What is in this article?:
- Seven reasons why Extension is needed today
- Increasing dialogue, empowerment
• Even in this cash-strapped era, we have a charge to keep. In the midst of this gloom, I believe that our longstanding appreciation for dialogue, forging partnerships and empowering people uniquely equips for the challenges of the 21st century.
More About:
Excuse the hyperbole, but I originally titled this “Seven Reasons Why Extension Will Survive and Thrive (and Possibly Even Save the Planet) in the 21st century.
I admit that would have been a tad too rhetorically overblown, but there is a ring of truth to it. Despite these looming budget cuts, despite all this talk of Extension having passed its prime, I still believe that we not only will survive in the 21st century but also carve out lasting presence that not only will enrich millions more lives but also help make the world a safer, greener, happier place.
Here are seven reasons why:
1. We are sustainers:
Sustainability is taking on new meaning.
Many of the nation’s governors are using it to underscore in these lean fiscal times why Americans must become good stewards in all facets of their lives.
One example: Tightening budgetary restraints on the U.S. healthcare system are prompting more Americans to adopt lifestyle practices that safeguard against chronic disease.
Meanwhile, farmers are gearing up to feed a projected 9 billion people by mid-century with less cropland and water and in the midst of spiking fuel and fertilizer costs, even as they are being called upon to develop safer, greener production systems that emphasize organic- and locally-grown foods.
Even with online sources literally available at their fingertips, people can’t solve these problems entirely on their own.
Extension is uniquely equipped to help people adopt sustainable practices in all facets of their lives.
2. We are catalysts:
One Alabama cattle producer underscored recently the invaluable role Cooperative Extension educators serve as catalysts — in this case, helping him install a GPS device to reap substantial costs savings.
“It’s gotten me started a little sooner than I would have,” the farmer wryly observed, admitting that it likely would have been years before he had discovered and installed the device on his own.
Through the Internet, farmers are as readily exposed to new ideas and ways of thinking as the rest of us, but they still need catalysts — trained experts who can see the larger picture and who can point to cost-effective solutions they otherwise would not have considered because of times constraints, professional pre-occupations or other factors.
What applies to farmers applies to all of us.
3. We are an agency of empowerment:
As New York Times columnist Roger Cohen soberly observed recently, the 2008 stock market downturn followed more recently by severe federal and state budgetary cutbacks have left all Americans in a “different mental place.”
