The Whitley County Cooperative Extension Service noticed a major restriction for a lot of folks in our community was having access and the ability to use equipment and tools as well as the financial capabilities to purchase equipment. 

     To combat this problem in our community we decided in 2023 to begin working towards building a reliable and dependable Shared-Use Equipment Program for Horticulture and Agriculture clientele in our county. Tools such as Soil Probes that are used to collect soil for testing purposes as well as a Hand Sprayer for chemical applications are two of the items we have added to the list of available resources. Other pieces of equipment include a Manure Spreader, Lime Spreader, Plastic Layers for Vegetable production, a Vegetable Planter as well as a full line of Potato equipment (Planter/Hiller/ Harvester). 

     This Shared-Use Equipment program is aimed at clientele across both the Horticulture and Agriculture/Natural Resources relm. The clientele range from your home-owner or small- farm owner to some of our areas larger farmers and commercial growers. 

     A total number of 56 individuals have directly benefited from the program since its start. These individuals have each expressed great amounts of gratitude for the newly initiated program at our Extension Office. Our goal is to keep coming up with beneficial items that can benefit a range of individuals across our county.