The Tuesday Letter
Agricultural Experiment Station & Cooperative Extension Service
Tuesday, November 04, 2014
(Vol. 21 No. 1)
IN THIS ISSUE...
WORD FROM THE ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR - EXTENSION AND APPLIED RESEARCH
Election Day. If you accomplish anything today, one of those accomplishments should include exercising your right to vote! As a privilege and responsibility, please practice and preserve this very special right to vote that we have as citizens of this great country.
State Extension Advisory Council Nominations. See the article by Dr. Jim Lindquist below regarding State
Extension Advisory Council (SEAC) nominations. Board Chairs from 2013, 2014, or newly elected for 2015 are eligible to be nominated. The nomination process must be complete by December 5, 2014 to have the elections ready at Partnership Meetings 2015. More information is available at Call for Nominations for SEAC Elections.
Partnership Meetings 2015. Partnership meetings with Local Extension Unit Board Chairs and Board members are scheduled as follows:
January 20, 2015 - Lawrence
January 21, 2015 - Wichita
January 28, 2015 - Scott City
January 29, 2015 - Russell
Please make certain that all Board Chairs and Board Officers are aware that they are expected to attend, and that all board members are invited and welcome. Hope to see a great turnout of our Board leadership in 2015!
Have a great week! --Daryl Buchholz dbuchhol@ksu.edu
"REACHING UNDER-SERVED AUDIENCES"
Friday, December 5, 2014 from 10 to 2, we will be having a workshop on reaching under-served audiences with messages around building community capacity, nutritional messages, and relationships. This is for anyone working in communities with a wide range of audiences. The location of the workshop will be at the K-State Southwest Research-Extension Center, 4500 E Mary, Garden City, KS. Registration cost is $5.
Please register with Norma Cantu, cantu@ksu.edu, by December 3. For questions, please call Debra at 620-275-9164. --Norma Cantu
FARM BILL RISK MANAGEMENT PROGRAM ADVISING
The 2014 Farm Bill provides producers with new risk management opportunities. As Extension professionals, many of our specialists, local agents, and Kansas Farm Management Association economists will be called upon by farmers to provide the one-on-one education and advice needed to assist farmers in this important decision process.
There have been inquiries regarding whether or not our local units should charge for this service. If one looks at the issue from a continuum perspective - with public good (safe, secure, and abundant food supply) on one end and private good (reduced risk exposure for an individual farmer) on the other end - one could argue that this type of assistance is more oriented to a private good. As such, charging for this advice is permissible.
As such, a uniform suggested fee is needed. Our Farm Bill Education Team specialists believe that a thorough one-on-one Farm Bill risk management advising session may require up to two hours to complete. It is suggested that such service be assigned a suggested fee of $75 per session. Note, this is an suggested fee, and all local units are free to deviate from this suggested fee. Local units, upon the advice of their Boards, are free to waive part or all of this fee. Nevertheless, if part or all of the fee is waived, the recipient of the service should be informed of both the suggested fee and any fee waiver that is applied.
If you have any concerns about this matter, please contact Gregg Hadley at 785-532-5838 or email me at ghadley@ksu.edu. --Gregg Hadley
STATE EXTENSION ADVISORY COUNCIL CALL FOR NOMINATIONS
State
Extension Advisory Council (SEAC) members will be elected for the
2015-2018 term at the January 2015 Partnership Meetings.
Those who have served as Board Chairs in 2013, 2014, or have been elected for 2015,
are eligible to be nominated for SEAC representative. Counties and
Districts will be able to attend any of the four Partnership Meetings,
and will vote for Area SEAC representatives at the meetings. A letter
describing the nomination process and
needed information can be accessed through the following link: Call for Nominations for SEAC Elections.
SEAC
members serve as a consultative group to the Extension Director
regarding Kansas Extension programs. They meet twice a year, in February
in Topeka and in August at locations that rotate around the state.
Members also have the opportunity to participate once during their SEAC
term in the Public Issues Leadership Development conference in
Washington D.C., which includes a visit to our representatives on
Capitol Hill.
Thank you for giving serious consideration to SEAC nominations. The nomination deadline is December 5, 2014. The document, “Opportunities, Roles, and Expectations for the State Extension Advisory Council,” as well as more information about the SEAC can be found on the Extension Board Leadership website: http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/boardleadership/p.aspx?tabid=557. -- Jim Lindquist jlindqui@ksu.edu
REGISTRATION OPENS FOR "PLANNING FOR FARM & RANCH SUCCESSION" CONFERENCES
The transfer of ownership, management and leadership from one generation to another is an important issue for farms, ranches and rural communities across Kansas. In early 2015, K-State Research & Extension and Kansas Agricultural Mediation Services will offer one-day succession conferences designed to educate and support families as they prepare for the future of the enterprise.
Conference dates are:Monday, January 5, at Allen Community College, Iola Saturday, January 10, at Pratt Community College, Pratt Friday, January 16, at Kansas Farm Bureau Plaza, Manhattan Saturday, January 17, at Flint Hills Technical College, Emporia Tuesday, March 3, at the Agricultural Research Center, Hays
Each one-day conference will begin at 9 a.m. and dismiss around 4:30 p.m. Lunch and snacks are included for each registrant. For more information and to register for the “Planning for Farm & Ranch Succession” conferences please visit www.ksre.k-state.edu/kams. Registration is also available by calling 1-800-432-8222.
Beyond the conferences, succession tools will be accessible online in the form of videos and other educational resources. Trained facilitators will also be available to guide families through the succession planning process. --Janel Koons jksu@ksu.edu
MARIE'S PICKS . . .
My picks this week are outcomes reported by the Horticulture PFT:
Community
gardens can impact their communities in a variety of ways, many of which are
difficult to quantify. Some impacts of community garden programs statewide
include:
Increased fruit and vegetable consumption
Increased neighborhood pride and community
connection
Improved skills in gardening and cooking
Decreased money spent on groceries
Increased produce donated to those in need
Outcomes from the Kansas Community Gardens grant
program include more than:
1,500 new allotment garden plots, 868,000 sq. ft. of
new communal garden space, 1,743,899 sq. ft. of new total community gardens, and
4,700 gardeners. --Marie Blythe mblythe@ksu.edu
CALL FOR PROPOSALS - REMINDER
United
Associations Conference - a professional development conference
committed to strengthening professionals working with children, youth,
families and related work.
Does your work fit this description?
Submit a proposal for this conference to be held March 5-6, 2015 at the
Sedgwick County Extension offices. Include presenter(s) name, organization, email, title of presentation, at least three objectives or intended outcomes, and a brief summary. Send this week to Donna Keyser, UAC Coordinator, mdtreeh@cox.net. --Marie Blythe mblythe@ksu.edu
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