Landgrantimpacts.com Database Submission Request

The ECOP Monday Minute will be on hiatus until December 4, 2023.
Happy Thanksgiving (by the numbers)!

Landgrantimpacts.com Database Submission Deadline 12/29/2023 - The National Land-grant Impacts Database (NIDB) or landgrantimpacts.org is now administered by APLU through its Board on Agriculture Assembly’s (BAA) Communications and Marketing Committee and staff. NIDB provides a publicly accessible repository of impact statements demonstrating the individual and collective value of the land-grant university tripartite mission of research, education, and Extension. Impact statements are used for variety of purposes including advocacy, accountability, and education. Please remind land-grant university authorized users to submit recent impact statements by December 29, 2023, the end of year-round collection. This will allow the 2024 writing team to opportunity update the last year's summaries and stories. Help for writing and submitting statements is available with a training video and/or the tip sheet. To update the list of authorized submitters, contact Andrea Putman and Kim Scotto.

Dr. Manjit Misra and Dr. Caroline Henney

Seaman A. Knapp Lecture Transcript - The transcript, Looking Back and Thinking Forward-If I Were Seaman A. Knapp Today, I Would Challenge Extension to...., that was presented by Caroline Henney at the 2023 APLU Annual Meeting, is available to view/download here. The historic USDA-NIFA and APLU lecture series continues next year with the Justin Smith Morrill lecture. 

USDA Requests Extension Professionals Spread the Word - 22007 Discrimination Financial Assistance Program - The Discrimination Financial Assistance Program (DFAP) provides financial assistance for farmers, ranchers and forest landowners who experienced discrimination in USDA farm lending programs prior to January 2021. Through Section 22007 of the Inflation Reduction Act, Congress provided a total of $2.2 billion for this program. Technical assistance is available to applicants free of charge from the program’s regional vendors as well as from trusted cooperator organizations with extensive experience conducting outreach to producer communities. USDA extended the deadline to submit applications to January 13, 2024, to give eligible farmers, ranchers and forest landowners more time to apply for assistance. The original deadline was October 31, 2023. To ensure maximum producer participation and increase their awareness of this program and available technical assistance, USDA encourages Cooperative Extension share information about DFAP to their local producer communities. Visit and share the Discrimination Financial Assistance Program website and/or subscribe to the program newsletter.



USDA Announces New Resources to Empower Native American Young People - USDA is offering new resources to inspire Native American youths to explore Indigenous foodways and knowledge and to highlight career paths at USDA and beyond. These efforts are part of USDA’s commitment to empowering tribal self-determination and bringing Indigenous perspectives into agriculture, food and nutrition.

“USDA is reimagining how we support Indigenous agriculture and tribal communities,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “This includes reaching out to the next generation with educational opportunities both formal and informal.”

Learn more about these new resources.

Looking Back and Thinking Forward

November 12, 2023, Hyatt Regency Seattle, APLU Annual Meeting, Seaman A. Knapp Memorial Lecture - Dr. Manjit Misra, USDA NIFA Director, and Dr. Caroline Henney

USDA NIFA’s Seaman A. Knapp lecturer, the Cooperative Extension System/ECOP Executive Director Emeritus Dr. Caroline Henney, applauded the work of the ECOP Program Committee's Program Action Teams listed here, and mentioned the emerging Food Loss Food Waste PAT in her speech, Looking Back and Thinking Forward.

She went on to say, “Extension has an important role to play in the well-being of this nation. I have always believed in the relevance of Extension. In the pivotal nature of this work. In the ability to connect the university to the people. To grow and adapt to ever-emerging human and community needs where and when they occur.”

Dr. Henney quoted Seaman A. Knapp, 1894: “‘Your mission is to solve problems of poverty, to increase measures of happiness, to harness the forces of all learning to the useful and needful in human society.’ One man and a handful of county agents in the South set this nation on a path that produced a vast Extension system with 32,000+ state and local professionals and 1,000,000+ volunteers, empowering farmers, ranchers, families and communities to meet the ever-changing challenges they face. Extension is a powerful, impactful force that has never been needed more.

If I were Seaman Knapp today, I would take the positive understanding of Extension’s important role much farther. I would challenge each of you, no matter what your role or connection to the Extension System of the United States, to kick it up a notch.

First, identify why the Extension service is still after 100+ years the best kept secret, and fix it.

Second, I would seek partnerships at all levels that are well beyond traditional.

Third, I would be relentless in telling the Extension story and sharing its critical value to legislators, and key decision-makers. If I learned anything in my career, its that the squeaky wheel generally gets the grease. I would work across the System to start a nationwide PR program to help the people of this country finally recognize the true treasure that we have in Extension. This far-reaching arm of our universities makes a true difference in the nation and the world.

I believe now than at any other time since Dr. Knapp first brought the universities to the people, that Extension is more critical or more needed for our current and future generations and the diverse communities that Extension serves.

We are all Seaman A. Knapp today. And we must do these things not to seek recognition for what Extension does, but to build hope. To build meaning. To build a far-reaching understanding of Extension as the largest education system of its kind in the world. Bringing the university to the people, as purveyors of credible, research-based information from which people and communities can make informed decisions to improve their lives.

Seaman A. Knapp’s early demonstration work likely has impacted millions and millions of people. On the continuum of this work across time, if appropriately tapped and resourced, Extension can indeed change the world.

Thank you for this incredible opportunity to be with you today.”

2023 Extension Awards Photo Album - From yesterday's USDA Teaching, Extension, Research, FSLI Leadership Award, & Board on Health & Human Sciences Awards session at the APLU Annual Meeting in Seattle, here is the link to an album of our featured winners. Congratulations to all of the winners! To learn more about the awards, and have a jump start on preparing nominations, go to awards.extension.org.

Register for the Charles Valentine Riley Memorial Lecture - On Wednesday this week, November 15, 2023, from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. ET, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) will present a hybrid version of the 13^th Annual Charles Valentine Riley Memorial Lecture, which will be a part of the AAAS 175^th anniversary celebration. In light of the AAAS anniversary, the Lecture will reflect on how the history of science and technology has impacted agriculture, and look forward to how innovation can help address the future of food security and environmental challenges. The annual lecture is a collaboration between AAAS, RMF, and the World Food Prize Foundation. This year’s hybrid lecture will feature Dr. Joe Cornelius, Chief Executive Officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Agricultural Innovations (Gates Ag One). Go to www.aaas.org/riley-lecture to learn more and register.




Rural America at a Glance, 2023 Edition Webinar - During a 1-hour webinar on Thursday this week, November 16, 2023, at 1:00 p.m. ET, the USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) Research Agricultural Economist James C. Davis will highlight the most recent indicators of social and economic conditions in rural areas, focusing on rural population and migration trends, poverty, housing insecurity, unemployment, and clean energy jobs. The ERS releases the Rural America at a Glance report annually, which summarizes the status of conditions and trends in rural areas. Registration here is required.




LAST CHANCE: LEAD21 Apply by November 15 - The LEAD21 program is intended to meet the future needs for leadership development of faculty, specialists, district and regional directors, program and team leaders, research station and center directors, department heads and chairs, and others in the universities’ colleges of agricultural, environmental, natural resources, veterinary sciences, and human sciences and USDA/NIFA. Individuals from Non-land-grant Agriculture and Renewable Resources Universities, and USDA are encouraged to participate. Details and more are available here.

Civil Rights Reviews – What to Know Ahead of Time

Civil Rights Reviews – What to Know Ahead of Time held on November 3, 2023, is a resource for what Extension Directors and Administrators should consider as they prepare for a civil right review for USDA-NIFA. It was one in a series of ECOP's First Friday sessions coordinated by the ECOP Professional Development Committee. This session is a general overview of what to expect and the importance of communicating externally with NIFA and internally with a review team. In addition to the link to the YouTube recording, slides from last Friday's session are available to view/download here. Dates for two more First Friday sessions on Civil Rights Reviews will be announced to Members of the Section and 1994 Extension Directors during the first part of 2024. Working titles:   

   (1) Language Access and Translational Services/Needs 

   (2) What an institution learns from the process? 

Watch for an invitation to ECOP Chair Damona Doye's First Friday Conversation on December 1, 2023, 3-4:00 p.m. ET. Skip January 2024!

Pesticide Safety Education Funds Program Application, Due January 1, 2024 - The EPA has awarded a cooperative agreement to the Extension Foundation (EXF) to administer a national subaward program supporting Pesticide Safety Education Programs (PSEPs). The new project will receive up to $15 million over five years. It will build upon a previous PSEP subaward program, also managed by EXF, which concluded in July 2023. The application for the Empowered Up: A Comprehensive PSEFMP Promoting Efficiency & Environmental Justice (PSEFMP) is now available. In order to be eligible for this funding applicants must be affiliated with a U.S. Land Grant University. Only one application per state or territory is eligible for funding. Learn more here.

Technical Assistance Webinar: Specialty Crop Research Initiative 2024 Request for Pre-Applications - A NIFA webinar on November 8, 2023, 4:00 p.m. ET will provide technical information about the Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI) Request for Pre-Applications for 2024. The purpose of the SCRI program is to address the critical needs of the specialty crop industry by awarding grants to support research and Extension that address key challenges of national, regional, and multi-state importance in sustaining all components of food and agriculture, including conventional and organic food production systems.




2024 National 4-H Conference Information Session - The 2024 National 4-H Conference will be held April 19-24 at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington, Virginia. Known as “the Secretary’s Conference,” this Conference is the flagship youth development opportunity of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Registration for a NIFA informational session on November 15, 2023, 4:00 p.m. ET is an opportunity to learn about the National 4-H Conference history, objectives, schedule, chaperone roles, policies and registration process. Click here to read about the conference.