Integrating into a community as a new County Extension Agent can be a challenging task. Especially when inheriting the position from a long line of well-respected agents. Thankfully, growing up in Henry County affords me the benefit of not being a total stranger to my producers. Nonetheless, it requires significant effort to engage and build a reputation amongst tight-knit communities like Henry County.

 My efforts to engage the community as a new agent is a multi-pronged approach. My goal has been to reach a variety of people through a variety of outlets. I have employed more traditional means of outreach such as the weekly local newspaper column as well as a physical newsletter. I have also engaged in more up-to-date outreach like the use of social media and email. Both of my traditional outreach methods have received positive feedback. Several producers have told me they look forward to my weekly newspaper article. One person said, “that article about prussic acid poisoning in livestock was a very important and timely topic.” I write my newspaper articles to match the season or important notices for certain times of the year. My other more “traditional” form of outreach is a paper newsletter. From my understanding, I am the first ANR Agent in my office to have a program-specific newsletter.  In addition to mailing a physical newsletter to 180 producers, I have dropped my newsletters off at the local farm stores (with permission from the owners). My first newsletter has a picture of me and some background information so that farmers can get to know a little about me. I’ve had positive feedback specific to the paper newsletter as well, with one farmer telling me that my newsletter was “well made and informative.”

Some more contemporary outreach I’ve been doing are Facebook posts and an email list. Facebook has been my most successful form of outreach, with some of my posts reaching over 4,900 people. Recently, I made a Facebook post advertising a program I had planned that required an RSVP. Not more than three minutes after creating the post I had a producer calling to sign up. In a matter of a few days, I had 18 people signed up. My email list is still small at 21 producers, but it will grow with time. I use email to remind producers of important dates and upcoming programs.

Although my Facebook posts and weekly articles reach a higher number of people, I know that the best way to engage my community is to be actively involved in it. Since starting in June, I have been to multiple county organization meetings. Henry County Cattlemen’s Association, Henry County Farm Bureau, Eminence Rotary, Henry County Conservation District board meeting, Henry County Youth Livestock Foundation, Henry County Lyons Club, Henry County Harvest Showcase, and 100 Women Who Care are some of the county organizations I have been a part of the past few months. Through these meetings, and the events that are planned during them, I am getting to know community leaders and the community at large on a personal level.