Webinar Addresses Farmers and Ranchers Health-related Risks

Health, access to care, and health insurance, affect the vitality of agricultural enterprises and farm and ranch families, according to results from a national research project funded by the USDA. A free webinar taking place on October 10, 1:30-3:30 p.m. ET is designed for Extension, tax, loan, health and other agricultural advisors. Connecting Health Insurance & Ag Viability will provide an overview of the research findings to help farmers and ranchers make informed decisions for their businesses and households. The webinar will be hosted by Scott Loveridge (North Central Regional Center for Rural Development). Shoshanah Inwood (The Ohio State University), Bonnie Braun (University of Maryland Extension), Maria Pippidis (University of Delaware), and Bob Parsons and Jake Jacobs (University of Vermont Extension) will also present. Webinar participants will understand the intersection of health and agricultural business viability, grounded in 2016-2017 national research finding; receive tools they can use in their work farmers, including worksheets, videos and other informational resources, and questions to ask farmers and ranchers to help incorporate health costs into farm enterprise and risk management planning.


Apply Now For the Creative Counties Placemaking Challenge! - National Association of Counties (NACo) – in partnership with Americans for the Arts and with support from the National Endowment for the Arts – has launched the Creative Counties Placemaking Challenge to train local leaders from rural and mid-sized counties on how to advance arts-based economic and community development to address local challenges. NACo invites counties with populations of less than 250,000 to form multidisciplinary teams to apply. Recognizing the intimate working relationships extension networks have with rural counties, NACo welcomes applications that feature county extension agents as team members. Selected teams will attend a training and peer exchange workshop on March 28-30, 2018. Deadline: Friday, October 13, 2017. Questions? Contact Jenna Moran at jmoran@naco.org; 202-942-4224. Twitter announcement: https://twitter.com/NACoTweets/status/907264996555542529.


Fostering Positive Youth Development - Positive youth development is an intentional approach to promote positive outcomes for young people through family and community youth engagement for the benefit of society. Positive youth development focuses on building relationships while delivering learning content, ultimately giving youth the skillsets they need to navigate socially: respect, teamwork, and self-care. NIFA prioritizes positive youth development programming to ensure the future employability of America’s children and support our nation’s economy. See https://nifa.usda.gov/sites/default/files/resource/Fostering-Positive-Youth-Development.pdf for more on this informative infographic.

Extension Disaster Education Network

Supported by NIFA, Extension Disaster Education Network (EDEN) is a collaborative multi-state effort with land-grant universities and Cooperative Extension Services across the country, using research-based education and resources to improve the delivery of services to citizens affected by disasters. EDEN's goal is to improve the nation's ability to mitigate, prepare for, prevent, respond to and recover from disasters. EDEN equips county-based Extension educators to share research-based resources in local disaster management and recovery efforts. The EDEN website offers a searchable database of Extension professionals, resources, member universities and disaster agency websites, education materials to help people handle a wide range of hazards and food and agricultural defense educational resources. Steve Cain, Purdue Extension Disaster Communication Specialist and the Indiana Point of Contact for the Extension Disaster Education Network (EDEN) will be presenting at the upcoming NEDA conference.

Jim Woodell, APLU

Exploring Intersections of University Engagement and Extension -  Participants in two of APLU’s member groups—the Council on Engagement and Outreach (CEO) and the Commission on Innovation, Competitiveness, and Economic Prosperity (CICEP)—are focused on developing tools and resources to help universities create and demonstrate economic and societal impact, and both groups are interested in engaging the Cooperative Extension perspective and experience in this work. Please consider contacting APLU Vice President for Economic Development and Community Engagement Jim Woodell jwoodell@aplu.org to express interest in connecting with one or both of these APLU groups. For those attending NEDA in Vermont, please note that Jim will be there.

Ag Census Survey Opportunity is Coming Soon - In just a couple months, farmers and ranchers across the nation will start receiving the 2017 Census of Agriculture. Producers can mail in their completed census form, or respond online via the improved web questionnaire. The USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) has extensively revised the online questionnaire this year to make it more convenient than ever. Very user-friendly, it can now be used on any electronic device, and can be saved and revisited as time allows. Responding online saves time and protects data quality, and better data mean informed decisions; that’s why it is so important that every producer be represented! New timesaving features of the online questionnaire include automatically calculating totals, skipping sections that do not pertain to the operation, and providing dropdown menus of frequent responses. Producers still have until October 1 to try the online questionnaire demo on the Census of Agriculture website. For more information about the 2017 Census of Agriculture, visit www.agcensus.usda.gov or call (800) 727-9540. The Census of Agriculture is a producer’s voice, future, and opportunity.

CYFAR’s 25th Anniversary Celebration of Great Collaborative Work with the Land-grant and Cooperative Extension Systems - NIFA acknowledges the CYFAR (Children, Youth and Families at Risk) Program as the 25th year of program funding in the report CYFAR at 25 Years: What Are They Doing Now? During this time period, CYFAR has served over 250,000 children, youth and parents.  The report offers just a few examples of how the Extension educators and other caring adults have impacted the lives of past participants, youth and adult, regarding their career/life choices. The projects are representative of the 1862, 1890 and 1994 Institutions. Though, at this time the 1890 and 1862 Universities are eligible for CYFAR funding, the eligible institutions have forged partnerships with the 1994 Institutions in some cases. Some state accomplishments, scope of project totals, and state highlighted projects are also included in the impact report.

NEDA Session - Anticipating and Planning for Paradigm Shifts

NEDA Session Panelists: Ken LaValley, University of New Hampshire; Scott Reed, Oregon State University; Rosalind Dale, North Carolina A&T University; Laura Perry Johnson, University of Georgia, and Karl Martin, University of Wisconsin

“When the old ways of doing things no longer apply, how do Deans and Directors respond in a way that leverages Cooperative Extension’s assets?” This question will be addressed on October 4, during 2017 NEDA meeting. 5 panelists, pictured above, are featured in Anticipating and Planning for Paradigm Shifts. Dan Lerner, University of Vermont, NEDA Planning Committee member is the moderator. Directors and Administrators will engage on the following topics: 1) the funding landscape for Cooperative Extension; 2) changing demographics; 3) state and national politics; 4) multigenerational workplaces and clientele; 5) shifting market preferences, and 6) sustaining entrepreneurial energy. The session will be filmed and archived with other 2017 NEDA presentations on the ECOP Monday Minute (see "NEDA Links and Downloads" on right at bottom of this page). Early registration fee for NEDA ends today, September 18! Lodging at The Essex is quite limited; call 802-764-1404, Monday-Friday, 8AM-4PM ET, for more information.


EPA Cooperative Agreement Will Support Pesticide Safety Education - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Pesticide Programs is awarding a cooperative agreement to support Extension educators through a partnership with eXtension and the newly-formed National Pesticide Safety Education Center (NPSEC). NPSEC seeks to strengthen the national system Pesticide Safety Education Programs by improving the quality, consistency, and accessibility of educational offerings, promoting collaboration, and increasing revenue generation of Extension programs. The eXtension Foundation provides contractual services to deliver online programs and temporarily serves as the Center's fiduciary service provider. Additional partners include the Pesticide Educational Resources Collaborative (PERC), Association of Pesticide Safety Educators, and CropLife America Foundation. Learn more about the NPSEC... | Learn more about eXtension… 

New partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Cooperative Extension System is Announced Publicly - A $4.6 million grant to National 4-H Council to improve the health of 1,000 communities over the next 10 years was shared with news outlets nationwide last week and posted to the 4-H and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation web sites. The partnership will leverage the reach of Cooperative Extension and innovation of youth leadership to build a Culture of Health. “This initiative taps into everything that the Cooperative Extension System has done well since we were formed over a century ago as the national education and community development program of the nation’s land-grant universities,” said Michelle Rodgers, PhD, project director and associate dean and director of University of Delaware Extension. “When we combine this with America’s philanthropy leader in health, it is amazing to envision the transformative impact we will have in communities throughout the country.” To begin this partnership, several land-grant universities have been selected to lead action plans in numerous communities. The details are included in the September 14 press release. We invite and encourage you to share this news with your colleagues and networks, including social media.


Breakthroughs 2030 Announces Five Focal Areas - The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine have been engaging the science community in the study Science Breakthroughs 2030: A Strategy for Food and Agricultural Research. This study’s goals were to identify ambitious scientific opportunities in food and agriculture made possible by incorporating knowledge and tools from across the science and engineering spectrum. The year-long project is working towards describing research directions with high potential to open new frontiers for food and agriculture science. The National Academies has announced five focal areas for the Breakthroughs 2030 Study including Greener Plants, Greener Animals, Reducing Food Waste, Safer Food Supply, and Pathways for Resilience. These areas will be explored in greater depth by experts at the approaching "Jamboree Meeting" on October 2-4 in Irvine, CA. Stay tuned to ECOP Monday Minute for findings/results of the October meeting.

ECOP Strategic Agenda Advances

Incoming ECOP Chair Chuck Hibberd, working with current Chair Fred Schlutt and ECOP, continues to engage our ECOP members, Extension Administrators and Directors in developing the ECOP strategic agenda. This effort is building on the survey results from the July 7 webinar. That input formed the content for a Qualtrics Survey to provide regions the opportunity for more directed input. This input will be the basis for a webinar set for September 25th for regional Executive Committee members, ECOP, and the Extension Director and Administrator team. This webinar will focus on a review and discussion of the draft strategic agenda priorities, input on intended outcomes relative to each priority, and initial ideas on implementation tactics for each priority. The webinar results will set the stage for a discussion at the 2017 NEDA meeting on October 4th. Chuck will finalize the NEDA conversation into the ECOP strategic agenda that will form the basis for the work of ECOP for 2018 and beyond. The engagement of Extension leadership at our 1862 and 1890 institutions has been invaluable in the process thus far, and Chuck looks forward to robust and productive discussions on 9/25 and 10/4.

Vernon Jones. Langston
University

eXtension Foundation Results and Impact Collaborative Launch - eXtension has been in the process of a dynamic reboot on its mission and how our Cooperative Extension colleagues around the country are being engaged in exciting new ways. On October 3rd at 2017 NEDA, Vernon Jones, eXtension Foundation Board of Directors Chair, (Langston University) will report on eXtension's flagship program. Directors and Administrators in attendance will learn more about how the Impact Collaborative is meeting the demand for innovation and professional development. All Extension Directors and Administrators are encouraged to register for NEDA by September 18 before a price increase.

Rachel Welborn, Southern Rural
Development Center; Chris Boerboom,
North Dakota State University

2017 NEDA: Extension as a Rapid Responder – On October 4th at NEDA Chris Boerboom (North Dakota State University) and Rachel Welborn (Southern Rural Development Center), are featured presenters at a session called Extension as a Rapid Responder to Critical National Issues - Civil Discourse at 2017 NEDA on Wednesday, October 4th in Essex, VT. The session will showcase steps taken in piloting the Rapid Response Team protocol and explore applications to foster productivity with other multi-state virtual working groups. Additionally, NEDA attendees will engage in a first-hand exploration of issues around Civil Dialogue and Race Relations. For more information on the Rapid Response Team effort, visit https://publish.extension.org/civildialogue/.

Happy Birthday, 1890 Land-Grant Universities
In celebration, readers are encouraged to review the resolution presented to 1890 Cooperative Extension leaders in October 2015: bit.ly/ECOP1890Resolution.
A Tip of the Hat to Our 1890 LGUs Celebrating 127 Years of Cutting Edge Science, Education, Community Service
by Sonny Ramaswamy, NIFA Director 
The author of the Act that created land-grant colleges, Congressman Justin Smith Morrill of Strafford, Vermont, had been disappointed that such educational institutions were out of reach for African-Americans. Almost 30 years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Morrill Act of 1862, the Second Morrill Act, creating our nation’s historically black land-grant colleges, was successfully shepherded through Congress by then Senator Morrill and signed into law Aug. 30, 1890. After 127 years of experience and diversity in agricultural research, education, and extension, our 1890 LGUs are poised to develop leadership and human capital for our nation’s preeminence in the 21st century. That is not a bad legacy for the seminal ideas Justin Smith Morrill articulated in the 19th century. Read the full article.