systems programming for VCE, emphasizing reach to BIPOC communities. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 29 VCE stakeholders representing several disciplines. The CHW model is feasible for VCE within the current focus on food systems, diversity, and inclusion. Participatory approaches for programming should be used to incorporate the cultural knowledge of the CHW and to create a welcoming environment for BIPOC communities. The CHW model can connect disciplines to provide accessible and culturally relevant programming to BIPOC communities, thus extending the reach of VCE and potentially creating more inclusive community food systems. / Master of Science / Food systems encompass all processes from food production to disposal and are influenced by social, economic, and environmental conditions in which food travels from farm to fork. Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE) provides outreach to Virginia communities by disseminating research-based information through professionals and volunteers in educational programming for topics that include agriculture, gardening, nutrition, and more. Community health workers (CHWs) are public health educators who serve Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) to mitigate health disparities that are exacerbated by unequal distribution of resources within food systems. CHWs are from the communities they serve and thus are uniquely positioned as culturally sensitive educators. This thesis aimed to explore the role of CHWs in food systems education and to evaluate the feasibility of the CHW model for garden-based food systems programming for VCE. A scoping review of U.S.-based food systems interventions found that CHWs have reached BIPOC communities for food systems education that focuses on preparation and consumption of food, but the CHW model has not been widely documented in broad-lens food systems educational programming. Garden-based programs educated on the greatest number of food systems processes. Interviews with 29 VCE stakeholders showed that the CHW model is feasible within the structure and values of VCE. The CHW model can connect traditionally separate disciplines to provide accessible and culturally relevant programming to BIPOC communities, thus extending the reach of VCE and potentially creating more inclusive community food systems.

M.S.

The central problem of this study was to identify and compare the basic beliefs of teacher-coordinators, local supervisors, state supervisors, and teacher educators of business and office education in Virginia regarding the coordination of high school cooperative office education programs. A secondary problem was to determine if there was a relationship between specific biographical variables (years of coordination experience, years of employment experience, and previous course work in cooperative education) and the basic beliefs expressed by the business and office education personnel and if there was a relationship between school location (urban, suburban, middle-sized, and rural or smaller community) and the basic beliefs expressed by the teacher-coordinators in the study. / Ed. D.

The purposes of this study were ( a) to provide documented accounts of cooperative education students' experiences when interacting with diverse groups and (b) to obtain cooperative education students' and work-site supervisors' perceptions of the knowledge and attitudes needed by cooperative education students to interact effectively with diverse groups. The outcomes of the study provided information related to the multicultural theory of knowledge being positional and relating to the knower's values and experiences. Focus groups (group interviews) that were designed to uncover participants' points of view and perceptions were used to collect the data. Four groups of six cooperative education students and two groups of six cooperative education work-site supervisors participated in the study. Relevant topics, issues, and concepts relating to cultural and ethnic diversity derived from a review of the literature were summarized and incorporated in the discussion guides used with the student and work-site supervisor groups. All participants completed demographic data sheets. Each session was tape recorded, and the researcher took field notes. The tapes of each group were transcribed. Transcripts were analyzed using ethnographic summaries and content analysis. Also field notes and data sheets were compiled. Recurring themes were identified and marked under the categories of: school experiences; work experiences; personal experiences; school, home and personal experiences combined; student perceptions of knowledge and attitudes needed; and work-site supervisor perceptions of knowledge and attitudes needed. Five major themes that evolved from the study were: understanding, self-esteem, acceptance, principles, and interactions. Self-esteem was the dominant theme for all three questions followed by acceptance, interactions, understanding, and principles. The study revealed that productive interaction with diverse groups took place more often when students felt good about themselves. Giving value to themselves allowed them to also give value to others. Their self-confidence was reflected in their appearance, lifestyle, behavior, professional accomplishments, and relationships. Study results also revealed that effective interaction with diverse groups was often inhibited by students’ preconceived perceptions derived from a lack of knowledge. Information about culturally and ethnically diverse groups' beliefs, customs, languages, family backgrounds, ethnicities, communication styles, and/or perspectives were crucial to clarifying such perceptions. Both work-site supervisors and cooperative education students responded that communication was also essential to effective interaction. Structured group settings that allow for student socialization with diverse groups were recommended. / Ph. D.

Current economic theory describing the behavior and performance of agricultural cooperatives is not capable of addressing many of the crucial issues facing these institutions in today’s environment of declining government involvement in price and income support of U.S. agriculture. This dissertation seeks to incorporate those factors which uniquely define a cooperative as different from other forms of organizing business activity into a model of cooperative investment behavior. In this study, the set of property rights governing ownership and control of cooperatives is identified and formally built into a neoclassical model of firm investment. The property rights approach is used to establish the core of a theory of cooperatives. This theory is used to construct a set of hypotheses about cooperative behavior, particularly with respect to investment behavior and the relative competitive position of cooperatives and competing forms of business organization. The approach lends insight into the economic incentives for forming cooperatives and the reasons why cooperative corporation ownership and control structures are unique from those observed in investor owned corporations. The resulting analysis indicates four key issues impacting the cooperative institution’s ability to compete with investor owned firms in the agribusiness sector of the economy. These issues are (1) the decision control problem, (2) the common property problem, (3) the investment portfolio problem, and (4) the residual horizon problem. These conditions, if active, will act so as to restrain cooperatives from investing at the same rate and scope as investor owned firms. Policy makers interested in promoting the role of cooperatives as an organizational form to assist and protect the interests of entrepreneurs such as farmers and at the same time provide an orderly and efficient flow of goods and services to consumers, need to understand the precise conditions of competitive environment, economic sector type, and investment requirements in which cooperatives will be able to fulfill these dual roles and those in which they cannot. Empirical research into these areas will require both case study and traditional quantitative approaches which permit in depth analysis of the hypotheses generated by this study which seek to explain and predict cooperative business organization behavior. / Ph. D.

Yes / In this paper, I would like to share some thoughts provoked by the idea of establishing ‘dialogue studies’ as a distinct academic field, as suggested in the inaugural call for contributions to the new journal. These are not meant to be exhaustive of all the relevant questions that could be considered under this heading. I do not, for example, consider the question of disciplinary contributions or boundaries. My emphasis, rather, is on questions to do with ethos and coherence. In particular, I am interested in exploring the possibility, and the challenges, of cultivating a dialogic approach to the study of dialogue itself. My reflections begin with a look at the tendency, within academia, to privilege debate as a form of communication and the question of whether we might conceive a Journal of Dialogue Studies as a forum for a different kind of exchange. I then reflect on some of the difficulties of studying dialogue itself, particularly where this involves outside observers. The final section raises some issues around ‘studying dialogue’ in relation to teaching, learning and assessment. My overall intention here is to share some current, tentative thoughts in the hope that this contributes to a dialogue on the idea, and perhaps the practice, of ‘dialogue studies’.

no abstract provided by author / Master of Science

Cash grain producers of Virginia’s Northern Neck region face considerable yield and price uncertainty resulting in substantial income risk. This study evaluated several alternative production and marketing strategies in a portfolio analysis using the Target MOTAD framework. The alternative risk management strategies evaluated included hedging using options and futures, cash contracting, and participation in government commodity programs and crop insurance programs. Unlike most previous studies which have treated the decision-making process as a single period process, this study formulates the problem as a recursive two-stage model. The mean forecast deviation approach was used to model activity risk. The results suggest that even though government program participation is the most risk efficient strategy, a great deal of complementarity in risk management exists between the government programs and marketing strategies using commodity futures and options. Crop insurance was found to be ineffective for the representative farm under consideration. / Master of Science

Providing improved access to farmers markets and other local food outlets for low-income audiences is an increasingly popular nutrition intervention strategy to promote consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables and address obesity. The USDA encouraged more farm to fork initiatives and efforts to connect low-income populations with fresh and healthy, local foods through farmers markets through the implementation of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Nutrition Education (SNAP-Ed) provisions of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. The purpose of this research was to assess the perceived barriers to farmers market access and strategies for overcoming those barriers for low-income individuals and families participating in Cooperative Extension nutrition programming. Data collection procedures included a survey of SNAP-Ed and the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) program assistants, focus group discussions with SNAP-eligible individuals, and a photo elicitation study with mothers of young children. Results from these studies provide insight on how to structure program assistant trainings to encourage the inclusion of an optional farmers market orientation lesson in SNAP-Ed and EFNEP curricula; low-income individuals' perception of healthy food, access to and perception of local foods, benefits and barriers to shopping at farmers markets, and the impact of local foods on diet quality; and how to address perceived barriers through Cooperative Extension nutrition programming for the SNAP-Ed and ENFEP target population of SNAP-eligible mothers of young children. Working with farmers markets is an opportunity to form greater synergy between the arms of Extension (Family and Consumer Sciences, Community Viability, Agriculture and Natural Resources, and potentially 4-H) related to supporting local food systems while forming collaborative relationships with local farmers markets and community members. / Ph. D.