Explore 5 Extension Regions and Tribal College Resources

The ECOP Monday Minute will be on hiatus on July 4, 2022. Have a safe and enjoyable Independence Day.

Explore 5 Extension Regions and Tribal College Resources - As a refresher for seasoned Extension Directors and Administrators and a reference for newer Extension leaders, the Cooperative Extension Section, a unit of the APLU Board on Agriculture Assembly, is structured in 5 regions, partnering with our 1994 Extension colleagues. Membership on ECOP committees and task forces is distributed across the regions to assure balanced representation. Take some time to explore each region, along with the 1994 Tribal College resources and learn about the unique work we do across Extension.

· 1890 Region - Association of Extension Administrators (AEA)

· North Central Region - North Central Cooperative Extension Association (NCCEA)

· Northeast Region - Association of Northeast Extension Directors (NEED)

· Southern Region – Association of Southern Region Extension Directors (ASRED)

· Western Region – Western Extension Directors Association (WEDA)

· Map of 1994 Tribal Colleges and organizational resources AIHEC and FALCON

NCFAR Virtual Lunch-n-Learn Co-sponsored by ECOP Focuses on Climate Change - A virtual lunch-n-learn presentation designed to educate Congressional staff, The Impact of Climate Change on Agricultural Production and Rural Communities, will take place on Tuesday, June 28, 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time. ECOP is co-sponsoring the event to help highlight the work of the ECOP Program Action Team (PAT) on Climate and to leverage ECOP’s membership in NCFAR to the fullest. The National Coalition for Food and Agricultural Research (NCFAR) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, consensus-based, and customer-led coalition that brings together food, agriculture, nutrition, conservation, and natural resource stakeholders to serve as a forum and unified voice supporting increased federal investment in USDA Research, Education, and Economics (USDA REE). Please share the opportunity to register here with relevant parties.

Seeking Nominations for the 2022 Hatch Lecture - Each year NIFA joins APLU to sponsor a lecture presented at the  2022 APLU Annual Meeting. The lecture honors one of the three most important historical figures of the Land-grant University System, William Henry Hatch for research, Seaman A. Knapp for extension, and Justin Smith Morrill for whom the Morrill Act, which created the Land-grant University System, is named. This year on rotation, nominations for the prestigious Hatch Lecture are sought. The lecture commemorates the efforts of William H. Hatch, Congressman from Missouri who championed the Agricultural Experiment Stations Act of 1887, or Hatch Act, and celebrates the accomplishments of the Experiment Station System. Nominations are encouraged from all sources. Recommendations should include the name of the nominee, title, address, telephone number, e-mail address, and topic that could be discussed. Please submit on or before July 29, 2022 to Davida Vanderpuye Tengey at Davida.tengey@usda.gov.



HHS and USDA Announce Public Call for Nominations to the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee - The U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services and USDA have announced the public call for nominations to the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee). The committee will review scientific evidence to help inform the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025-2030 (Dietary Guidelines). The Departments will seek to appoint a committee that is balanced in expertise, experience, and education, and is reflective of the racial, ethnic, gender, and geographic diversity within the United States. Members of the public are invited to submit nominations for themselves or other qualified experts by July 15, 2022 at 11:59 PM ET.



Getting Started with the Extension Foundation - With a mission to help Cooperative Extension make a greater impact on local issues, the Extension Foundation has an interactive website to help Cooperative Extension professionals become familiar with tools, national funded programs, services, and to learn how the Foundation can partner. Explore here.

Senate Confirms USDA REE Under Secretary

The ECOP Monday Minute will be on hiatus on June 20, 2022, to commemorate Juneteenth, the day the news of the Emancipation Proclamation reached enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, in 1865.

Senate Confirms USDA REE Under Secretary - ECOP and the Cooperative Extension Section congratulates Dr. Chavonda Jacobs-Young on her U.S. Senate confirmation to serve as Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics (REE) at the United States Department of Agriculture. Dr. Jacobs-Young recently served as the Acting Deputy Under Secretary of the REE mission area. Previously, she served as Agricultural Research Service Associate Administrator, where she led the Office of National Programs which manages the research objectives of the Agency. See more information here.



Celebrating 30 Years of SNAP-Ed - May 2022 marked 30 years of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – Education (SNAP-Ed). ECOP and the Cooperative Extension Section joins the USDA to celebrate SNAP-Ed for providing evidence-based nutrition education and obesity prevention interventions and projects for those eligible for SNAP benefits. Through complementary direct education, multi-level interventions, and community and public health approaches to improve nutritional health of historically underserved populations, this federally funded grant program has impacted lives for three decades. See SNAP-Ed Works from USDA-Food Nutrition Service and the NIFA Blog that highlights the 30 years of SNAP-Ed. For a good number of years, ECOP has maintained a valuable alliance with a program development team in support of land-grant university Extension led SNAP-Ed programs and its impact evaluation. 



Advocacy Updates from Lewis-Burke Associates - APLU Office of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources (FANR) is stepping up efforts to provide regular advocacy updates to the land-grant university system. Last week Doug Steele, APLU Vice-president of FANR,  announced that Lewis-Burke Associates will provide a monthly summary of highlights and key points to be included in his FANR Focus email messages. The most prominent updates in the last five months are the passage of fiscal year (FY) 2022 appropriations in March; the release of the President’s FY 2023 Budget Request a few weeks later; ongoing Congressional negotiations on the FY 2023 budget, and the official start of the 2023 Farm Bill process. To view the June update available at www.land-grant.org, please go here. If you are not receiving Doug's messages and would like to sign up, email Suzette Robinson at srobinson@aplu.org with your contact information.

2022 CECE-CGA Summer Meeting - The APLU Commission on Economic & Community Engagement (CECE) summer meeting, themed Inclusive Community and Economic Engagement: The Path to Social Mobility, will be held from August 2-5 in Detroit, Michigan. Cooperative Extension leaders who are members of CECE are invited to join senior university economic development and community engagement administrators, presidents and chancellors, provosts, senior research officers, and communications administrators at The Westin Book Cadillac Detroit. Participants will look to the future and collaborate on expansive efforts promoting equity–both in process and outcomes–amongst  practitioners’ work. The event agenda features tours of local economic growth engines, interactive sessions, and special programming for Innovation and Economic Prosperity (IEP) Universities. Professionals employed by APLU member institutions may join CECE for free here and then proceed to register here. 

Census of Agriculture Response by June 30

From the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), Extension Directors and Administrators are reminded that the 2022 Census of Agriculture is about people. Every survey response is essential by June 30, 2022. Ag census data informs policy, research, assistance programs, ag education, community development, and countless more decisions that ultimately affect farms and communities. From cattle ranchers to greenhouse and backyard growers and urban farmers to producers working thousands of acres, every ag producer needs to be represented. The ag census is a producers' voice, future, and opportunity. Find Partner Tools (i.e. brochures, FAQs, flyers, ads, website banners, etc.) for this Sign-Up to Be Counted phase and more on the NASS census page. Please check there regularly for additional/updated products. Contact: Jodi.halvorson@usda.gov.



Affordable Connectivity Program - As part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, President Biden and Vice President Harris worked with Democrats, Republicans, and Independents to create the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which provides eligible households $30/month off their internet bills, or $75/month on Tribal lands. To deliver maximum cost savings to families, the current administration has secured commitments from 20 leading internet providers to offer ACP-eligible households a high-speed internet plan for no more than $30 per month. Eligible families who pair their ACP benefit with one of these plans can receive high-speed internet at no cost. Fact sheet is available here and outreach materials are available at GetInternet.Gov



Transparency in Poultry Grower Contracting and Tournaments Proposed Rule - Almost a year ago USDA announced that it would begin work on three proposed rules to support enforcement of the Packers and Stockyards (P&S) Act, the law that protects poultry and hog farmers and cattle ranchers from unfair, deceptive, and anti-competitive practices in livestock markets. Recently, Secretary Vilsack announced that the first of the three priority regulatory initiatives, the Transparency in Poultry Grower Contracting and Tournaments proposed rule will be released. The proposed rule would revise the list of disclosures and information live poultry dealers (integrators) must furnish to contract poultry growers. The proposal would establish additional disclosure requirements in connection with the use of poultry grower ranking systems (tournaments) by live poultry dealers to determine settlement payments for poultry growers. The proposed rule is intended to promote transparency in poultry production contracting and to give poultry growers and prospective poultry growers relevant information with which to make business decisions. One of the disclosures in the proposed rule requires live poultry dealers to supply the contact information for the state university Extension service office or the county farm advisor’s office that can provide relevant information to the current or prospective poultry grower about grower costs and poultry farm financial management in the grower’s geographic area. A link to the proposed rule can be found here on the USDA website: Poultry Transparency proposed rule.



Food Supply Chain and Food System News from USDA - USDA announced details of a framework to transform the food system to benefit consumers, producers and rural communities by providing more options, increasing access, and creating new, more, and better markets for small and mid-size producers. The announcement also provides additional details on the June 2021 announcement to strengthen critical supply chains and address longstanding structural challenges that were revealed and intensified by the pandemic.



Free Online Social Justice Courses and Discussions Available - The 2022 Military Family Readiness Academy series focuses on individuals’ understanding of social justice and equity, including their own understanding of privilege and oppression. Three asynchronous courses and two panel discussions will equip family service providers with the skills to identify barriers that impact a family’s health and well-being and identify opportunities for social justice advocacy in their work. The Academy series will address the intersections between engaging a social justice mindset as a family service professional and the ability to support the well-being of diverse military families. Enrollment information can be found here.