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Dr. Tony E. Windham |
When ABC World News with Charles Gibson sent a film crew to Helena-West Helena to report a story on herbicide-resistant pigweed, it was front-page news in Helena.
For the Division of Agriculture, the October 6 story was the latest in a string of national media placements obtained by the Communications Department.
Over the last 18 months, the good work being done by faculty and staff for the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture has been showcased in new venues such as ABC World News Tonight, USA Today, The Associated Press and Reuters wire services and the Weather Channel.
Which is not to say traditional audiences, such as the agricultural press and local media, are being abandoned. An aggressive push in reporting the story of agriculture in Arkansas has also helped gain traction in venues such as the Delta Farm Press, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Arkansas Radio Network and many local daily and weekly newspapers. Among the major online placements for stories quoting Division of Agriculture personnel: Boston Globe, Miami Herald, Houston Chronicle, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, ABC News and Forbes magazine.
If you missed Weed Scientist Ken Smith on ABC, see the story online at http://abcnews.go.com/WN/pig-weed-threatens-agriculture-industry-overtaking-fields-crops/Story?id=8766404&page=1.
Other avenues to get the word out include having the state media link their stories back to our web site, and our podcasts. The online soybean podcasts that began in May have recorded more than 27,000 hits from more than 4,000 visitors.
Congratulations to the Communications Department for telling the story of Arkansas agriculture and our work in the industry.
- Tony E. Windham
Operation Military Kids Honored by General
Operation Military Kids, a national partnership between the Department of Defense and 4-H, has been honored by Major Gen. William D. Wofford, adjutant general of the Arkansas National Guard. OMK earned the Outstanding Service Award for work with the Arkansas Yellow Ribbon Team. The award was presented during The Adjutant General's Leadership Conference on September 19.
TOUCHING THE PAST - Thirty-four youth and 16 adults attended the OMK Metro Camp on Sept. 25-27. This photo was taken at the Arkansas Korean Veterans Memorial at the MacArthur Museum of Military History in Little Rock.
- Mary Hightower
Monthly Gift Total Summary - August 2009
The following chart summarizes gifts and noncash gifts deposited in August 2009 to advance the programs of the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service.
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Cumulative Giving |
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August 1 - 30, 2009 |
Fiscal Year 2010 |
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Monthly Gift Count |
Monthly Gift Total |
Fiscal |
Fiscal |
| CES Administration | 2 | $50.00 | 6 | $132.00 |
| Delta District | 4 | $403.25 | 12 | $871.58 |
| Ouachita District | 0 | $0.00 | 3 | $3,888.10 |
| Ozark District | 0 | $0.00 | 1 | $21.00 |
| 4-H Youth Development | 1 | $5,146.35 | 2 | $5,596.35 |
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Agriculture and Natural Resources |
11 | $99,625.00 | 26 | $173,775.00 |
| Community and Economic Development | 12 | $6,950.00 | 22 | $12,525.00 |
| Family and Consumer Sciences | 0 | $0.00 | 0 | $0.00 |
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Arkansas 4-H Foundation |
25 |
$3,969.00 |
63 |
$45,174.00 |
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TOTALS |
55 |
$116,143.60 |
135 |
$241,983.03 |
- Merritt Royal
Honorary and Memorial Gifts
The following honorary and memorial gifts were recently received in support of programs and funds within the Cooperative Extension Service. This list covers gifts deposited August 1 - September 30, 2009.
CES Retiree Scholarship Fund
In honor of Lorraine Hupp, Lott Rolfe, Mike Wright
Merritt Royal
In memory of Glenburn Throgmorton
Elna Throgmorton
Honorary or memorial donations may be forwarded to the Development Office, Cooperative Extension Service, 2301 S. University Ave., Little Rock, AR 72204. To ensure that proper notification is sent, please also include in whose honor or memory the gift is made and the mailing address of the person to receive the notification.
- Merritt Royal
Renewed Funding for Free Services to Arkansas Businesses
The Defense Department has renewed its contract to continue operation of the Arkansas Procurement Assistance Center, or APAC.
The center offers free counseling and technical assistance on issues related to government contracting to help Arkansas businesses supply public agencies nationwide, said Program Director Sue Coates.
Over the past few years, APAC has provided a 160:1 return on investment for taxpayers. For every federal and state dollar used to run the center, the businesses it helps have received public contracts worth 160 times that much.
"The program really works," Coates said.
Last year's contract provided for a budget of $1.02 million, nearly double the previous 10 years. The current renewal provides a budget of $613,044 for 10 months. The 10-month period reflects the Defense Department's budget realignment efforts. The Defense Department funds just over half of that amount, with matching resources from the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service.
- Sue Coates
Peterson Honored by Community Development Society
Extension Community Development Specialist Dr. Mark Peterson has been honored by the Arkansas Community Development Society with its Community Development Achievement Award.
Peterson was recognized during the society's annual meeting on October 22.
Through his VisionWorks Breakthrough Solutions Program, he has worked with 21 communities, involved more than 9,000 citizens who donated over 37,800 hours, and initiated projects with a value exceeding $70 million. Peterson is past president of the Arkansas Community Development Society and the Arkansas Association of Cooperative Extension Specialists, and served on the board of the International Community Development Society.
"It is a honor to receive this award, but the credit should go to my colleagues and the community leaders with whom I have had the privilege to work," Peterson said.
- Mary Hightower
Rain Doesn't Stop Jefferson County Master Gardener Education Project
Jefferson County's Master Gardeners are working to outwit Mother Nature in an effort to continue their youth education program. At the Jefferson County Youth Garden, Master Gardeners show their love of gardening, demonstrating to youth how to plant transplants into prepared beds. When the crops are mature, the teachers can bring classes back for harvest. In the interim, the Master Gardeners take care of weeding, watering and insect control. Usually the Master Gardeners purchase transplants of broccoli, kale, cabbage, mustard greens and other fall crops for the youth to plant. Unfortunately, this year's rain has put a damper on the projects, preventing several class trips to plant in the Youth Garden. Not to be outdone by the weather, head gardener Lloyd Wessels already has a plan B up his sleeve: reworking the program around container planting of certain vegetables.
LEARNING MOMENT - Students from the Humphrey School harvest turnips and greens on a day they came to plant in the Youth Garden as part of a Jefferson County Master Gardener program.
- Don Plunkett
Waldrum Elected IAPAL Executive Secretary
Joe Waldrum, LeadAR program leader, was elected executive secretary of the International Association of Programs for Agricultural Leaders, or IAPAL, at the annual meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on October 17. IAPAL includes directors and program coordinators of agricultural and/or rural leadership programs from 35 states, three provinces and three foreign countries. IAPAL was formed in Arkansas on Petit Jean Mountain in 1987. Waldrum's term of service is indefinite.
- Mary Hightower
Annual Awards Honor Excellence in Extension Work
The best in extension work has been recognized with the 2009 Awards of Excellence. Here are this year's winners:
INNOVATION AWARD - Mike Hamilton, Crittenden County
Mike began using text messaging in 2007 as a way to announce meetings, field days and other key events, like the appearance of soyrust. Using texting doubled his attendance at IPM meetings, and his text list is nearly 130 numbers strong. During the 2007 and 2008 seasons, he sent more than 5,000 individual text messages. There's no way to estimate the amount of money saved by producers thanks to timely and accurate information delivered by text to their phones.
ISSUE TEAM AWARD - Arkansas 4-H ATV Safety Team
The Arkansas 4-H ATV Safety Program team worked with Arkansas Children's Hospital and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences to deliver ATV safety education. With help from a grant from the National 4-H Council and ATV Safety Institute, 16 extension staff members are trained and licensed as ATV Safety Institute instructors. More than 3,000 youth have been involved in community-based education programs in Saline and White counties and the 4-H Center. Honored for this award were Mike Klumpp, associate professor, 4-H and Youth Development; Karen Ballard, interim department head of Program and Staff Development; Angie Freel, Saline County, and Amy Heck, White County.
UNIT TEAM - Public Policy Center, et al
When election time rolls around, it's sometimes hard to sift through the partisanship. Last year, our Public Policy Center set out to offer the voting public credible information about key ballot issues - information that was peer-reviewed by a multi-discipline team. Multi-media resource materials were provided to county agents. Training for county agents was provided through Centra, and state faculty also participated in a live panel discussion aired on AETN. This year's award honored:
• Tom Riley of the Public Policy Center
• John Payne, Public Policy Center
• Debbie Henry, Public Policy Center
• Lorrie Barr, Public Policy Center
• Wayne Miller, Community Development
• Stacey McCullough, Community Development
• The Communications Department
EARLY CAREER CLASSIFIED - Brenda Duggins
Since 2006, Brenda Duggins has made quite an impression. She's noted as a standout, not only for her administrative skills in keeping the ag economists and agribusiness faculty in good stead, but also for her technical skills. She has served as tech support for the CSREES Economics and Commerce Integrated Program Planning Committee since 2007 and was appointed to the Content Management Committee in 2008.
EARLY CAREER-AGENT AWARD - Craig Allen
Craig Allen has completed verification programs in five crops, rice, wheat, cotton and soybeans. He's conducting numerous demonstrations, including wheat fungicide, cotton insects, soybean disease, rice fertility and wheat weed control. He's also involved in the 4-H Shooting Sports program and has state certifications in four shooting sports disciplines and a national certification in archery. He also was part of the Extension Excellence Award winning Issue Team in 2007.
EARLY CAREER - SPECIALIST/EXTENSION ASSOCIATE - Aaron Patton
To say Aaron Patton is energetic is an understatement. Between his hiring in December 2006 and January of this year, he presented at state, regional or national meetings to nearly 5,000 people on 100 occasions. He's been an invited speaker at 13 major regional or national conferences. Meanwhile, he's authored or co-authored 21 extension publications. He is the educational chair of the state's largest turfgrass professional meeting and launched the Turfgrass Science web site that's a national award winner.
- Mary Hightower
Invitation to Join ESP
Extension personnel who demonstrate excellence in extension programming, with at least three years experience as of March 2009, are invited to join Epsilon Sigma Phi. ESP is the umbrella professional development organization for the Cooperative Extension Service. Members represent all disciplines within Extension.
Dues are $70 for returning members and $75 for new members. Membership dues are to be sent to Beth Phelps, treasurer, by January 15, 2010. Be watching for a membership form sent by e-mail from Beth.
Join ESP - your Key to Professional Excellence!
- Becky Reynolds
Grants and Contracts
| Project Title | Award Amount | Principal Investigator | Granting Agency |
| Wheat Disease Management | $1,000.00 | Scott Monfort | Wheat Promotion Board |
| The Southern Region Water Resource Project | $21,031.00 | Dr. Michael Daniels | Texas Agri. Extension Service |
| Risk Management Education Regarding the 2008 Farm Bill, Crop Insurance Products, and Farmland Leasing Strategies for Arkansas Producers | $37,303.00 | Dr. Terry Griffin | Texas Agri. Extension Service |
| Specialty Cut Flowers Risk Management Education in the Mid South | $42,816.00 | Dr. Jim Robbins | Texas Agri. Extension Service |
| Osage and Spring Creek Water Quality and Ecological Assessment | $36,222.00 | Tom Riley | McGoodwin Williams and Yates, Inc. |
| Agronomic Practices to Improve Profitability | $19,800.00 | Dr. Jason Kelley | Wheat Promotion Board |
| Team Approach to Weed Management in Wheat | $10,000.00 | Dr. Bob Scott | Wheat Promotion Board |
| HOPE2 Program | $44,023.12 | Dr. Rosemary Rodibaugh | Mississippi Food Network |
| Wheat Verification | $85,000.00 | Dr. Jason Kelley | Wheat Promotion Board |
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