Cooperative Extension: An overview

Established in 1914 through a federal initiative, Delaware Cooperative Extension got its start with three county agricultural agents, a 4-H program focused on corn-growing and canning clubs for kids and home demonstrations for women of rural and farm families.

Since that time, Extension services have evolved to encompass a complex range of agricultural and home-gardening assistance, as well as family and consumer initiatives and a statewide 4-H program that addresses everything from animal sciences to biotechnology and the performing arts.

Agriculture

While the amount of farmland in Delaware is a fraction of what it was 90 years ago (and the state continues to lose 1 to 2 percent of its farmland annually), agriculture is still the largest industry in Delaware, with more than 2,300 commercial farms of all sizes. Cooperative Extension is involved in every aspect of this healthy and viable industry, from farming and processing to marketing and public policy.

Outreach is provided by Extension agents and associates, assisted by specialists who are experts in such subject matters as vegetable production, plant pathology, horticulture, beekeeping, irrigation, livestock, pesticides, renewable resources, weed science, nutrient management, water quality, poultry production, farm management and more.

Each county has an Extension office with two or three agricultural agents serving as “the front door of the University,” says Ed Kee, director of agriculture for Delaware Cooperative Extension.

“In Sussex County, we have an agronomy agent, a horticulture agent and a community resource agent, but all three people can answer any call that comes into the office. In New Castle County, we have an agent whose sole responsibility is dealing with commercial and home horticulture. She oversees the Master Gardeners, who field thousands of inquiries every year. Our agents are out working right at the grass roots level with farmers, homeowners and commercial horticulture people.”

As a vegetable crop specialist, Kee has worked to solve problems such as the Downy Mildew that affected cucumbers last year, and has helped prepare farmers for the likely appearance of Asian Soybean Rust. Believed to have been carried into southern states by an active hurricane season in 2004, Soybean Rust is a threat to lima bean and snap pea production. In preparation for its possible arrival, Extension agents conducted training for Delaware farmers to help them identify the disease if it appears, while UD scientists worked with the DuPont Co. to develop chemical agents that can be applied if needed.

The partnership between Extension agents and researchers is strong in Delaware, with the agents bringing new information to clients and identifying problems in the field, which they bring back to the University to collaborate with research and teaching faculty for a total educational effort.

“That two-way street is what is unique, and why Extension really works,” says Kee. “I have been to five or six foreign countries to evaluate how their universities are interacting with commercial agriculture, and what is missing in most countries is Extension. They are not interacting with farmers as we are, bringing the university to the people, and bringing the people’s needs back to the university.”

Delaware’s small size enables Extension agents to be more involved. Instead of sitting on campus sending e-mails and fact sheets, as he likely would in a state the size of California, Kee and his colleagues are able to get out in the fields and offer hands-on assistance. “Here, our specialists are reacting immediately and being proactive. We are better prepared for Asian Soybean Rust than most other states, I have no doubt about it,” he says.

Delaware Cooperative Extension agents were lauded for their swift response to the avian influenza outbreak that threatened the billion-dollar Delmarva poultry industry last year. After the initial outbreak was identified by UD’s Poultry Diagnostic Center, Extension agents tested every flock of chickens in Delaware, Maryland and Virginia before processing. It was hard work, and a perfect example of Delaware Extension’s ability to respond quickly and comprehensively to protect the industry.

What is perhaps most impressive about Delaware Cooperative Extension is the knowledge base and flexibility that enable agents to solve problems, assess opportunities, inform public policy and meet the educational needs of such a diverse group. “It is not unusual for an agent to get off the phone with a 5,000-acre commercial farmer who has gross sales of $5 million a year, and take the next call from a person who wants to control those funny black spots on the rose bush in her backyard,” Kee says.

“We’re not just delivering information or technology. We’re teaching people how to address problems, whether it’s a sick-looking cornfield or a homeowners’ organization that wants to address issues surrounding a new highway,” Kee says.

“The Extension methodology was laid out back in 1914,” he said. It’s like the old proverb: ‘Give a man a fish and he eats tonight; teach a man how to fish and he eats forever.’ That is what Extension boils down to: Delivering knowledge and letting people put that knowledge to work for themselves.”

Family and Consumer Science

The role of Cooperative Extension in rural households traces back to the program’s very beginnings, when the U.S. Department of Agriculture recognized that the success of farms had a lot to do with what went on in the home. “They realized that if they got the women organized, it would be a real plus in terms of farm productivity, which was pretty forward-looking at the time,” family and community educator Pat Nelson says. “A home economist would travel across the state in a horse and buggy, giving demonstrations about canning and preserving to groups of homemakers.”

Today, outreach to families is no longer focused only on farming communities. It addresses a wide range of issues facing rural, suburban and urban families in which busy parents struggle to balance work and family stress. In recent years, programming has been categorized in three areas—food, finance and family well-being.

Rather than teaching mothers how to can and preserve food, Extension agents now focus on food safety and nutrition. Programs include:

EFNEP (Expanded Foods and Nutrition Education Program), which helps low-income families with young children improve nutrition, manage their food dollars better and handle food safely.
Dining with Diabetes, a seminar series that educates people who are diagnosed with diabetes to prepare healthy meals for the whole family.
Obesity Prevention, which includes evaluations of middle-school youth and their parents and training for child-care providers on healthy snacks and activities.
ServSafe, a course offered through the National Restaurant Association that educates food-service workers in restaurants and school cafeterias about food-safety guidelines.

Financial assistance, which once focused on helping farm families make ends meet, today encompasses a wide range of financial literacy, management and youth programs. More than 500 people have participated in Cooperative Extension’s Basic Money Management for Families program through worksite workshops, web-based resources and school programs. Social workers, county employees, church members and others who work with low-income families have gone through a special six-day training program on budget and credit counseling. Extension’s youth financial literacy programs also have assisted teachers and youth workers in helping young people gain the skills and knowledge to make good personal financial decisions.

Delaware Cooperative Extension also works hard to help families strengthen their parent-child relationships and manage the stress of balancing work and family. About 2,400 Delaware families receive Just in Time Parenting publications each month, which reinforce behaviors that help children to develop physically, intellectually, socially and emotionally. The Great Beginnings newsletter goes to new parents, and Families Matter! is distributed to parents of school-age children.

Other Extension-sponsored educational resources, including worksite seminars, help reduce work demands, promote family teamwork, incorporate healthy behaviors into busy lives, encourage smart spending and develop strong support systems at home and at work

4-H and Youth

What started with corn clubs, pig clubs and canning clubs has evolved into a statewide program for youth that focuses on leadership, citizenship and life skills. “People who don’t know 4-H think about it as ‘cows and cooking,’ which is where we got our start from a historical perspective,” says Delaware 4-H Director Joy Sparks. “We will never turn our back on our agricultural roots, but you don’t have to be a rural kid to participate in 4-H.”

In fact, with such a small percentage of children now growing up on farms, the majority of children involved in 4-H are from suburban or urban neighborhoods. In 2004, 4-H programs reached more than 51,200 young people (and 1,800 volunteers) in Delaware. Only 5 percent lived on a farm, while 11 percent came from the city of Wilmington, 23 percent from suburbs of Wilmington and 40 percent from towns and cities with populations of 10,000 to 50,000 people.

Learning how to raise farm animals is still part of the mix, but today, it is more likely to involve suburban kids whose parents shuttle them back and forth to a farm where they can gain the experience of raising a sheep or pig. Some 4-H clubs also get involved in raising puppies for the Seeing Eye program. They house-break the dog, socializing it and taking it on escalators, trains and crowded city streets in preparation for the animal’s ultimate job of assisting someone who is visually impaired.

“Every club is a little bit different. You have food clubs, dog clubs, horse clubs and others that will have two or three different kinds of projects that the kids are most interested in,” Sparks explains.

An extensive curriculum, which is developed at the national level, includes projects in theatre arts, photography, entrepreneurship, financial management, environmental education, nutrition, personal development, aerospace, computer technology, electricity, small engines and woodworking. And, there is still a large portion of 4-H programming available in plant and animal sciences, including numerous courses on beef, poultry, cats, dogs, cattle, goats, horses, rabbits, sheep, swine, crops, vegetable gardens, bees and veterinary science. 4-H is everything you might expect it to be, and a whole lot more.

“We’re following new agendas and addressing youth where they are,” Jan Seitz, director of Cooperative Extension at UD, says. “Science has become an enormous part of our 4-H program.”

4-H now offers summer day camps at the University of Delaware, with one week focused on biotechnology and another on environmental topics. At an overnight 4-H camp, children were huddled around microscopes nudging each other out of the way so they could take a peek at their samples.

“Through our partnership with the Delaware Biotechnology Institute, we can offer educational programs that supplement what takes place in school. Data shows young people in the U.S. are not doing well in science. We hope that in our nonformal education setting we can excite kids about these topics,” Sparks says.

Meeting Diverse Needs

The needs of farmers, businesses and everyday citizens met through Delaware Cooperative Extension are vast. As one example, Robin Morgan, dean of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, points to a roadside beautification program that is helping the Delaware Department of Transportation bring in native plants and reduce the amount of mowing on highway islands.

Delaware Extension agents help farmers as well as golf course owners and corporations comply with the Nutrient Management Act, which requires them to submit a plan for the fertilizers they use on fields and lawns. Delaware even has its own bee expert. “Bees are very important to any crop that requires pollination. It is probably not necessary for every state to have a bee expert, so we share ours,” Morgan says.

With an established reputation as leaders in developing and evaluating new technologies to keep Delaware agriculture competitive in a national and global economy, Delaware Cooperative Extension is also actively involved in helping Delawareans confront major challenges, including:

Land development.
Globalization of agriculture.
Environmental regulation of agriculture.
Rising input costs.
Diminishing role of government support.
Threatened role of the Land-Grant and Extension support and
Emerging production challenges.

The productive, active link between experts in the field and the teaching and research faculty on campus remains a cornerstone of the program’s success. “Our research here on campus informs what we do in the field. We take that research information and put it into practical applications to address the needs of the people in the state. Agents are out there working one-on-one or in groups with people. They see emerging needs; they see new things that need to be addressed and they return to pose the questions that get answered and to gather the research that is shared,” says Seitz.

“It’s a wonderful cycle of research informing practice and practice informing research.”

Article by Sharon Huss Roat, AS ’87

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