Extension offers students research opportunities
Utah State’s Cooperative Extension offers opportunities for people throughout Utah to become more involved in research at the university and find practical application to their own lives. They include programs that teach, at little or no cost, elements of agriculture, economics or finance.
With the passing of the Morrill Act in 1862, land grant universities got their start. After a succession of government acts, including the Smith-Lever Act in 1914, the Cooperative Extension service was established. It involves a three-way cooperation between federal, state and county organization and funds.
“(Cooperative Extension) brings information created at the university to bear on the lives of the public,” said Chuck Gay, associate vice president for Cooperative Extension. Gay has been involved with the Extension program since 1964.
Each county in Utah contains one extension office, with a few situation-based exceptions, in space provided by the county. The county also provides the offices with secretaries and transportation involved with the program.
The University Extension pays the salaries of their employees, Gay said, and federal funds provided are matched by the state. The different offices focus on what is needed by the people in the specific area, testing and researching the various soils and climate, and providing relevant information for that county.
Gay said some counties have different programs than others. Rich County, for instance, has only one agent of Extension, who deals mostly with livestock due to the climate of Rich County.
The Cooperative Extension, though originally created with an agriculture and a home-economics emphasis under the Smith-Lever Act, had enough open-ended legislation to allow the programs to change as time and lifestyles evolved, Gay said.
“When we were created 80 percent of the public was engaged in agriculture,” he said, “now less than two percent are involved in the actual production.”
However, he said, a lot of this change has been facilitated by the research provided through the Extension program finding more efficient means to deal with agricultural problems and other research that is pertinent to the public.
A pamphlet about Utah State’s Cooperative Extension lists agriculture, natural resources, home and family, finance and consumer life, food, nutrition and health, business and economics, gardening and 4-H and youth as areas each comprising their own programs which provide information, both in seminar and pamphlet form, to the public at little or no cost.
The programs that do charge a fee use those monies to pay for printing, food consumed, or other program costs.
One program that does have a large fee is the “Master Gardener” program, which is also more time-consuming. Designed to help the public better understand and enjoy gardening, it is generally a 12-week course, four hours each week with at least 40 hours of volunteer service expected, said Dean Miner, Utah County agriculture agent and county director.
The gardening program demonstrates the way Extension provides training to the community which can then be used to help the community directly. Miner said it provides a way for more and more people to be positively affected by the research that happens at Utah State.
Miner said that people touching other people is the way the program counts its contacts. With the network of people trained by the program who then meet and help other people in the community, the yearly number of contacts reached is estimated at 250,000 people in Utah County.
Though Utah County is largely urban, it has many programs which are involved with the farms and agriculture of the area. Miner said the “Farm Field Day” for second-graders is especially popular.
This program occurs twice a year, one week in the spring and one in the fall. Students are exposed to the different areas of agriculture production, like the county equestrian park or a sheepdog demonstration. Fourteen different learning stations are included with representatives of all agricultural commodities.
Miner said this program is important because most residents have little real understanding of where food comes from. Most counties have a similar outreach program, he said.
Miner said he is involved with many aspects of the farming life in Utah County, but the county also offers help with debt reduction through a website, as well as other programs.
Miner said he has enjoyed his work – he is in his 24th year – because of the way things have changed over time.
He said he grew up on a small dairy farm in Utah County and has watched the way the area has developed to become more urban. With Extension, he said, he has dealt with a variety of different issues, from volunteer tax assistance to farm compost.
“Being able to make a real difference in the grassroot level of people’s lives, from why tomatoes aren’t doing real well, to a 10 year old being able to get a blue ribbon and that self-esteem, to relieving debt, being able to make a difference, one life at a time,” Miner said.
The counties each offer a variety of classes and activities. Many of them put a focus on 4-H, directly involving the youth in the community. The websites for the various counties can be accessed through the main USU website.
Morgan County is offering a crock-pot cooking class, and Tooele is offering a cupcake-decorating class open to those third-grade and up.
Emery County’s site contains tips for a successful fall garden, but the Extension does not just cover Utah. All land-grant universities have an extension program, Gay said, and they all collaborate.
“Extension is a connected system. I can get on my computer with a request for information and every agent in the entire system receives it. All the way from Guam to Maine to Puerto Rico, on the other side of the international dateline,” he said.
There is also an international element. Gay said he has lived in 40 different countries on a short-term basis, including three years in Morocco.
“Every country has unique situations and unique people. You always come home with a lot more than you gave,” he said.
Student internships are also available through the Extension program.
– genevieve.draper@aggiemail.usu.edu