Course Organization and Resources

Each module consists of a video recording and accompanying PowerPoint slide set with notes for each slide. Several regenerative agricultural professionals present the course modules, and those details can be found in this syllabus under Contributing Authors. This course is entirely online, self-paced, and asynchronous, meaning you can complete each module at your own pace. This course is intended to take approximately 11 total hours to complete, ideally over 3 months (11 weeks). The course is designed for you to complete one module per week. However, you can complete the course more quickly than that and vice versa, the course will allow up to 6 months to complete before your account is removed from this course. If additional time is needed, please reach out to the course instructor for details (contact details below). The estimated time commitment for each module is listed below with the Module Topics.

This course is beginner-level, and no prior agricultural experience is required. To obtain the Certificate of Course Completion, you need to complete each module in this course consecutively, starting with module 1 through module 11, within the allocated time. Each model consists of an overview page which will have a presentation recording, accompanying PowerPoint slides, a 10-question quiz, and additional resources. Please pay close attention to which reading materials are required versus those listed as optional materials for this course. You are not required to review the additional resources as they are supplemental.

Each module may also include:

• Videos covering the topic
• Readings to enhance the participant's understanding
• Discussions to connect to course participants

Your email address is the default for communication, so check it regularly.

You must score at least 70% or higher on your quiz to progress to the following module. You may complete the quiz as many times as needed. Upon completion of the course, you will have access to your Certificate of Completion, and access to a short feedback survey. Your thoughts and opinions help us improve this training for future participants, so please consider providing feedback!

Objectives

Upon successful completion of this course, you should be able to: 

• Explain the benefits of cover crops and their impacts on soil health
• Summarize the general process of a cover crop system from selecting cover crop species to seed establishment, termination, and subsequent cash crop planting
• Identify ecosystem services cover crops can provide such as promoting beneficial insects, soil erosion prevention, improving soil fertility through nitrogen fixation, reduced weed growth, and contributions to climate change mitigation through soil carbon sequestration
• Recognize how cover crops promote farm resiliency through livestock integration
• Identify potential pest and nutrient issues in cover crop systems 
• Interpret economic benefits and business strategies for using cover crops

It is critical that you review the module presentations and required materials along with scoring at least 70% on each of the quizzes.

Meet Your Instructor!

Olivia Caillouet, PhD
University of Missouri
Center for Regenerative Agriculture
Soil Health Program Manager

Remote Worker, East Coast, U.S.
Typically, available M-F, 8 am - 5 pm ET

Please, contact me via email or phone with questions or concerns. 
Email: oliviacaillouet@missouri.edu | Phone: (501) 993-1060

Olivia grew up in Arkansas and attended the University of Arkansas for her bachelor's degree in horticulture focused on small fruit and vegetable production. Then, she completed her master's degree in Agricultural and Extension Education at the University of Arkansas and a doctoral degree in Agricultural Education and Communication from the University of Florida specializing in Extension. Olivia has worked on numerous farms from Puerto Rico to the California coast and has applied techniques to improve farm resiliency through soil health, water conservation, integrated pest management, and crop diversification (plant and animals). Most recently, Olivia serves as a Soil Health Program Manager for the University of Missouri Center for Regenerative Agriculture. The majority of her time is spent assisting technical advisors who are enrolling farmers in a USDA-funded cover crop cost-share program, Farmers for Soil Health. 

Contributing Authors

Additional Course Presenters

	Rob Myers, PhD University of Missouri, Center for Regenerative Agriculture Presenting Modules 2, 3, 5, & 11
	Bethany Bedeker, MS University of Missouri, Center for Regenerative Agriculture Presenting Modules 4, 6, & 10
Course Contributor
	Kelly Wilson, PhD University of Missouri, Center for Regenerative Agriculture

Discussions

The purpose of the discussions is to give you an opportunity to learn from each other and explore the topics introduced in the course as a learning community. Sometimes, the act of writing can help us clarify, make connections, and draw implications from our experiences in new ways. 

We acknowledge that everyone's contribution will be unique and particular to their context and experiences. Therefore, we expect and welcome a diversity of contributions and viewpoints. We hope that everyone will bring to the course a posture of curiosity, interest in listening, and willingness to share. We also expect that participants will bring different prior experiences, interests, and motivations to this course and discussions will reflect this range.

Discussion post prompts were designed to fit the self-paced design of this course and will be frequently checked for appropriateness. Furthermore, discussion post interactions between course participants are not required, it is highly encouraged to help you engage with the course material on a deeper level and foster a sense of online community. 

Netiquette

For a successful online course experience, clear, thoughtful communication is essential. Discussion forums and course communications are important venues for exchanging ideas and promoting learning. Your instructor and fellow participants wish to foster a safe and inclusive online learning environment. Constructive criticism and questions are encouraged; however, you will be expected to remain professional and courteous in all of your posts. You are encouraged to comment, question or critique an idea, but you are not to attack an individual.

Our differences, some of which are outlined in the University of Missouri's nondiscrimination statement, will add richness to this learning experience. Please consider that sarcasm and humor can be misconstrued in online interactions and generate unintended disruptions. Working as a community, we can build a polite and respectful course atmosphere. As your instructor, I reserve the right to delete any forum posts I deem to be inappropriate for the course.

(Adapted with permission from MU Course Design & Technologies' Online Teaching Foundations)

Diversity

We value the voice of every participant in this course. We embrace our diversity as a group—in race, gender, age, sexual orientation and gender identity, religion, language, ability, culture, ethnicity, socioeconomic and veteran status —as an asset, resource and strength that is critical to our learning experience.  As a result, we are committed to designing inclusive lessons and assignments that encourage diverse perspectives to be recognized and respected, while providing you with the opportunity to speak and be heard, explore your own understanding, and engage with one another.

Technical Requirements

Here in the syllabus as well as in an introductory email, you will have access to detailed instructions for any technologies that you may need throughout the course. 

Participants will also need some technical skills, which might include

• Using the learning management system-Getting Started with Canvas menu tab with videos, Getting Started student support site, canvas@umsystem.edu email
• Sending and receiving an email with attachments
• Downloading and installing software (Provide links to download software and links to help resources.  Provide appropriate contact information for additional assistance.)
• Using presentation and graphics programs for viewing the module presentations

Access our Getting Started with Canvas page from the course menu for short tutorial videos.  

You can also enroll in our student support site for various topic resources including: 

• How to navigate a Canvas course.
• Where to find help and resources.
• How to personalize your online learning experience.
• Resources and how-to for live Zoom session. 
• How to participate in groups and discussions.

Download  the Canvas Student App to access your Canvas course from your mobile device.

For the best user experience, we recommend using  Google Chrome as your browser (Safari for Macintosh). If you don't have Google Chrome installed on your computer, you can download the latest version.

If you have technical questions or need additional help, please please email  Canvas Support. You can find more information on the technical requirements on the Canvas website.

Accommodations

We all learn differently, and we want every participant to succeed. University of Missouri Extension complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. If you have a disability and need accommodations in connection with this course, or you need materials in an alternate format, please notify your instructor as soon as possible so that necessary arrangements can be made.

MU Extension Equal opportunity, ADA institution information.

Module Topics

Participant Resources

Module 1: Cover Crops and their Top 10 Impacts on Soil Health presented by Olivia Caillouet
(25-minute presentation) 

Module 2: Selecting Cover Crop Species presented by Rob Myers
(30-minute presentation) 

Module 3: Managing Nutrients and Herbicides When Using Cover Crops presented by Rob Myers
(29-minute presentation) 

Module 4: Cover Crop Seeding and Establishment presented by Bethany Bedeker
(21-minute presentation) 

Module 5: Grazing Cover Crops presented by Rob Myers
(34-minute presentation) 

Module 6: Cover Crop Termination presented by Bethany Bedeker
(14-minute presentation) 

Module 7: Strategies for Cash Crop Planting Following a Cover Crop, Including “Planting Green” presented by Olivia Caillouet
(26-minute presentation) 

Module 8: Pest Issues with Cover Crops presented by Olivia Caillouet
(31-minute presentation)

Module 9: Cover Crop Impacts on Wildlife, Birds and Pollinators presented by Olivia Caillouet
(15-minute presentation)

Module 10: The Business of Cover Crops: Trends and Opportunities presented by Bethany Bedeker
(11-minute presentation)

Module 11: Cover Crop Economics presented by Rob Myers
(40-minute presentation) 

Course Wrap-up and Certificate of Course Completion

Activities and Assignments

The assignments throughout this course are designed to test your knowledge of fundamental cover crop-related concepts. There are 13 assignments for this course, comprised of an introductory discussion post, 11 module quizzes scoring 70% or better, and a concluding discussion post. Each module is designed with required activities such as videos and readings that each quiz will be based on. Please note, the required versus optional activities in the course and that quizzes only focus on information from the required activities.

This course is asynchronous, self-paced, so that you can work through each module as you are available. With that in mind, you need to keep yourself accountable to working through each module to ensure your Certificate of Course Completion. Setting calendar reminders could be a useful tool to distribute this learning over several weeks. In addition, you must complete each module sequentially (e.g., module 1 before module 2 will be unlocked). 

• Module 1 - Discussion post (recommend submission within 1 week of starting the course, but due no more than 6 months after starting this course)
• Modules 1-11 - Quizzes with a score of 70% or greater (recommend submission 1 time per week, but within 6 months of starting this course)
• Module 11 - Discussion post (recommended submission about 3 months after starting the course, but within 6 months of starting this course)

If you respond to the prompt question, your discussion post will be marked complete or incomplete within 1-2 weeks of submission. You will be able to move on to the next modules while your introduction post is being reviewed. However, you will not have access to your Certificate of Course Completion until the module 1 and module 11 discussion posts have been marked complete by your instructor.

Once you have completed each of the 11 modules, you will gain access to your Certificate of Course Completion via a link provided in Canvas. A total of 130 points are possible (11 module quizzes at 10 points maximum each, and 2 completed discussion posts at 10 points each). However, you must score 97 points or more to receive your Certificate of Course Completion (11 module quizzes at 7 points minimum each, and 2 completed discussion posts at 10 points each).

All course assignments should be completed within 6 months of starting the course. However, please contact the course instructor if you need an assignment extension due to extenuating circumstances. Also, be sure to download any materials you would like access to in the future prior to your course access deadline.  If you contact the course instructor with a question or concern, please expect a 1–2-day response time during normal working hours.

Certified Crop Advisor (CCA) Continuing Education Units (CEUs) 

Over the 11 course modules, 5.5 CCA CEU credits are available in a variety of subject matter areas. To receive CCA CEUs, you must select "yes" in the module quiz indicating you are requesting CEUs along with providing your CCA, CPAg, CPSS, or CPSC number. In addition, you must score at least 70% or higher on the module quiz. These course module CEU requests are submitted to CCA monthly on or around the 1st, so expect a delay in CEU submissions. Questions regarding CCA credits can be sent to your course instructor, or you can reach out to Certified Crop Advisor directly at certification@sciencesocieties.org or by visiting their website CEUs | Certified Crop Adviser.

Module 1: 0.5 credits, Soil & Water Management | Tracking Number: SS 58664
Module 2: 0.5 credits, Crop Management | Tracking Number: SS 58665
Module 3: 0.5 credits, Nutrient Management | Tracking Number: SS 58666
Module 4: 0.5 credits, Crop Management | Tracking Number: SS 58667
Module 5: 0.5 credits, Crop Management | Tracking Number: SS 58668
Module 6: 0.5 credits, Crop Management | Tracking Number: SS 58669
Module 7: 0.5 credits, Crop Management | Tracking Number: SS 58670
Module 8: 0.5 credits, Integrated Pest Management | Tracking Number: SS 58671
Module 9: 0.5 credits, Integrated Pest Management | Tracking Number: SS 58672
Module 10: 0.5 credits, Crop Management | Tracking Number: SS 58673
Module 11: 0.5 credits, Crop Management | Tracking Number: SS 58674

Certificate of Course Completion

Curriculum Review & Acknowledgements

These module presentations were created as part of a project supported by the Walton Family Foundation. The modules have been peer-reviewed, with the reviewers noted in each slide deck. The presentations are available for use by any course enrollee working with farmers or farm advisors. Credit to the University of Missouri, Midwest Cover Crop Council, and Walton Family Foundation is requested for any slide sets used by others, but otherwise, they can be co-branded with the name of the individual or organization providing the training.