Publications

“Bridging the Gaps: Approaches to Treating Water on Farms” is a curriculum designed to help producers understand and address the regulatory requirements for ag water treatment in the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).

Preventing foodborne illness and protecting public health are critically important to producers. Sanitary irrigation water is also mandated by the USDA; producers are required to monitor, treat, and verify compliance. This curriculum, developed by a multi-state, interdisciplinary team of public and private sector experts, focuses on helping producers accomplish key goals, including:

• Understanding the regulatory requirements for ag water treatment in the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA);

• Finding the right water treatment system for their farm;
• Developing standard operating procedures; and
• Ensuring that the proper system is implemented correctly.

In 2012 ECOP created a national task force on health to identify systemwide priorities. This group produced a National Framework for Health and Wellness, approved by ECOP in 2014. In 2020, ECOP recognized the need to update guidance in this area and appointed a Health Innovation Task Force to provide recommendations for system-level change to further advance Cooperative Extension’s work in the area of health. Those recommendations are included in this document.

In Oklahoma, recent droughts have significantly decreased water levels in lakes, reservoirs, and the Ogallala aquifer, putting pressure on farmers and communities that rely on agriculture for their livelihoods.

With water shortages likely to continue, Oklahoma farmers need innovative ways to manage irrigation and minimize risks to their fields and livestock. Inspired by a program developed by the North Plains Groundwater Conservation District, Extension specialists at Oklahoma State University created a Master Irrigator program to give farmers a fighting chance against these shortages. This publication documents this program.

This report documents results from a regional assessment of over 1,300 ecosystem service provisioning programs and policies across the U.S. Northeast, in Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland,
Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and West Virginia as well as in the District of Columbia. The assessment describes the programs' institutional
arrangements, their incentive structures, and the ecosystem services they provide. This analysis was grounded in four overarching goals for the Northeast region named in the RFP by the Association of
Northeast Extension Directors (NEED) and Northeastern Regional Association of State Agricultural Experiment Station Directors).

This publication provides information and resources about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). It contains links to expert presentations, videos, frameworks, websites, and other resources that will prove to be of value to those wishing to learn more about DEI and how to incorporate best practices in their work. It is the 1st Edition.  The 2nd Edition is available here:  https://online.flippingbook.com/view/1049966584/

This publication provides information and resources about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). It contains links to expert presentations, videos, frameworks, websites, and other resources that will prove to be of value to those wishing to learn more about DEI and how to incorporate best practices in their work.

This publication is part of a two-part series. The publication explores the use of forums as a community engagement tool in Extension work. It is a comprehensive how-to guide designed to help Cooperative Extension professionals develop issues forums in both onsite and online settings.

The National Pesticide Safety Education Center (NPSEC) has been supporting pollinator health since 2017, primarily by providing education and training materials to Extension programs that teach pesticide applicators how to minimize the risk that pesticides pose to pollinators.

Over the last three years, NPSEC has taken its mission to be a premier provider of pollinator protection information to a new, more visible level. Leveraging our unique relationships with several private media companies, we created an opportunity for the Cooperative Extension program at Prairie View A&M University to share its pollinator stewardship research and best practices with a consumer audience in a mass media campaign in Texas.

Commercial media isn’t typically an option for Extension programs. It’s usually expensive and requires business connections that Extension agents are unlikely to have. As a result of its Pollinator Stewardship Pilot, NPSEC and its media partners have demonstrated how robust market research and mass media can be accessible to and affordable for Extension Service programs.

Educational games can be an innovative way for Extension educators to
teach content to any given audience. While many in Extension have an interest and passion for using and designing games, the process may seem intimidating to Extension professionals, especially those without
experience in game design. This eFieldbook offers an alternative to full game design, in which game developers, content experts, and Extension educators collaborate to design a game prototype. This modified
game jam process is budget-friendly and can be completed in a few weeks.

The “Wellness in Tough Times Toolkit" publication contains resources, stories, and lessons learned by an NTAE team and partners in Nebraska.  The Wellness in Tough Times (WTT) project supports Nebraskans affected by multiple stressors: The continuing downturn in the agricultural economy, a year of record-breaking disasters that impacted Nebraskans from border-to-border, and a global pandemic created challenges that took us all into uncharted waters.

This ePublication, The Google Earth Pro Pilot: A Model for Creating Innovative Extension Curriculum, provides an integrative model that Extension professionals can use to restructure existing curriculum or
create new curriculum that is technologically innovative and can serve audiences online, face to face (FTF), or in a format that combines virtual and in-person learning.

This book documents the process used to develop a virtual conference for low-resourced communities focusing on Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Recovery. We believe this is a model other Extension teams can adapt and use.