Frequently Asked Questions About Being a Regenerative Agriculture Technical Assistance Provider
Questions
Work in progress, please come back soon!
- What is a Technical Assistance Provider (TAP)?
Agricultural TAPs support producers in making choices or changes to improve their productivity, sustainability, and overall success in farming operations. Regenerative Agriculture TAPs also provide holistic assistance and guidance to individuals interested in adopting regenerative practices for improving their soil health and carbon sequestration.
- What do TAPS do?
- Technical Support
- Training and Education
- Project Management
- Resource Management
- Outreach and Engagement
- Where do TAPs work?
- Government agencies (NRCS, USDA, California Farm Bureaus, California Resource Conservation Districts, California Department of Food and Agriculture, etc.)
- Non-Profit Organizations
- Educational Institutions
- Private Sector (Planning and Development)
- Community-Based Organizations
Potential Questions
If I were a student, I would want to know:
• What is a Technical Assistance Provider?
• What do they do?
• Where do they do it?
• What is the difference between a TSP and a TAP?
• What kind of training do TAPs need to have? (Is our program enough?) How is TSP training different?
• What is included in TAP training? (We could point them to our classes)
• Are there apprenticeships? (Hands-on classes and workshops?)
• Where do TAPs get jobs? (NRCS, RCDs, schools and other organizations that administer gov't grant programs, corporations that care about carbon credits and/or want their producers to go regenerative, organizations like Understanding Ag, ATTRA NCAT, the Wallace Center and No-Till on the Plains that teach classes and workshops, organizations that provide soil testing or on-farm trainings, anyplace else?)
• What kinds of tools do TAPs use? Do you need to buy anything? If so, where?
What do professionals need to know?
- Are there professional associations that TAPs and TSPs belong to? (Crop Science Society of America? Others?)
- Less formal groups? (We could point them to the Linked in page)
- How to find jobs? (If not the normal routes like Indeed or Zip Recuiter, then perhaps Ag Careers.com?, CAFF job site, CalAgJobs, CDFA job site)
- Not all job offerers would be using the term "TAP" yet but would they use other labels like "agricultural technician" or something else?
- Are there other certifications that are useful and where do you find those? (Certified Crop Advisor, Certified Professional Soil Scientist, etc?)
- Does any Regenerative Agriculture certifying organization like Rodale or HMI provide additional certifications for TAPs or hire them?
- Facebook groups and others that are useful for networking and finding jobs?
- As TAPs yourselves, what questions did you have when you were first starting out?