Impact Spotlight: Cooperative extension programs help
farmers stay in business
 May 8 marks the 102nd anniversary of the Smith-Lever Act of
1914, which established the Cooperative Extension System, a partnership between
the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the land-grant universities.
In addition to research and teaching, the nation’s more than
100 land-grant colleges and universities have a third and critical mission —
extension. Through extension, land-grant colleges and universities bring vital,
practical information to agricultural producers, small business owners,
consumers, families, and young people. Extension provides non-formal education
and learning activities to people throughout the country — to farmers, and the
citizens of rural and urban communities. Extension translates knowledge gained
through research and education directly to farmers and communities across the
nation to make a positive difference in their lives.
A recent
study from Penn State University estimates that federal cooperative
extension programs have helped more than 137,000 farmers stay in business since
1985. Between 1984 and 2010, 490,000
farmers left farming, and without
cooperative extension and the underlying research, the country would have lost
28 percent more farmers. The research
also suggests that cooperative extension programs serve as effective job
creation programs and provide an opportunity for farmers to share new
information with one another.
According to a 2015 Battelle
study on food, nutrition and health services provided by extension
professionals, the “positive changes that they bring about at the individual,
family, community, state and national levels are unparalleled.” For example, among other significant findings,
the study reported that:
-
Supplemental
Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed) delivered through extension
is much more efficient than through other providers (in 2010, $36/person vs.
$142/person);
- 40 to 90% of participants improved nutrition
behaviors and 40 to 60% of participants increased physical activity;
-
Every $1 spent on Expanded
Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) results in savings on food
expenditures of $2.48 through smarter shopping behavior, meal planning and
enhanced use of low-cost recipes and more home-cooked meals; and the
- Potential long-term healthcare cost savings
associated with EFNEP are in the range of $3.62 to $12.50 in savings per $1
spent as a result of healthier diets and reduced chronic disease.
The hallmarks of the extension program — openness,
accessibility, and service — illuminate how cooperative extension brings
evidence-based science and modern technologies to farmers, consumers, and
families. To learn more about the future of extension in the 21st
century, see a presentation
by Dr. Sonny Ramaswamy, director, National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
For more NIFA impacts, visit nifa.usda.gov/impacts or the Land-Grant University Impacts
website. Send
us your NIFA-funded impacts at impactstories@nifa.usda.gov or share them with USDA_NIFA on Twitter #NIFAimpacts.
NIFA invests in and advances agricultural research, education and extension and seeks to make transformative discoveries that solve societal challenges.
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Editor’s Note: The Impacts Spotlight published
April 20, 2016, contained an error regarding particulate matter from animal
production facilities. The inclusion of “toxic gases” was not
accurate. “Some” of these gases can be toxic but only at levels
much higher than what is typically seen in and around animal production
facilities in the United States. We apologize for this error and are
republishing a corrected version below.
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
Earth Day is
Friday, April 22. According to the According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), it may be hard to imagine that, before
1970, it was perfectly legal for a factory to spew black clouds of toxic gas
into the air or dump tons of toxic waste into a nearby stream.
How was that possible? Because there was no EPA, no Clean Air Act, no Clean
Water Act. There were no legal or regulatory mechanisms to protect our
environment.
In spring 1970, Sen. Gaylord Nelson created Earth Day as a way to force this
issue onto the national agenda.
“When April 22, 1970 dawned,
literally millions of Americans of all ages and from all walks of life
participated in Earth Day celebrations from coast to coast. It was on that day
that Americans made it clear that they understood and were deeply concerned
over the deterioration of our environment and the mindless dissipation of our
resources.” - Gaylord
Nelson
NIFA-funded
research continues to make advances in protecting our environment. Researchers are
discovering new ways to protect our water resources, keep our air clean, and
provide sustainable energy sources.
Over a billion people world-wide have no access to clean water and almost two
million die each year from waterborne illness. Less than one percent of the
earth’s water is available to humans and that water is overburdened. Equally as
important is that we don’t reuse water as we could. Over 370 billion gallons
are being wasted each day in the United States. To address this, a Small Business Innovation Research (link is external) program grantee, Micronic Technologies (link is external), has developed a sustainable water
desalination and purification technology. Its water treatment system,
MicroDesal, is capable of taking water from any source and cleaning it to
potable water standards. Micronic is focused on serving the agricultural
market as well as targeting acid mine drainage, abandoned mine lands, and
community wells.
Researchers at The Ohio State University are using an Agriculture and Food Research Initiative
Foundational program (link is external) grant to develop two electrostatic particulate matter control systems.
These systems hold the promise of efficiently collecting PM and disinfecting
airborne pathogens at a low cost. The knowledge gained from this research will
enable the poultry industry to effectively mitigate PM emissions, which will
contribute to improved health, reduced outbreaks of foodborne diseases,
enhanced environmental quality, and sustainable animal production.
Researching sustainable energy sources is also a priority. Soon farmers will be
able to produce a renewable fuel called bio-oil from agriculture and food waste
right on their farm. The renewable fuel can be produced from agricultural and
food waste using a new mobile unit. The goal is to distill this bio-oil in
existing petroleum refineries. In Pennsylvania, bio-oils are being
produced at an accelerated rate using a new high-output mobile processing unit (link is external) funded by a Biomass Research and Development
Initiative (link is
external) grant.
The mobile reactor converts biomass into energy-dense bio-oil right on the
farm, eliminating the need to ship agricultural waste to refinery plants at
high cost. Bio-oil produced by this mobile processing unit is more marketable
to biofuel producers than bio-oil made without the unit.
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