The Gallatin County ANR Agent emphasizes the word "service" in our organization's name. He feels there is no better way than hands-on, face-to-face interaction to show the community his dedication to the people who reside here. He is also very cognizant of the fact that it's local taxpayers who pay Extension's bills! This very fact helps to motivate him to be the best public servant he can be.

Farm and garden visits are excellent examples of this hands-on type of service. During the past year, the Gallatin County ANR Agent has performed over 300 such visits. These visits pertained to production agriculture, commercial horticulture, home gardening and home landscapes. 

These many farm and garden visits also provided the opportunity for other types of services to render. Examples include, but are not limited to, weed, insect, and disease identifications along with soil analysis. Literally hundreds of these services were offered.

And while it is true that most of the aforementioned farm and garden visits were performed because something was going wrong at that particular locality, many visits are performed for just the opposite reason: to catch farmers and gardeners doing something right!

Regardless of what they might say, even a "seasoned" farmer or gardener likes to hear that he or she is doing a good job at a particular activity or enterprise. If a county agent only visits a farm or garden to tell them what they are doing wrong, pretty soon that farmer or gardener is going to stop calling for help. This is why is so important to try and catch people doing something right!