According to the needs and at the direction of our leadership, Extension has been collaborating with the local County Conservation District on several programs and events during the year. The first one is a soil testing program. We have been educating our clientele about the importance of testing. Other programs are our annual Gardening – Seed Give Away and Cover Crop programs.

 These collaborative efforts have been on-going for several years now. As part of numerous educational programs and events, soil testing has been discussed. Farmers and homeowners have been educated about the financial savings and production benefits to proper soil fertility. During the last ten years, the number of soil samples tested for the county has increased by over three hundred percent.

This year, our Gardening – Seed Give Away program was modified again to protect our clientele and ourselves from the potential spread of the coronavirus. We changed the event to a drive-thru event and handed out seed, food & personal safety information, gardening, and nutrition publications. Even with the necessary modification, this year’s event reached over one hundred fifty individuals.

This is the third year of our Cover Crop program. We have been educating our clientele the importance of protecting our soils, soil fertility, and benefits of different plants to be used as cover crops. As part of the program, we provide the participants with a seed mixture suitable for planting more than 10,000 square feet of area. Attendees learn some of the benefits of using cover crops and improving the organic matter of their soils. This program reaches approximately seventy-five individuals annually.  

These increases are due to the efforts and teamwork of Extension and Conservation Districts working together on a common goal. Many local producers have thanked both entities for their efforts in making their operations profitable and saving them on inputs. It is estimated that these programs saved the participants more than $10,000 this past year.