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Tuesday, September 09, 2014

Cooperative Extension services are becoming more diverse, nimble and technological

With smaller budgets, fewer farmers, a more diverse population and modern technology, the extension agents across the country are remaining relevant by using such tools as Google Chat, Skype, online tutorials and webinars, Marsha Mercer reports for Stateline.

"President Woodrow Wilson signed the law creating the Cooperative Extension Service in 1914. The goal of the unusual county-state-federal partnership was to share land-grant university research on agriculture, home economics and rural energy, Mercer notes. "Back then, more than half the U.S. population lived in rural areas, and 30 percent of the workforce farmed. Today, however, less than 2 percent of Americans farm for a living, and only 17 percent live in rural areas. The extension service remains active in nearly all of the nation’s 3,000 counties, but the shift has prompted major changes in how it does business."

Full-time employees decreased from 17,009 in 1980 to 13,294 in 2010, a drop of 22 percent, Mercer writes. To make up for the losses, "The extension service now relies heavily on nearly 3 million trained volunteers and its website to disseminate information."

In addition to helping farmers and rural families, extension "also works to protect the environment, ensure a safe food supply, respond to natural disasters, foster greater energy independence, help youth and adults be healthier and enhance workforce skill," Mercer writes.

For example, Oregon's service brings together vineyard managers, winemakers and students for classes in person and online, Mercer writes. Virginia's "has helped train more than 300 farmers in Virginia, the Carolinas and Kentucky get a head start on expected federal food-safety regulations – and, in the meantime, expand their markets."

Southwest Kansas, which has a large immigrant population, "has started bilingual 4-H clubs for immigrant children and their parents," Mercer writes. And "last year, after the Affordable Care Act insurance exchanges went live, the Delaware and Maryland extensions developed the Smart Choice training program to help consumers choose the right health insurance plan. The program has spread to 30 states, said Michelle Rodgers, director of University of Delaware Extension."

"Extension services have worked for years on helping individuals fight obesity and improve health, but future efforts will engage the community on improving the environment for health, such as school lunch and restaurant menus, said Rodgers, who chairs extension’s task force on health," Mercer writes. "The 4-H Food Smart Families program is helping 2,500 children and their families make good food choices in pilot projects in Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Nebraska and Washington, thanks to a $2 million grant from ConAgra Foods Foundation." (Read more)

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