 "Lime is made of calcium carbonate, which is also an ingredient in
cement, so farmers feared using it. They thought it would make the
soil hard," said Robert Hoeft, U of I Extension director in the
College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences.
According to Hoeft, the use of lime is just one example from the
past 100 years of the value of Extension, whose mission is to bring
research-based information to the public. Hybrid corn was another
example.
"The process to produce hybrid corn was created by university
scientists and passed on to companies to grow and market the seed to
farmers. Extension played a large part in getting farmers to adopt
the use of hybrid seed by establishing demonstration plots in
farmers' fields. Planting these demonstration plots near
well-traveled roads gave farmers the opportunity to visit them to
observe the difference in disease pressure and ultimately yield
between open-pollinated and hybrid corn," Hoeft said.
In the mid-1930s, many farm families, unlike their city
neighbors, did not have access to electricity. The combined effort
of county Extension staff and local citizens to create rural
electric cooperatives eventually brought electricity to all of rural
America. In later years, Extension also assisted local leadership in
organizing rural water systems. Today Extension staff members are
working with companies to expand high-speed Internet systems to
rural areas.
Although Extension's roots are in the rural agricultural
community, Hoeft said it has spread to urban areas of the state.
"Major efforts are being expended to improve the diets of
Illinois residents in both rural and urban areas -- diets that will
help reduce health problems associated with obesity, including
diabetes and heart disease," he said.
Hoeft said that food deserts -- areas in which people do not have
access to a full-service grocery store -- are problematic in both
rural and urban settings.
"Often they lack transportation to the store," he said.
One way Extension is addressing the problem in the East St. Louis
area is by leasing a bus one day per month to transport people from
the food desert area to a grocery store and by providing them
education as they travel to the store about how to buy healthy food.
[to top of second column] |
"On the trip back, Extension specialists provide education on how
to process and store the food that they bought," Hoeft said.
"Without this program, many of these people would have to purchase
groceries in a convenience store that doesn't carry fresh fruits and
vegetables. There are also some rural counties where people have to
drive 60 miles to get to a grocery store. They have to shop at gas
station convenience stores. We're trying to address that problem,"
he said.The number of specialists per county may be fewer today than in
the 1980s, but technology has allowed Extension to adapt and
increase its reach. Demonstrations are still an important component,
but now they can be distributed via the Internet, Hoeft said.
"Today people want information faster," he said. "Extension's
farmdoc website and its new mobile app is an example of how
Extension responded to farmers so that they can get information when
and where they want it. With a webinar, we can take a presentation
or demonstration right into their home. People can watch it at their
leisure, or if they watch it while it's being broadcast live, they
can type a question and get an answer from the presenter in real
time."
Hoeft calls today's Extension specialists rock stars.
"We just need more of them to be able to listen to the public and
find out their needs so that we can conduct research to address
those problems," he said. "Right now about 10 percent of our faculty
in the College of ACES have an Extension component to their
position. We're working with other colleges at U of I and other
agencies to bring their expertise to our audiences," he said.
Extension units throughout Illinois are currently celebrating the
100th anniversary of the 1914 signing of the Smith-Lever Act that
established Cooperative Extension Services. A centralized
interactive website has been created with photos, Extension
highlights, a 100-years game and Pinterest accounts. The site
welcomes people to upload photos and comments to help document the
100-year legacy of University of Illinois Extension. Visit
web.extension.illinois.edu/100yrs.
"Those who were active in those first years of Extension in 1914
would be amazed at where we are today," Hoeft said. "And I can't
begin to envision where we'll be 100 years from now.
[Text from
news release posted by
University of
Illinois Extension] |
