50 Ways to Treat Your Pesticide publication available online

In the June, 2010 issue of the The County Agent there was an article by Carol Somody, Ph.D., Senior Stewardship Manager, Syngenta Crop Protection titled "50 Ways to Treat Your Pesticide".

This article is available as a publication suitable for printing at: http://www.nacaa.com/countyagent/50WaystoTreatYourPesticide.pdf, a low resolution version is at: http://www.nacaa.com/countyagent/50WaystoTreatYourPesticide-lowres.pdf or from the "The County Agent Magazine" link on the navigation bar on the NACAA website.

Outstanding Young Farmer Program presentation

On June 22, 2010 the Ag Issues and Public Relations Committee held a webinar on the Outstanding  Young Farmer Program.  You can watch the recording of the Elluminate session here.

Dan Downing, National AI&PR Committee Chair led this webinar and gave some background for the Outstanding Young Farmer Program, which is supported and sponsored by the Jaycees, John Dear, Outstanding Farmers of America Fraternity and the NACAA.

The purposes of the OYF program are to improve conditions for American farmers, improve urban-rural relations, show appreciation for farmer contributions and achievements and more. 

In the session, Dan also explains the nomination process, the national competition and more.

Please take 25 minutes and learn all about the Outstanding Young Farmer Program.

Special Presentation: Understanding Social Comfort to Improve Social Tool Adoption

eXtension has arranged a special presentation by a 'big name' speaker - Thomas Vander Wal.

If you are interested in using social media, this should be a good session to attend.

March 24, 2010
at 2:00-3:30 PM Eastern Time

http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/Learn

There are three elements around social comfort to keep in mind when selecting and using social computing tools to interact with others: Social comfort with people; Social comfort with tools; and Social comfort with subject matter. These components of social comfort are factors that cause unease with most people outside the early adopters and those with technical ease with these tools and services. Thomas Vander Wal will discuss each of these three components of social comfort to help move social tools more toward mainstream adoption.

Thomas Vander Wal is Principal & Senior Consultant of InfoCloud Solutions, Inc. (http://infocloudsolutions.com/about.php) In Thomas' more than 20 years as a professional in information services and web he has worked in many industries and in many roles. He has always been the problem solver and the person who can see the big picture and put it into details to get it accomplished.

Thomas coined folksonomy in 2004 as part of his interest with how a novel approach to tagging aids a person refinding information and is also used to augment other information structuring methods so to help other people find information. Thomas also presents and provides training at many conferences, workshops, and in-house events. Thomas presents and leads discussions at many events across the U.S. and Europe on a broad range of topics including: folksonomy, Personal InfoCloud, social software, information architecture, design, web standards, ubiquitous computing (ubicom), tagging, and designing for use and reuse of information across devices.

This session will be broadcast and use your computers speakers for audio, not your phone. Audience interaction will include opportunities to use built-in chat capabilities. Plan to join the session 5 minutes before the starting time. The session will be held at 2:00 Eastern Time (1:00p.m. CT, 12:00p.m. MT, 11:00 a.m. PT, 10:00a AT; 8:00a HT) (for all Extension).

Five (5) minutes before the announced time of a session, go to http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/Learn Enter as a Guest. When prompted, enter your name followed by your institution. (ex: Beth Raney, Penn State).

MARKETING BASICS: POSITIONING YOUR AGRITOURISM OPERATION FOR SUCCESS

Part 3 of the East Coast Agritourism Webinar Series

MARCH 16, 2010
12-1 PM AND AGAIN FROM 7-8 PM

This free webinar focuses on the principles of sound marketing that will be necessary for the successful positioning of your operation within targeted markets, and customer attraction. Specific topics will include an overview of the fundamentals of marketing (the “Four Ps”: product, price, placement and promotion), the development of a marketing plan, and available promotional resources for agritourism. Dr. Brian Schilling is an Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist and Associate Director of the Food Policy Institute at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.

INSTRUCTIONS
First time users please join the session 15 minutes early to become familiar with the webinar interface. This Webinar will use Elluminate. If you have not yet participated in an Elluminate webinar then please go to www.elluminate.com/support for assistance setting up your computer. Do this at least 24 hours in advance of a live webinar in case you have any problems that need to be resolved. If you have any hardware or software issues you can call Elluminate Support at 1-866-388-8674, option 2. You will be prompted to download some software which may take anywhere from 2-20 minutes depending upon your Internet connection speed. The steps you will complete are as follows: 1) Click on the appropriate link for the webinar. 2) Check that you have java installed. If you do not, the screen will tell you how to download the latest version of java. 3) Make sure your speakers and/or microphone are set up correctly. You will need to enter the "configuration room" in order to test your audio setup. 4) Listen to the "recorded introduction" to get an overview of how to use Elluminate as a participant. This takes about 5-10 minutes to complete. Go to: http://www.ncsu.edu/tourismextension/ links to other webinars in the series. For questions before the webinar e-mail the moderator, Stephen Komar skomar@njaes.rutgers.edu

12:00 – 1:00 http://tinyurl.com/12-1Marketing101

7:00 – 8:00 http://tinyurl.com/7-8Marketing101

Printable flyer

Agritourism - Is it right for me? - A free webinar

Accessing your resources webinar "Is Agritourism Right for Your Farm?" Part 2 of the East Coast Webinar Series will be offered on March 9, 2010 from 12-1 or 7-8pm by Tourism Extension, NCSU Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management, Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station and NC Cooperative Extension.


The agritourism industry has grown substantially in recent years. Conducting agritourism activities on your farm can be a viable way to diversify your farm and provide additional income for your operation. Although agritourism activities may be a potential way to increase farm viability and income, the risks and added responsibilities associated with these activities are not well-suited to every farm or farmer. This webinar will help you assess your farming operation and help you decide if an agritourism operation is right for you. The instructor will be Stephen Komar, Agricultural Agent, forRutgers Cooperative Extension of Sussex County, NJ.

March 9, 2010
12:00 – 1:00 - http://tinyurl.com/12-1RightForMe
or
7:00 – 8:00 - http://tinyurl.com/7-8RightForMe

Free of Charge

AGRITOURISMInstructions:
This webinar will use Elluminate. You can go to www.elluminate.com/support for assistance setting up your computer. If you have any hardware or software issues you can call Elluminate support at 1-866-388-8674, option 2. The steps you will complete are as follows: 1) Click on the appropriate link above. 2) Check that you have java installed. If you do not, the screen will tell you how to download the latest version of java. 3) Make sure your speakers and/or microphone are set up correctly. You will need to enter the "configuration room" in order to test your audio setup. 4) Listen to the "recorded introduction" to get an overview of how to use Elluminate as a participant. This takes about 5-10 minutes to complete. For questions on the seminar, e-mail the moderator, Jenny Carleo Carleo@njaes.rutgers.edu

For links to other webinars in the East Coast Agritourism Webinar Series go to:
http://www.ncsu.edu/tourismextension

The December, 2009 The County Agent is posted

The December, 2009 issue of The County Agent is available online at: http://www.nacaa.com/countyagent/2009-12.pdf

This issue has information about the 2010 Professional Improvement and Awards Programs and the Committee Directory.

2010 Public Issues Leadership Development Conference

Presents the 2010 Public Issues Leadership Development Conference
April 26 – 28, 2010
Key Bridge Marriott
Arlington, Virginia

The 2010 Public Issues Leadership Development Conference (PILD) is designed to keep Extension professionals abreast of changing public issues that impact our communities and affect Extension programming. Open to Extension educators, Directors and Administrators, Specialists and State Volunteer Delegates, PILD provides the unique opportunity for participants to hear nationally recognized speakers, participate in relevant breakout sessions, network with peers from throughout the United States and connect with others who work in our National Capitol.

The early bird deadline for the PILD Conference is March 1

For more information on the PILD Conference and to register online, please visit: http://www.jcep.org/pild.htm

JCEP also sponsors a panel presentation during the PILD Conference. Selected presenters will receive a waiver of their 2010 PILD registration fee. Deadline for submitting proposals is 5:00 pm, February 15, 2010. For more information, please visit the JCEP Web site listed above.