Tagged With "Produce in the Spring"

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) 2018-2022 Strategic Plan recognizes its role in helping provide access to safe and nutritious food for limited income people, by supporting limited resource individuals and families in their efforts to escape food insecurity and hunger and improve their well-being. These objectives require partnerships between State, local agencies, Federal, and public and private entities to support best practices in implementing effective programs and ensuring...

eXtension Social Café Every Thursday from March 26th - April 30th 1 PM - 2 PM ET Available to All Cooperative Extension Professionals The eXtension Social Café will provide a weekly opportunity for informal, drop-in conversations and questions about the effective use of social media and communications in Extension work. Each Social Café will open with a 5-15 minute “tutorial” of a tool or feature on commonly used social platforms, or a brief showcase of a Cooperative Extension employee who...

As part of eXtension’s New Technologies for Agricultural Extension (NTAE) Cooperative Agreement with USDA-NIFA, the eXtension Foundation is partnering with four existing programs aligned with USDA strategic goals across Cooperative Extension in Year 1 to explore new methods and models for program scale and implementation. These initiatives are being documented in a series of eFieldbooks to inform the system of the models, learnings, and outcomes. Professional development opportunities will...

Advancing the role of integrated pest management, including effective use of pesticides, is critical to controlling the spread of harmful pests and diseases. It is estimated that 40 percent of global crops are lost to agricultural pests each year. The US Department of Agriculture Strategic Plan 2018-2022 emphasizes prevention and mitigation of agricultural pests and disease. There are recognized, undesirable effects associated with application and misuse of pesticides, especially by the...

Cities are getting smarter. New technologies help monitor traffic and enforce parking. First responders use camera systems to explore incident scenes for potentially hazardous materials or spills. Autonomous vehicles are being piloted. With these new technologies, governments and communities have concerns about safety, privacy, and equity. The key to successfully navigating these issues is trust. So what's the role of Extension in smart cities? We asked this question of our panel experts and...

As part of eXtension’s New Technologies for Agricultural Extension (NTAE) Cooperative Agreement with USDA-NIFA, the eXtension Foundation is partnering with four existing programs aligned with USDA strategic goals across Cooperative Extension in Year 1 to explore new methods and models for program scale and implementation. These initiatives are being documented in a series of eFieldbooks to inform the system of the models, learnings, and outcomes. Professional development opportunities will...

Please help Cooperative Extension help producers tackle On-Farm Water Treatment. Led by a multi-state team from North Carolina State University, Virginia Tech, the University of Tennessee, Washington State University, and the University of Florida, Cooperative Extension is implementing a free curriculum to help produce growers address on-farm water treatment pertaining to the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). We need your help to ensure execution of the best program possible. To inspire...

Yesterday afternoon Nathan Hermond with Prairie View A&M University Cooperative Extension and Kara Maddox with the National Pesticide Safety Education Center hosted a webinar on how we transformed existing Cooperative Extension content into an engaging Pollinator Prep Guide designed for Millennials and their families. Click here to watch the recording today! In the webinar, we spoke about the nifty poll featured offered by 99designs - as well as the ability to start a competition among...

As part of eXtension’s New Technologies for Agricultural Extension (NTAE) Year 1 Cooperative Agreement with USDA-NIFA, the eXtension Foundation selected a multi-state initiative including North Carolina State University, University of Florida, University of Tennessee, and Virginia Tech to participate in our program accelerator, receiving several wrap-around services from the eXtension Foundation to help with faster implementation and impact. One component of eXtension’s wrap-around services...

As part of eXtension’s New Technologies for Agricultural Extension (NTAE) Cooperative Agreement with USDA-NIFA, the eXtension Foundation selected the National Pesticide Safety Education Center (NPSEC) in partnership with Prairie View A&M Cooperative Extension to pilot a mass media campaign using radio and digital advertising to promote pollinator protection messages to the public. The results and method is published in this new eFieldbook. Using this eFieldbook, Cooperative Extension...

Wits Wellness research is looking for participants A research team from the University of Illinois is looking for participants for the WITS Wellness Research Study . Any person 50 years and older who has not been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia is eligible. Participants can receive up to $60 for their participation in the study. The study will include 12 weekly health and wellness sessions at various locations across the state. The sessions will be fun, with interactive...

Dear Extension Colleagues, It has been our pleasure to serve the Cooperative Extension System this past year and we are excited for the work ahead in 2022. We wanted to provide an update to all of you about how the Extension Foundation has partnered with Cooperative Extension this past year and our progress towards making a greater impact on local issues. We thank you all for the work you do everyday in your states and communities, and we wish all of you a happy and restful holiday season.

The services provided by social workers are crucial to creating and cultivating individual and family wellness. During this time of insurmountable stressors at home and abroad, social workers are pillars in providing vital mental health and behavioral health services. Services that can aid family members in navigating daily anxiety, worry, and trauma. National Social Work Month March was Social Work Month, and the 2022 theme is The Time is Right for Social Work. Over the past three years,...

Announcing 2022 GusNIP Nutrition Incentive Program and Produce Prescription Program RFAs

Learn about the community-building opportunities that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic and how you can start building the foundation for community recovery for the future.

During the growing and harvest seasons, vegetable producers often begin their day before sunrise and finish as the last light is seeping into the horizon. These long days are normal but varied. Challenges such as pests, disease, climate change, and weather make each day and each growing season unique and unpredictable. Vegetable farmers control some of the variables they face – like weeds and the temperature and moisture levels of their soil – by using a product that comes with pros and...

We are so excited to announce 8 new 1994 institutions are joining the EXCITE Activity 2 program Immunization Education Pilots Projects. These funded projects work cooperatively with the CDC, local health professionals and programs to improve immunization rates with priority populations. The purpose is to create and test innovative delivery methods for each pilot project and inform future immunization education methodologies of best practices. 8 Land Grant Universities joining the EXCITE...

Greetings Extension friends! Spring 2023 course registration at Colorado State University Online is open through Monday, January 16th. Enrolling in courses is as easy as clicking this orange button and submitting your ESP- Employee Study Privilege form . You do not have to be enrolled in a Graduate program to take individual courses. Graduate courses are a great PD opportunity to enhance your skills and build up your CV. Spring 2023 Extension Education courses NEW!! AGED 600 - Evaluation and...

“Bridging the GAPS: Approaches to Treating Water on Farms” - a curriculum designed to help producers understand and address the regulatory requirements for ag water treatment in the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) - has been reissued in a flipping book format by the Extension Foundation. 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...

Registration is now open for the Sustainable Living Series offered by University of Florida, Purdue University and Michigan `State University Extension systems. The program focuses on how participants can live a more sustainable lifestyle and lead sustainability efforts in their communities. Please consider signing up and helping to promote this program to audiences you work with. Register here: https://tinyurl.com/5pw5ybdt The full program flyer is attached if you click on READ STORY.

Four new titles are available on the Extension Foundation’s website. The brief publications - written as magazine-style feature stories - share project work funded through the New Technologies for Ag Extension (NTAE) program , a cooperative agreement between USDA NIFA, Oklahoma State University, and the Extension Foundation. The goal of NTAE is to incubate, accelerate, and expand promising work that will increase the impact of the Cooperative Extension System (CES) in the communities it...

Monday, 15 January 2024 is the 38th year of the celebration that remembers Dr. King's lifetime of public service. As well as a federal holiday, it's also known as a day of service when Americans are encouraged to volunteer with charities to help their communities. In one of my first semesters in college, the student body was included in a decision about the number of days off we had for holidays each spring semester. Before the decision there were several "town hall" discussion sessions to...

Monday, 16 January 2022 is the 36th year of the celebration that remembers Dr. King's lifetime of public service. As well as a federal holiday, it's also known as a day of service when Americans are encouraged to volunteer with charities to help their communities. In one of In one of my first semesters in college, the student body was included in a decision about the number of days off we had for holidays each spring semester. Before the decision there were several "town hall" discussion...

The Virginia Cooperative Extension EXCITE Team and the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) conducted a symposium on November 3rd, 2023 to discuss the EXCITE project funded through CDC and ways that Virginia Cooperative Extension Agents could get involved in vaccine education! This session introduced our vaccine ambassadors and their roles in their respective localities, provided background on adult vaccinations and the current vaccination schedule, and discussed approaches to communicating...

As an atmospheric river intensified by climate change bore down on the West Coast, more than 40 Extension professionals from across the U.S. and outlying territories gathered in Tucson, Arizona for Cooperative Extension’s first national Climate Action Convening. A central question guiding the gathering was: “How can we mobilize the U.S. Cooperative Extension system to quickly and effectively contribute to climate change solutions? Hosted by the Extension Committee on Organization and...

The NECI Curriculum Development Team is hosting a Spring webinar series on the 4th Wed of the month! This free webinar series features 17 outreach perspectives for engaging different communities in addressing climate. The goal is to share resources, stories, methods, and tools from across the U.S. for re-use locally. The primary audience is extension educators but this webinar series is applicable to all citizens. February's webinar: YOUTH & Climate , Register HERE . This hour long...

The History of Earth Day Earth Day was launched in 1970. Many factors contributed to the call for a national day focusing on environmental stewardship, including the publication of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring - serialized in the New Yorker - and the catastrophic oil spill that occurred off the coast of Santa Barbara in 1969. The Santa Barbara oil spill galvanized U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson (D-Wisconsin) to call for a national day of locally inspired and organized "teach-ins" on the...