Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service

2004 EXTENSION ANNUAL REPORT

Through programs providing life-long learning, the Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service translates cutting-edge research into opportunities that change every community and county in Kentucky.

Notable Accomplishments in 2003-2004 included:

The new Re-Envisioning Cooperative Extension organizational structure. We have streamlined administration, provided opportunities to better connect campus and county, strengthened the link between county agents with specialists and departments on campus, and drawn in partners from other parts of the University, Kentucky State University, and other agencies.

Increased partnerships with other Colleges, including the:

• College of Design's Department of Interior Design, to improve interior design programs and efforts such as historic community renovation.
• College of Dentistry (formalized in August 2004) with a shared position for oral health programming.
• College of Fine Arts to fund a full time extension associate for fine arts in Pike County, the first such position in the United States.
• College of Medicine and its Kentucky TeleCare program to deliver biosecurity/agrosecurity training for veterinarians, extension agents, and health care providers.
• College of Pharmacy to deliver new programming for better use of prescription drugs.
• Tracy Farmer Center for the Environment (recently moved administratively to the College of Agriculture) for environmental education programs for K-12 youth in public schools and in 4-H programs.

New Programs through Health Education through Extension Leadership (HEEL):

• Get Moving Kentucky to help improve physical health of Kentuckians.
• Walk Your Land to address the growing problem of illegal methamphetamine production.
• Calming the Storm in partnership with the College of Social Work to help rural families reduce stress.
• Literacy, Eating, and Activity for Preschoolers for Health (LEAP) to provide literacy training with a health message for preschoolers.

Partnerships for enhanced programs with other organizations and groups including:

• Research-based information for producers about alternative horticultural crops with the Kentucky Horticulture Council, the Kentucky Agricultural Development Board, and the UK New Crop Opportunities Center.
• Beef production educational programs with the Kentucky Beef Network, the Kentucky
• Cattlemen's Association, the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, and funding from the
• USDA and the Agricultural Development Board through the Kentucky Beef Network.
• Goat production programs with Kentucky State University.
• Energy Star educational programming with the Kentucky Division of Energy and the UK Colleges of Engineering and Design and the Gatton College of Business and Economics.
• The Women in Agriculture program with Kentucky State University, the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, the Kentucky Small Business Development Center, USDA Rural Development, the USDA Farm Service Agency, Partners for Family Farms, Kentucky Farm Bureau Women, the Kentucky Cattlemen's Association, and the Kentucky Soybean Association.
• Children's environmental health education and outreach with Kentucky State University, the Kentucky Division for Air Quality, the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, the Kentucky Regional Poison Center, and the Kentucky Environmental Quality Commission.
• Agritourism programming with the West Kentucky Development Corporation, the Kentucky Cabinet for Tourism, and the Kentucky Tourism Council.

The new Center for Leadership Development, including establishing a new non-profit leadership initiative, coordinating a downlink to provide quality leadership development programming by satellite, linking the many leadership programs involving extension for better communication and improved delivery, and linking with the Martin School of Public Policy and other colleges and units on campus.

We encourage you to visit your local extension office and learn more about how you can benefit from educational programs offered by the UK Cooperative Extension Service. Or visit us on the Web at www.ca.uky.edu/CES .

Larry W. Turner, Associate Director
Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service
S-107 Agricultural Science Center,
University of Kentucky
Lexington, Kentucky 40546-0091
E-mail: larry.turner@uky.edu

PROGRAM EMPHASIS

• 5%       Environment
• 20%     Life Skills
• 18%     Diet & Health
• 16%     Leadership
• 29%     Agriculture
• 12%     Community

Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service

More than $77 million TOTAL FUNDING
for fiscal year 2004
7/1/03 - 6/30/04

• GRANTS, Gifts, & Contracts          $13,320,368     17%
• STATE            $28,828,169    37%
• FEDERAL       $10,618,441    14%
• COUNTY        $24,428,294     32%

Grants, gifts, and contracts includes:

• Extension-related projects and projects led by extension faculty as principal investigators, which are also part of the annual reporting of the Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station.
• Money received locally for support of county programs.
• The budget for the Friends of Kentucky 4-H Inc., which is accounted separately from that of the UK Cooperative Extension Service.

Extension by the Numbers

Extension made nearly 6.5 million contacts.

As part of our programming, more than 205,000 youth were involved in 4-H/Youth Development programs, putting us in the top three states in the country in percentage of eligible youth enrolled. Also, about $67 million in additional income was realized by Kentucky farmers who adopted new practices taught in extension programs.

In addition, as a result of extension programs:

• 8,850 agricultural producers use new marketing opportunities.
• 19,020 agricultural producers adopted new production practices.
• 38,560 Kentuckians gained leadership skills.
• 22,490 Kentuckians took steps to reduce debt or increase savings.
• 23,450 individuals adopted practices that ensure safe water.

Extension helped 82,080 Kentuckians make lifestyle changes for the purpose of improving health.

Of the more than 4,100 limited resource families participating in our Expanded Food and Nutrition Program (EFNEP), 93% adopted improved nutrition practices. Cooperative Extension was involved in nearly 2,190 community coalitions that focus on local issues.

EXTERNAL GRANT FUNDING

Obtained by Extension Faculty, Specialists, & Associates

Fiscal Year 2003 - $5.13 Million

Fiscal Year 2004 - $9.79 Million

COUNTY-GENERATED Grants, Gifts, & Contracts

Fiscal Year 2003 - $1.6 Million

Fiscal Year 2004 - $2.43 Million

A COUNTY OFFICE AS BIG AS THE NATION

Jennifer Whittle is a 16-year-old who loves horses. She rides them, lives on an Anderson County farm where her family raises Appaloosas, and competes in national competitions as part of Kentucky's 4-H horse team.

A friend alerted Jennifer to a Web site called HorseQuest.info.

"The 4-H club had been studying artificial insemination in the horse industry, so I thought I'd ask a few questions on the topic," Jennifer said.

"I received a response quicker than I thought I would, and I shared it with my teammates on the horse team," she said.

Jennifer was able to get her answer without ever leaving her home, without ever picking up a publication, without ever going to a meeting by using HorseQuest.info, a Web-based resource to which equine specialists at 13 southern land-grant universities contribute.

HorseQuest.info is one example of Extension's Next Big Thing. It's called eXtension ("e-Extension"), and it's going to bring a wealth of Extension information to Internet users everywhere.

Nearly two-thirds of the U.S. adult population goes online every month, and that percentage is even higher for youths 12 to 17. With eXtension, this public, with a few well-placed clicks of the mouse, will be able to access the research-based information that is Extension's hallmark. Online users will be able to search Extension's vast knowledge base through electronic publications, graphics, videos, and "Webcasting" of live events.

At the same time, agents and specialists will be freed up to use their time where personal contact counts.

Two in College Take Leadership Roles

Two College administrators, Carla Craycraft and Craig Wood, have been named co associate directors for content development for eXtension.

They are two of the first four people hired in leadership roles in this new national effort, and are responsible for building and managing the organizational framework that will allow extension faculty across the United States to contribute content to this Internet-based delivery system of extension programming.

The two have assumed half-time positions with eXtension. Craycraft also continues to serve as the College's Assistant Dean for Agricultural Communications.

Wood also is serving as director of the College's new lab that is developing ways to use the Web and other Internet-based technologies to deliver educational and informational programming.

Wood and Craycraft bring to their new job extensive experience using multi-media, management, and team building--all of which are essential as the eXtension effort gets under way.

Both have received numerous awards and grants during their academic careers.

They both earned Ph.D. degrees in animal science (Craycraft at Oklahoma State, Wood at New Mexico State), and worked as extension professors in that field before moving into agricultural communications.

A FRESH APPROACH TO HUNGER

Providing food to Kentucky's neediest families is one thing. Making sure the food is nutritious is quite another.

That's why $50,000 in Agricultural Development Funds was awarded to the Kentucky Association of Second Harvest Food Banks--to establish a pilot program to make it easier for the food banks that serve Kentucky to buy healthy fresh foods from Kentucky crops and producers.

"Access to fresh fruits and vegetables is very important to a healthy diet. We feel almost morally compelled to include them in our inventory," said Marian Blanchard, chair of the food bank association and executive director of God's Pantry of Lexington, one of its member food banks.

The Ag Development Funds were primarily used to buy refrigerators and freezers for the food banks' member agencies. The food banks can now use their funds to supply the agencies with surplus produce and meats, often from Kentucky farmers.

For example, God's Pantry launched its efforts by buying Kentucky-raised catfish from the Purchase Area Aquaculture Co-op in Western Kentucky. Then, with the help of county extension agents, the food bank also began buying locally grown tomatoes, sweet potatoes, beef, and sausage.

"They (extension agents) have helped to connect us to farmers and helped us spread the word that, although we love to receive donated products, we also do have money to make purchases," Blanchard said.

Emphasis on providing low-income Kentuckians with fresh, locally grown products thrills Pam Sigler, extension associate for Family and Consumer Sciences. In addition to helping food banks and local farmers connect, Extension often partners with agencies in demonstrations, curriculum, and educational materials to reinforce the importance of a healthy diet.

The goal of these combined efforts, Sigler said, is to help families "maintain a healthy diet and life while running out of food less often."

GROWING A FUTURE WHILE GROWING UP

Bremen Elementary School is cultivating a bright future for its students.

The school, which is in formerly tobacco-dependent Muhlenberg County, is participating in an in-school 4-H project that uses an outdoor classroom/greenhouse to introduce youngsters to agricultural and entrepreneurial ventures. Already, they are growing pumpkins and mums, maintaining a fish pond, and working on landscape projects.

"This idea will allow students to be introduced to finding new ways to add value to Kentucky agricultural products and explore new opportunities for Kentucky farms and farm products," wrote the principal, Rick Carver, in applying for the 4-H Venture Grant that funded the project.

The grant was made possible when Friends of Kentucky 4-H Inc.was awarded $2 million in Agricultural Development Funds. Carver and guidance counselor Donna Harrison were quick to act when they learned the grant was available. They had long wanted to buy a greenhouse for such a project but never had enough money to also keep it operational.

"Basically, what it (the grant) allowed us to do was use our money to buy the greenhouse and use their money to hire a high school student to work as they would in any other ag co-op job on a farm," Carver explained.

Local high schoolers work with the younger students on 4-H service -learning projects and serve as mentors on business ventures. Local extension officials are involved as well, providing lesson plans, training, and resources. They will also soon organize a 4-H club for students who have an interest in horticulture.

By the time the $8,000 grant runs out, Carver expects the project to be self-sustaining through the sale of products grown in the greenhouse and 2-acre outdoor classroom.

He is also confident other schools will be able to duplicate the program, which is a criterion for being awarded a venture grant.

BUILDING A COMMUNITY ARTFULLY

When it comes to Kentucky communities working to improve their quality of life, Pike County takes center stage.

This progressive county in far Eastern Kentucky most recently proved its star power when UK's Colleges of Agriculture and Fine Arts announced joint plans to hire an extension associate for fine arts there.

The position is not only the first of its kind in the state; it is the first in the nation, according to Tim Campbell, Pike County extension agent for community and economic development.

"A lot of people think that economic development has nothing to do with anything but industrial parks and business recruitment, and nothing could be further from the truth," Campbell said. "If you want a real community, you've got to link economic development with culture every step of the way."

The goal of hiring an extension associate for the fine arts is to expand and promote the already thriving arts community in Pike County while also leveraging the arts' potential to help develop and grow the area's economy.

With Extension's support, Pike County community leaders and citizens are already working to create a healthy small business community through business retention; they are helping new entrepreneurs get their businesses off the ground with a variety of support services; and they are actively recruiting new businesses to the area. Now, with an additional focus on the arts, Campbell said there's no denying Pike County's potential.

PULLING TOGETHER TO PROTECT OUR WATER

Angela Kessans is passionate about a subject that most give only passing thought to--water. She coordinates efforts between Extension and the Kentucky Division of Water to protect and restore the Kentucky Salt River Basin's watersheds.

"Everything a person does affects the watershed," said Kessans. "It affects your water costs, it affects the water you drink, it affects the water that runs through your yard, it affects the water that runs into the ocean ..."

The Salt River Basin, which includes all or parts of the 19 north central counties in Kentucky, is one of eight basin management areas designated by the Division of Water. Each has a basin coordinator.

As the Salt River Basin coordinator, however, Kessans is unique. She is the only coordinator who is also affiliated with Extension.

Through Extension, Kessans is able to use the resources available at UK to educate people about critical watershed issues, including pollution and biodiversity. She is also able to call on county agents, who are always quick to offer support.

One of Kessans' most important roles is educating community leaders, citizens, students, and others. She is setting up an outreach program to fulfill that role.

"The whole idea of watershed management is going to come from the ground up," she said. "It's not going to start with large regulations being put in place. ... It has to work with the five people in that county who are interested in saving the creek that runs through their yards."

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