Do you need aid determining what microbe is use up your tomatoes ? Do you need to bring your horse home but are n’t sure where to locate your barn ? Are you upset about food poisoning when you essay to can this summer ? All of these enquiry — and so many more!—can be answer by your local concerted extension agency .
Staffed by local experts with boot - on - the - background experience , this extension office is task with diffuse science - based agricultural information to anyone who asks for it .
One of the most underutilized farmer resources throughout the nation , propagation offices were solely created to allow for entropy for those concerned in or new to agriculture . Though the definition of agriculture today may be vastly different from what it was in the belated 1800s when the farming gyration began , the commission of extension bureau around the nation remain the same : to render research - found breeding to those interested in agriculture .
prolongation is directly affiliated with land - Duncan James Corrow Grant university ( also called land - Ulysses Simpson Grant institutions or soil - assignment colleges)—schools of higher training that received federal support — in the phase of land and funding . The purpose of these schools was to instruct farming , science , engineering and military scientific discipline . extra congressional acts allowed for the financing of agricultural experimentation stations and the dissemination of information reap from research conducted at these stations .
extension service was formalized by Congress in 1914 , when more than 50 percent of the U.S. population hold up in a rural area and 30 percentage of the workforce was engaged in agriculture . Today , less than 2 percent of Americans make their bread and butter farming and only 17 percent go in “ rural ” areas , but file name extension ’s mission to disseminate agriculture information remains the same.sever180 / Adobe Stock
There is one terra firma - grant institution in every state and territory in the U.S. , including the District of Columbia . Some states have more than one . This is great news for hobby farmers . There ’s an university extension office in or near most of the nation ’s nearly 3,000 counties .
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An annex office is staff by soil - concession asylum professors and educator ( formerly predict agents ) whose sole job is to facilitate farmers — of any size — achieve more succeeder . Each of these agents is a specialist in their arena — with gaze to interest and geography .
Extension educators offer a variety of military service base on the county in which they ’re locate . This ensures that the information you receive is specific to your area , whether that encompasses growing period of time , plant identification , plague and disease management , local water and zoning prerequisite , and so much more .
Two of the most recognizable extension broadcast are4 - Hand theMaster Gardenerprogram ; 4 - H encompasses significantly more than livestock ( though that is a fundamental constituent ! ) with all sorts of labor available — writing to riding to make to welding and everything in between .
No matter what project a student opt , this program is specifically designed to nurture leadership in its youth participants .
Though it can vary by county , Master Gardener training often includes completion of an diligence , attending at educational classes , completion of an examination and 40 hours of military volunteer service within their community .
Extension on the West Coast
extension service services offerings vary across the nation , depending on the organizational system within the university , says Tammy Barnes , denotation field faculty in theanimal and rangeland section at Oregon State University . Barnes has a unparalleled understanding of how they differ : Prior to her move to Lake County , Oregon , she was the cooperative telephone extension associate degree for theUniversity of Kentucky ’s College of Agriculture , Food and the Environmentin Lexington . In that role , she helped Kentucky ’s county extension agents with water quality and manure management programming , as well as with audience .
Though extension program are vast and varied , in ecumenical , says Barnes , the Southern states have continue truer to the ag - relate model on which they were establish . Now locate nearly 2,300 statute mile away from the sum of horse commonwealth , Barnes ’ interaction with stakeholder ( those who are seeking entropy ) often center on providing science - establish selective information on things like Pisces wastewater report and body politic app , lawn and yield tree disease , and irrigation run .
However , her expertness areas still include sage - grouse habitat and riparian areas , grazingand equid . “ I also assist with youth education try in soil scientific discipline , water teaching and creature alimentation , ” Barnes says . “ I also essay to get out and help my community natural resource folks when they do flow projects in the summertime and nightfall . Fall is the time most folk ask for helper with land sample distribution and pasture seeding testimonial . In later descent , winter and other outpouring , I strain to have informational programs on a variety of subject about dirt health and irrigation .
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“ My program are drive by conversations with stakeholders , instinctive resource professionals , other field faculty ( we attempt to collaborate as much as possible ) , and formal pauperism assessments . ”
Barnes has also been asked to serve with insect identification ( include frozen bed bugs)wildflowerandgrassidentification , and testing of novel endophyte in lucerne .
The Lake County area is in southeast Oregon and in the Northern Great Basin of the U.S. “ It ’s a gamy desert and sage brush - steppe ecosystem , ” Barnes tell . “ I leave technical backing and ag education to the local prison ’s remand adults who enter in the multi - state ‘ Sagebrush in Prisons ’ project . This program grows sagebrush for post - fire restoration projection in the Western state . This is one of my best-loved projection because the inmates welcome bionomics and ag education , and help with rehabilitation through positive social impact . ”
Southern Extensions
Bob Coleman , associate extension prof with the University of Kentucky , make do in the first place with equine - link up take . It ’s not uncommon for horse owners to give out to him for help with describe what pasturage are in a pasturage and how to better make do grazing areas .
“ I often help with pasturage stand management , which let in soil testing of pastures and fertilizer recommendations , and weed ascendance options that may let in herbicide , ” he say . “ This starts with discover the weeds that need to be control . ”
What he adds next is particularly poignant and what makes the extension office so valuable : “ extension phone agents can also place any particular price - share opportunities that may be uncommitted in their [ the landowner ’s ] county . Some of these are state , some Union , but agents can help oneself navigate what is available and when applications are due . ”
Some fiscal aid help requires the landowner to obtain additional education . The annexe office can attend here , as , well , Coleman says . Often the educational programs needed or need to receive the financial attention are given by the extension berth .
If a landholder is interested in growinghay , for example , agents can assist with hay analysis : everything from loaning a pasture probe to advise on the science lab to use for the depth psychology . By showing due industry , a landholder is more likely to obtain fiscal aid.sever180 / Adobe Stock
The university extension office is a great resource to find out what ’s going on in the county . “ The agent can often offer guidance on any regulations related to livestock on the attribute and the placement of facilities , ” Coleman says .
“ facility ” can mean everything from milk parlors to manure cavity and everything in between . wrongly locating a edifice can mean more than it just catches the prevailing flatus . It can intend costly reconstructive memory if it ’s locate in a riparian geographical zone or other area where runoff is a care .
The questions Coleman welcome are often season - centric . In the springtime , he ’s often ask for assistance with clay management : gate arrangement , high - dealings launchpad innovation and twist , pasture management and how to set up up rotational skimming .
He ’s also often consulted on scene of action and adeptness design .
Summer and fall often include inquiry about hay analysis and prepping pasturage for renovation , as well as ironical mint initiation for metabolically challenged horses . He ’s often also take about how to nutritionally deal for goodly sawbuck when pasture is scarce .
In dusty weather , Coleman is often asked to assist with locations of run - in shed to hinder cold winds as well as how to keep Equus caballus prosperous as temperatures plummet . During the disconsolate months , Coleman also focuses intemperately on presenting seminar and clinic that are ofinterest to horse owners — everything fromtack and bitting to how to stay safe on trail ride .
Extension in the Northeast
County denotation situation in the Northeast offer many of the same opportunities as those in other field of the county but are gear very specifically to the growing time of year , gadfly and specific to the neighborhood .
Michael Westendorf , an reference specialist and prof at Rutgers , New Jersey ’s land - Cary Grant university , note that county agent offer up sight of seasonal entropy to animal owners and growers in the Northeastern part of the U.S. , often in the anatomy of electronic newssheet and clause .
“ I ’ll indite a newssheet clause that addresses how to make indisputable you have enough provender and what to do if you do n’t ; how to keep water system unfastened or wintertime shelter , ” he says . This info can be especially helpful to those young to the surface area or fresh to animal husbandry in an area of the rural area where winter can be nothing light of brutal .
draw of people now ownbackyard chickens , even in more urban areas , so most county agents are able to advise on everything from inhuman - hardy breeds to adequate tax shelter and possibly on partition requirements!Polina / Adobe Stock
As the produce season is short , the spring focalize heavily on pasture walks , targeted to land and animal proprietor . Extension educators literally walk playing field with holding owner or pop the question a more - inclusive walk of life where the public is ask in in an educational mount . Also available online , these walks focalise on what case of forage and weeds are in a pasture and how to eradicate them safely .
Extension focuses hard on collaboration , so a pot specialist is often brought along in these pasturage walk to assist in Mary Jane identification . ANatural Resources Conservation Serviceemployee may also attend to lecture about everything from ground wellness to water infiltration .
Westendorf is quick to point out that the role of extension is so much more than but providing information : Extension educators are some of the best - connected people in the county . If you ’re look for a wise man or someone to facilitate notify you on a new - to - you agrarian endeavor , it ’s worthwhile to require your county agent if they can put you in touch with someone who is more established in your area or geographic expedition .
This clause originally appeared in the May / June 2023 issue ofHobby Farmsmagazine .
