U of I Extension expanding ag services

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Like the phoenix in Greek mythology, University of Illinois Extension has found new life by rising from the symbolic ashes of its recent former self.

The Extension service cut 130 jobs in 2011 after losing $8 million in state funding, forcing the closure of county locations around the state and consolidating multiple county offices.

The budget cuts had a major impact on agriculture services provided at the county level.

The move to restore agriculture services in Extension began with a 2022 survey seeking feedback from farmers and other agricultural stakeholders.

Travis Burke, Extension assistant dean and Agriculture and Agribusiness Program leader, and a team of Extension educators initiated a statewide survey on agricultural needs to gain insights on the current and expected programming and training needs across agriculture topics.

Burke arrived at U of I about three years ago after 30 years at Extension in North Carolina. In addition, Extension was conducting a separate work force development study.

“The people that I put together were saying we need more people, we need more boots on the ground. The commercial ag and agribusiness sector really need to try to get a presence out in the field and that type thing,” Burke said.

“At the same time, this workforce development thing was evolving, as well. This one looked at the entire Extension system, its mission, its people in the workplace, how we do business, staffing, it looked at the whole thing.”

The workforce development study was completed this past year.

Over 300 survey respondents, including farm owners, workers and advisers, shared their priorities for research and education along with their preferences for Extension programming format, timing and content.

Extension educators are now developing programs based on the issues and priorities identified by Illinois farmers, particularly with respect to row crops, specialty crops and livestock management.

“From both of those studies, the end result was that we really need to try to, No. 1, enhance our presence in the field; No. 2, we needed to try to get really good people, capable people who can do the job in some of these positions, not only in ag, but also natural resources and some of the other areas,” Burke said.

“Illinois’ budget isn’t different than many people’s, but we were able to do that now the Extension budget situation is in a decent place. So, we were able to go ahead and fill some positions that had been vacant for an extended period of time, and just trying to go and put strategically positions in place that may or may not have been needed before the 10-year downsizing.”

Survey-Based

Survey results will be used to shape statewide hiring in the future.

“We heard loud and clear that agricultural stakeholders throughout Illinois would like a greater presence from Illinois Extension, and so we have hired new commercial agriculture and local foods and small farms systems educators, with plans to fill at least 10 positions by the end of the 2023-2024 fiscal year,” Burke said.

Several departments within the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences are also expanding capacity related to agriculture, with the addition of recent hires related to plant pathology, agricultural water quality, Extension agronomy, entomology, soybean breeding, economics of sustainable agriculture, swine behavior and management, and agricultural finance and risk management.

Future Extension faculty specialists are expected to join the college and Extension in the next two years.

“Some of the positions we’ve filled are new, some of them aren’t, some are just for positions that have been vacant. We’re able to now offer just a little bit higher salary starting out for people that are entry level,” Burke said.

Extension has two specialist positions open, one in southern Illinois and the other in northern Illinois.

“We changed those two positions from educators to specialists. An educator has to have a master’s degree in Illinois. We’re trying to do some things based on their body of work. These positions are regional ones,” Burke said.

“The one in southern Illinois is at Ewing near the research station in Williamson County. The one in northern Illinois covers areas from north of Grundy County, over to Jo Daviess County and to above Chicago.

“We also have another educator position in Jo Daviess and Stephenson counties that was filled. So, we have that one in addition to the specialists position in that area,” the assistant dean said. “We’re looking at some newer educator positions in the middle part of the state.

“We pulled a team together to look at what are the high-priority, low-hanging-fruit-type positions that we could offer in the corridor around the Monmouth area and south along that corridor in several of those counties in there,” he said.

“We’re looking at putting three positions in that area, and a couple of those are new. Those will be educators.”

Extension was also awarded a $2.1 million grant over three years from the state Department of Agriculture and Environmental Protection Agency as part of the Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy efforts. A similar grant was previously awarded under the lead of Dennis Bowman of U of I.

“We will be able to hire an additional outreach associates. One is to focus on phosphorous loss and one on nitrogen loss. We have one who is in the northern part of the watershed above the Galesburg area at Galva. That one open position will be further south along the Illinois River,” Burke said.

“We have a third person who is coordinating the effort. She was on the grant funding, but we were able to move her to educator status. She is now a fully funded Extension educator with responsibilities of the watershed outreach for the nutrient loss initiative.”

Work Continues

“We feel like we’re making some baby steps. We have some program assistants in the county and then around campus that are helping to do some of our specialist outreach in ag and agribusiness. We have one new position filled in Ewing to help at the research station,” Burke said.

“We have a program coordinator on campus and we’re going to advertise for another one of those that can help the educators who are doing work and help our certified crop advisors on field days, training modules and those types of things. Those are new, too.

“So, we’ve got educators, some program staff and some associates and some technicians. The technicians and program staff are all new. We were able to go in and make it happen.”

Program Development

Extension educators are now developing programs based on the issues and priorities identified by Illinois farmers, particularly with respect to row crops, specialty crops and livestock management.

“Soil health and quality emerged as a top outreach priority for both row crop and specialty crop producers,” said Talon Becker, commercial agriculture educator.

“Extension is now working with the university’s Regenerative Agriculture Initiative on a series of programs on soil, including a field day this fall in which we will partner with the Illinois Sustainable Ag Partnership to provide an overview of the current ecosystem market landscape, as well as provide an update on some of the research being done at the university that helps us better understand and hopefully improve methods for estimating and measuring carbon sequestration.”

Local Foods Educator Bronwyn Aly has incorporated specialty crop producer needs into upcoming education and research, as well.

“The survey confirmed that there is widespread interest in using high tunnels, and our research and education will continue to focus on identified priority areas such as plant nutrition needs, pest identification, biological controls and cover crops,” Aly said.

2023 Farmland Owners Conference

Date: Nov. 20

Time: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Location: Illinois Central College, Academic Building, East Peoria

Fee: $65

Link: go.illinois.edu/FarmlandOwnersConference