Agriculture and HorticulturePlan of Work

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Mercer County CES

Title:
Agriculture and Horticulture
MAP:
Advancing Agriculture & Horticulture
Agents Involved:
Linda McClanahan, Jessica Bessin, Dana Anderson
MAJOR PROGRAM 1:
Horticulture, Consumer and Home
MAJOR PROGRAM 2:
Horticulture, Commercial
MAJOR PROGRAM 3:
Beef
MAJOR PROGRAM 4:
Farm Management, Economics and Policy
Situation:

Mercer County has a diverse combination of both commercial agriculture, horticulture, and home horticulture, all being viable industries in Mercer County. Farmers, community leaders, farm organizations, Mercer County Ag Development Council, Mercer County Farmers Market, Mercer County Ag Advisory Council, and Mercer County Horticulture Advisory Council have identified important agricultural and horticultural issues and needed programs. Farm profitability, diversification, increasing value of property, promoting local foods, and marketing opportunities are some of the top priorities. Leaders have also identified the need to have extensive programs in the area of agricultural awareness. With less than 2% of the population involved in food production there is a great need for education about where and how food and other agricultural products are produced.

Long-Term Outcomes:

*Increased interest in agriculture and horticulture production.

*Homeowners will save more money on home landscape.

*Increased diversification of crops produced in county.

Intermediate Outcomes:

*Homeowners will add value to their property through education programs on maintaing landscapes

*Farmers market will continue to grow as intrest in local food increases

*Youth will exhibit skills, share knowledge with others, including family members, and may decide to raise some of their own food

Initial Outcomes:

*Farmers will improve production practices

*Farmers and homeowners will understand pesticide safety

*Increased interest in local foods

*Students will learn about UK and career opportunities in agriculture.

Evaluation:

Initial Outcome: Increased interest in Agriculture and Horticulture Programs

Indicator: Increased numbers of participants for agriculture and horticulture programs

Method: Counting participants attending the programs

Timeline: on-going


Intermediate Outcome:

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Long-term Outcome:

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Learning Opportunities:

Audience: Clients with Horticulture Interest

Project or Activity: Master Gardener Program

Content or Curriculum: UK Master Gardener Manual

Inputs: UK CES Facilities, UK Extension Specialists, Mercer Extension Staff, UK Publications and other resources, Master Gardener volunteers

Date: Fall


Audience: Clients with Horticulture Interest

Project or Activity: Horticulture topics, instructor, newsletter, radio, Facebook page, videos, 

Content or Curriculum: UK Horticulture Department, Horticulture organizations, Ag communications  

Inputs: CES Facilities, UK Extension Specialist, Mercer County Hort. Agent, UK publications, Master Gardeners, Volunteers 

Date: Ongoing


Audience: Clients with Horticulture Interest

Project or Activity: Gardening Through the Seasons  

Content or Curriculum: UK CES

Inputs: CES Facilities, UK Extension Specialist, Mercer Extension Staff, UK publications 

Date: Ongoing


Audience: Clients with Beekeeping Interest

Project or Activity: Beekeeping Club

Content or Curriculum: KDA State Apiarist, Hands-on demonstrations, KY State

Inputs: CES Facilities, UK Extension Specialist, Mercer Extension Staff, UK publications, KDA, KY State 


Audience: Clients with Horticulture Interest

Project or Activity: Community Garden  

Content or Curriculum: UK Horticulture Department

Inputs: CES Facilities, UK Extension Specialist, Mercer Extension Staff, UK publications, NEP 

Date: Ongoing


Audience: Farmers

Project or Activity: Mercer County Horticulture Field Day

Content or Curriculum: Chosen by Hort Field Day Committee - from UK Specialists and Hort Industry

Inputs: Host farm, volunteers, CES Staff, Partners/Sponsoring Organizations, Mercer Extension Staff

Date: Summer/Fall 


Audience: Farmers Market Clients

Project or Activity: Fresh To Table 

Content or Curriculum: NEP_Plate it Up, Veggie vouchers, Recipes 

Inputs: UK publications, Volunteers, Mercer Extension Staff, Partners/Sponsoring Organization

 Date: On-going


Audience:Homeowners and Farmers 

Project or Activity: Pesticide Safety Training/ Pesticides 101 

Content or Curriculum: KY Pest Management Curriculum, hands on demonstrations

Inputs: UK Specialist, Extension Publications, Mercer Extension Staff

Date: Spring/Summer 


Audience: Farmers

Project or Activity: Annual Mercer County Agriculture Field Day

Content or Curriculum: Chosen by Field Day Committee - from UK Specialists and Ag Industry

Inputs: Host farm, volunteers, CES Staff, Partners/Sponsoring Organizations

Date: September


Audience: Mercer County citizens

Project or Activity: Annual Farm-City Dinner

Content or Curriculum: National Farm-City Council, American Farm Bureau Federation, content relevant to the educational objective set by the committee

Inputs: Extension staff, Extension resources, collaborating agencies, sponsors, speakers

Date: March


Audience: Farmers

Project or Activity: Beef Quality & Care Assurance Certification

Content or Curriculum: KY BQA Curriculum

Inputs: Extension staff, Extension resources, KY Cattlemen's Association, host location

Date: Spring/Fall


Audience: Farmers

Project or Activity: Private Pesticide Applicator Training

Content or Curriculum: KY Pest Management Curriculum

Inputs: Extension staff, Extension resources, UK Extension publications

Date: spring


Audience: Elementary school youth

Project or Activity: FarmSCool Week

Content or Curriculum: UK CES, KY Beef Council, KY Horse Council, KY Soybean Association, KY Dept of Ag

Inputs: Extension Staff, Extension resources, Mercer County School system, Burgin School System

Date: Fall


Audience: Mercer County citizens, farmers

Project or Activity: Services

Content or Curriculum: Soil Testing, Plant Disease Diagnosis, Hay Testing, Ration Balancing, Farm & Home Visits, Insect Identification, Weed Identification, Water Testing, Plant Identification, Snake Identification, Forage & Grain Moisture Testing

Inputs: UK CES Facilities, Extension Staff, UK Publications, UK Plant Disease Diagnostic Lab, UK Soil Lab, UK Extension Specialists

Date: Ongoing


Audience: Equine clientele

Project or Activity: Equine Express newsletter, Horse College, special equine topic programs, State Equine Farm & Facilities Expo

Content or Curriculum: Horse College, UK Equine

Inputs: UK CES facilities, ANR Agents, UK Extension Specialists, UK publications, UK news releases/exclusives

Date: ongoing


Audience: Mercer County clientele with agriculture or horticulture interest

Project or Activity: demonstration plots and demonstration programs

Content or Curriculum: UK, industry companies

Inputs: UK CES Specialists & resources, new practices, chemicals, local farms for demonstrations, host locations for programs

Date: ongoing


Audience: Extension clientele/followers on social media

Project or Activity: Facebook pages, website, videos, podcasts

Content or Curriculum: UK CES

Inputs: UK CES agents, UK CES staff, Ag Comm news releases, UK publications/information

Date: ongoing


Audience: Mercer County crop producers

Project or Activity: crop production practices and meetings including regional

Content or Curriculum: UK CES

Inputs: UK CES Specialists, facilities, agents, publications and other resources

Date: ongoing


Audience: Mercer County Cattle producers

Project or Activity: cattle production practices, newsletters, and meetings (KY Beef Conference, KY Stocker Conference, county winter meetings, regional meetings, dairy month kickoff breakfast, dairy monthly newsletter, cattlemens quarterly roundup newsletter, Master series (Master Cattlemen, Master Marketer, Master Stocker), beef month activities

Content or Curriculum: UK CES

Inputs: UK CES specialists, facilities, agents, publications and other resources

Date: ongoing


Audience: Mercer County young and beginning farmers

Project or Activity: support for both young and beginning farmers

Content or Curriculum: UK CES

Inputs: UK CES specialists, facilities, agents, publications and other resources

Date: ongoing


Audience: Mercer County farmers and clientele

Project or Activity: collaboration with agriculture organizations

Content or Curriculum: UK CES, agriculture organizations

Inputs: Farm Bureau, Soil Conservation, Cattlemens Association, Goat Association, Backcountry Horsemen, Master Gardeners, Fair Board

Date: ongoing


Audience: county fair attendees and participants

Project or Activity: Mercer County Fair & Horse Show

Content or Curriculum: CES guidelines, rules & regulations set by various show committees

Inputs: CES Staff, Mercer County Fair & Horse Show facilities/funds, community sponsors, county fair participants

Date: July



Success Stories

UK Extension Farm & Facilities Expo

Author: Linda McClanahan

Major Program: Equine

In order to help equine producers be efficient and profitable, Central Kentucky County Extension Agents for Agriculture & Natural Resources collaborated with UK Extension Specialists and Ag Equine Programs to offer the Equine Farm and Facilities Expo. The assistance of long-time business community sponsors allowed producers to see what the latest offerings are in farm machinery, equine nutrition products, and numerous other necessities for equine operations. Just like in years past, the

Full Story

Everyday Gardener Webinar Series II

Author: Jessica Bessin

Major Program: Horticulture, Consumer and Home

Everyday Gardener Webinar Series II

Everyday Gardener Webinar Series IIContinuing efforts to meet the public desire for horticultural educational classes in the ever-changing climate of the post pandemic world, horticulture agents in 7 counties of Central Region collaborated in the Fall of 2021 to offer the Everyday Gardener Webinar Series once again. The series, taught by agents and specialist, provided educational classes related to horticulture under the fields of: Insects: The Good , the Bad and the Ugly, Wildlife and Woodland

Full Story

Assisting Farmers in Need

Author: Linda McClanahan

Major Program: Tornado Response and Recovery

When tornadoes ripped across KY, farmers were among those left with widespread devastation. The Mercer County Extension Office and ANR agent partnered on a couple different initiatives. The Mercer County Extension Office, Cattlemen's Association and Farm Bureau Federation partnered to collect monetary donations. Those organizations in addition to private donations totaled $8,650. The ANR agent worked with local farm supply stores (Johnson's Farm Supply, Southern States Harrodsburg a

Full Story

Lisa Walker Recovery Center Garden

Author: Jessica Bessin

Major Program: Horticulture, Consumer and Home

 Lisa walker recovery center is a 16 bed facility for women recovering from a variety of addictions. Women usually stay for about a month at this facility before moving on to other assisted living areas until they can get back on their feet. The Mercer County NEP assistant has been heavily involved with Lisa Walker residents for the past few years with nutrition classes.With the help of the Mercer County NEP assistant the Mercer County Horticulture Agent was introduced to the facility manag

Full Story

Fort Harrod Beekeeping

Author: Jessica Bessin

Major Program: Beekeeping

Fort Harrod Beekeeping

As the popularity of beekeeping continues to grow the Fort Harrod Beekeeping club has been there to help the residents of Mercer County and those other counties that surround it.The Fort Harrod Beekeeping club started in the winter of 2015 by the Mercer County Horticulture agent. The club initially had only 10 members and now has grown to around 50. The club meets monthly for a short business meeting followed by a speaker or activity. Members of the club receive access to a variety of equipment

Full Story

Small Fruit Production For New Growers

Author: Jessica Bessin

Major Program: Horticulture, Commercial

Small Fruit Production For New Growers

In an effort to offer more educational classes for growers wanting to make the jump from backyard growers to more commercial, the Mercer County Horticulture Agent teamed up with one of the  UK Horticulture Extension Specialist to offer two small fruit webinars in early 2022. The two topics selected were strawberry and blueberry production. Originally these webinars were planned to be broadcasted in only the central part of the state. Once discussing with other agents how often they are aske

Full Story

Get Cooking with Beef

Author: Linda McClanahan

Major Program: Beef

To celebrate National Beef Month in May the NEP assistant teamed up with the ANR Agent to develop Get Cooking with Beef, a 4 week series focused on all aspects of cooking with beef. In this series youth learned on a range of topics from food safety, knife skills, beef cut selection, beef nutrition, recipe creation, MyPlate, food preparation and cooking methods. 10 students participated in this series. Several of the students indicated their favorite part was actually getting to cook their o

Full Story

Harvest Fest

Author: Linda McClanahan

Major Program: Agriculture and Extension Leadership Development

The Mercer County Extension Office teamed up with Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill to enhance and expand their annual Harvest Fest event. The Mercer County Agriculture Advisory Council continuously identifies the need to educate the non farm public and youth about agriculture. Staff and agents from the Mercer County office took agriculture displays and games for festival attendees to play and learn more about agriculture. Games focused on various segments of the agriculture industry. In addition,

Full Story
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