NIFA Director Hamby Speaks at Successful PILD Conference

On April 7-9, the Public Issues Leadership Development (PILD) conference was held in Chrystal City, VA. It was a great success. The new NIFA Director, Jaye Hamby, provided opening remarks. Among his many points, he indicated that “they could not have found a greater supporter of Cooperative Extension to serve as NIFA Director.” It was an excellent program that was well executed, which prepared Cooperative Extension Professionals to more impactfully interact with legislators and other public officials. 

A large part of 2025 PILD’s success is attributable to Joint Council of Extension Professionals President Phil Durst (Michigan State), PILD co-chair Daphnie Richards (Texas A&M), and Ali Mitchell (Northeast Extension Executive Director).

Lewis-Burke Washington Update Available  

APLU recently distributed its FANR FOCUS, which included a Lewis Burke Washington Update. Key points include: 

• Republicans Begin Negotiations on Reconciliation
• USDA Nominee Update
  
• HHS Reductions in Force (RIFs) with USDA RIFs to Follow

NIFA Staff at 2025 NERAOC

NIFA brought key staff to the annual National Extension and Research Administrative Officers Conference (NERAOC) held recently in Reno, NV. More than 500 participants attended the conference which provides a venue for professional development, information sharing and networking to state Cooperative Extension, agInnovation and USDA NIFA staff.

Through the opportunity to share and discuss information related to fiscal, grant (competitive and capacity), administrative, communications and human resources management, NERAOC participants gain important professional development.



HHS and USDA Hold First Public MAHA Event, Outline Vision for Healthier America

On April 4, U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary (USDA) Brooke L. Rollins collaborated on their first Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) event during a visit to Ferdinand T. Day Elementary School in Alexandria, VA where they participated in a healthy snack time with students and met facility staff. The event was an opportunity to learn more about the impact that federally funded nutrition programs have on children and signaled their strong partnership to work together to effectuate their vision for a healthier America.

“Secretary Kennedy and I have a unique once in a generation opportunity to better align our vision on nutrition related programs to ensure we are working together to advance President Trump’s vision to make our kids, our families, and our communities healthy again,” said Secretary Rollins. “Our farmers, ranchers, and producers dedicate their lives to growing the safest most abundant food supply in the world and we need to make sure our kids and families are consuming the healthiest food we produce. There is a chronic health problem in our country, and American agriculture is at the core of the solution.”

2025 Borlaug CAST Communications Award: Celebrating Excellence in Agricultural Communication

The Borlaug CAST Communication Award is a prestigious honor that recognizes individuals whose dedication to advancing and promoting agricultural science echoes the transformative legacies of Dr. Norman E. Borlaug and Dr. Charles A. Black. Dr. Borlaug—revered as “The Man Who Fed the World”—authored CAST’s first publication in 1973, while Dr. Black served as CAST’s first President, first Executive Vice President, and a founding committee member. Their shared vision for innovative research, effective communication, and global food security lives on through this award.

Nominations are due no later than May 1, 2025. The Borlaug CAST Communication Award celebrates those who:

• Are actively engaged in agricultural or food production science and technology.
• Demonstrate a strong commitment to promoting agriculture through research, teaching, extension, or public outreach.
• Have made significant contributions to their field or discipline.
• Are passionate about conveying the importance of agriculture and food production to policymakers, media, and the public.
• Exhibit exceptional communication skills, showcased by written publications, public presentations, and effective use of media platforms.

USDA RFAs Begin to Appear

While none of these RFAs are offered by our main funding partner, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), announcements about at least five USDA requests for applications were made last week. Four were Foreign Agricultural Service and associated with trade: Market Access Program (MAP), Foreign Market Development Program (FMD), Technical Assistance for Specialty Crops Program (TASC), and Emerging Markets Program (EMP). The fifth RFA, announced by NIFA, is an APHIS program related to Avian Influenza.



4‑H Full Page Ad in USA Today's Special Agriculture Edition

For National Agriculture Week in March, a 4‑H Beyond Ready full‑page ad (pages 82‑84) was included in the USA Today's Agriculture Special Edition! It's the ultimate resource for farmers, growers, ranchers, and anyone engaged in agriculture. Our full‑page ad promotes our Beyond Ready theme, "How It Started ‑ How It's Going."

National Extension Award for Innovative Programming that Addresses New Audiences

The purpose of this award is for Extension efforts that go above and beyond in reaching new audiences. It recognizes innovative teaching models and techniques that ensure Extension programs reach all audiences, especially new and those that have not been participating in traditional Extension education. The programming should reflect how a systematic needs assessment identified the audience and influenced teaching methods, created mutual respect among audiences, promoted acceptance, fostered teamwork, and improved overall effectiveness of the programming.

Nominations must be submitted online by June 1, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time.


National Survey on Commercial Home-Prepared Food Regulations

The University of Delaware Cooperative Extension Health & Wellbeing Program is compiling data on the regulations pertaining to and the food safety resources available for home-prepared commercial food programs in the states and territories of the United States. These are commonly referred to as Cottage Food Laws, although some states may have equivalent programs by different names. The purpose of this effort is to characterize the nationwide regulations and food safety education services available to individuals seeking to commercialize food prepared in home kitchens.

Your support of this effort is sought through completion of a Qualtrics survey which can be accessed at https://delaware.ca1.qualtrics.com/CommercialHomeFoods.CooperativeExtensionSurvey. The estimated time to complete the survey is 10 minutes. Please feel free to share this survey with colleagues who work directly with these programs in your state. A related survey will be issued to the public health government sector with regulatory oversight for home-prepared commercial foods.


Final Evaluation of RWJF Well Connected Communities Initiative

The Well Connected Communities initiative was a nine-year, $16.8 million investment by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation designed build the capacity of the Cooperative Extension System to improve the health of the nation. While health-focused work by Cooperative Extension continues, the Well Connected Communities initiative officially ended November 30, 2024. A comprehensive report and executive summary of the evaluation effort and the findings is now available. CCHE is a part of the Kaiser Permanente Health Research Institute based in Seattle, Washington established with a mission of improving the health of communities through collaborative planning, assessment, and evaluation. For more information about the full report or executive summary, contact Maggie Jones at Maggie.E.Jones@kp.org or Roger Rennekamp at rogerrennekamp@extension.org. More information about Cooperative Extension’s health-related work is available at https://health.extension.org/.


Get Involved with ExtensionBot and MERLIN! 

ExtensionBot delivers fast, research-backed answers using your institution’s content—powered by MERLIN, a structured data platform built to support AI tools across Cooperative Extension. All Land-grant Institutions are invited to engage, regardless of Extension Foundation membership. You can contribute through structured data feeds, share URLs for web crawling, or partner with our technical team for hands-on support. Your content is updated weekly, ensuring the most current information reaches stakeholders through AI. This is an opportunity to boost visibility, reach more people, and help shape the future of Extension’s digital engagement. View the flyer for more details. Contact Mark Locklear (marklocklear@extension.org) or David Warren (davidwarren@extension.org) to get started.

New Administrators and Directors Orientation

Please complete the survey by April 15, 2025 (even if you have already completed a similar survey).

This event is intended for individuals on the Board on Agriculture Assembly and their supporting administrators or faculty, who have entered an administrative position recently and any others who would like to learn more about APLU, the Land-Grant University System and the BAA. Information presented will be particularly useful to administrative heads, deans/directors, and associate/assistant deans/directors.

Learning objectives include: Gaining an understanding of the Board on Agriculture Assembly and APLU, including how national priorities are set by organizational committees and how you can become involved; gaining valuable tips from experienced administrators about what they wish they had known when they were hired and hearing from senior university leadership about their career pathways.

A minimum of 20 participant are needed to make this a meaningful orientation. If there is not enough interest in attending a live format (July in Washington, DC; November at the APLU Annual Meeting in Philadelphia) please indicate you would be interested in a virtual format only.

Please complete the survey by April 15, 2025.

USDA Appoints New NIFA Director: Jaye Hamby

On March 20th, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the appointment of Dr. Jaye L. Hamby as the Director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). As Director, Dr. Hamby will lead USDA’s efforts to advance agricultural innovation, community outreach, and fostering the next generation of agricultural leaders.

Dr. Hamby, a Tennessee native, grew up on his family’s cow-calf operation and developed a deep connection to agriculture through 4-H and FFA, eventually serving as a national FFA officer. He then earned a bachelor’s degree in agricultural education from the University of Tennessee before completing his master’s and doctorate degrees in agricultural education at Oklahoma State University. Over the course of his career, he has directed hundreds of research efforts specializing in concept testing, product marketing, value driver analysis, and following market trends and strategies to support agricultural producers.


AgriProspects Webinar on Workforce Development Clearinghouse

The AgriProspects Workforce Development Network, a national program of the Extension Foundation open to all Land-grant Institutions regardless of Extension Foundation membership, recently announced a system wide data gathering initiative to build a Clearinghouse for Extension’s adult agricultural workforce development programs. This Clearinghouse will serve as the underlying structure for the AgriProspects Marketplace, a one-stop information portal to assist connecting learners, earners, and employers to the breadth and depth of Extension’s work within adult ag workforce development. Listing is optional and institutions can request to not be included in the Clearinghouse and Marketplace. A webinar was held on March 19th to roll-out the Marketplace concept and initiative. To learn more about AgriProspects visit the link above or reach out to Dr. Jason L. Weigle, Agriprospects Program Manager, at agriprospects@extension.org.

New Issue of the Journal of Extension

There is a new issue of the Journal of Extension. Scholars from the following states are represented: 

Alabama, California, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia.