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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAg & Extension 02-01-05 X ST. CROIX COUNTY NOTICE OF COMMITTEE MEETING TO: Clarence Malick, Chairman St. Croix County Board FROM: Ronald Raymond, Chairman COMMITTEE TITLE: Agriculture & Extension Committee DATE: February 1, 2005 TIME: 9:00 a.m. LOCATION: Agricultural Services & Education Center CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL ADOPTION OF AGENDA DATE OF NEXT MEETING ACTION ON PREVIOUS MINUTES ACTION ON VOUCHERS UNFINISHED BUSINESS: ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT • Federal Budget Report • State Budget Report • County Budget Report • Personnel - Budget Senarios for Agent Positions • WACEC • Review of Staffing Plan FAMILY LIVING AGENT'S REPORT • Family Resource Center - Power point overview - Relationship with Family Court - New Initiative: Coordination with county on Disablitiy and Aging Resource and Referral • Evaluation Workshop Results • New Issues for Extension: Family Newspaper and Meth/Amphetamine Education • Physical Fitness Programming HORTICULTURE AGENT'S REPORT • 2005 Pierce -St. Croix Class Offerings • Collaboration With Pierce County and UWRF • Community Garden Scheduling for 2005 • Direct Marketing Survey (WestCAP, River Country R, C and D) • Marketing Workshop April 2, 2005 1 • Farm Market Manager Workshop March 4, 2005 • Turfgrass- Integrated Pest Management Workshop 4 -H YOUTH AGENT'S REPORT • St. Croix County Privacy Policy - Plat Book • Explore 4 -H Day for New Families • New 4 -H Committees: Music and Breeding Livestock AG AGENT'S REPORT • Update on Ag Programming Efforts RESOURCE AGENT'S REPORT • Comprehensive Planning Workshops • Legislative Call Trip Update NEW BUSINESS: ANNOUNCEMENTS & CORRESPONDENCE POSSIBLE AGENDA ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING: ADJOURNMENT (Agenda not necessarily presented in this order.) SUBMITTED BY: Kim Reaman DATE: January 20, 2005 COPIES TO: County Board Office County Clerk News Media/Notice Board Committee Members 2 X Draft — Unofficial until approved Agriculture and Extension Committee February 1, 2005 Agricultural Service & Education Center Convened: 9:00 a.m. Baldwin Adjourned: 11:00 a.m. Present: Ronald Raymond, Jan Zoerb, Lois Burri, Bill Peavey, Gene Ruetz, James Janke, Kimberly Reaman, Jon Behling, and Mary Lestrud The meeting was called to order by Chairman Raymond. Date of next meeting was set for March 1, 2005 Zoerb moved that the agenda be adopted as presented. Ruetz seconded the motion. Motion carried. Burri moved that the previous meeting's minutes be approved. Peavey seconded the motion. Motion carried. Peavey moved that the vouchers be approved. Ruetz seconded the motion. Motion carried. Administrative Report Federal Budget - No report State Budget — The Governor may put forth a budget revision that will have implications for the UW- System budget. The details are unknown at this time. County Budget --No report Personnel — Reaman outlined potential budget scenarios with the two pending retirements in 2006. Discussion also occurred regarding a 10% FTE increase in the horticultural educator position. It is currently 40% and would increase to 50% with the University picking up the 10% increase until January 2006. The meeting on March 4 with the UWEX District Director will focus on performance reviews and staffing discussions. WACEC — No report 4 -H Youth Development Agent's Report St. Croix County Privacy Policy — Reaman reported that this policy is an Internet policy and does not apply to the St. Croix County Plat and Directory. 1 Draft — Unofficial until approved Horticulture Educator Report: Programming for spring 2005: The Pierce and St. Croix Horticulture agents will offer a number of cooperative programs in the upcoming months. Topics to be covered are listed as follows: Integrated Pest management (IPM) Landscape Design Tree and Shrub Identification Breeding Your Own Crops Seed Saving Growing Vegetables for the Farm Market Pruning Practices for Your Orchard Update on Community Gardens: A proposal for the development of a teaching garden on the UW -River Falls campus was submitted to University of Wisconsin River Falls Plant Science Faculty. Pierce and St. Croix horticulture agents proposed that a display /teaching garden for perennials, fruit trees and shrubs be placed on the south farm on Highway 65. This garden would be set up for low maintenance with the use of drip irrigation tape and mulches and Master Gardeners in the region would handle the remaining care. The proposal was rejected and the agents will continue to pursue the development of gardens in the River Falls area to complement the New Richmond vegetable garden site. In 2004, over 1000 hours of volunteer time was given to the community garden in New Richmond. Volunteers were both Master Gardeners and interested members within the community. Over 4500 pounds of produce were delivered to a network of Food Pantries, Low income, WIC and senior sites across the county. The bulb fundraiser netted nearly $1300 for the gardens. We also received a $500 donation from a donor in the River Falls area. Most of these funds will be used to buy supplies for the garden in 2005, tractor rental for maintenance of the plots and purchasing a deer fence. The St. Croix County horticulture agent received a $1600 grant from the Western Region UW- Extension Service. These are one -time funds to be used to promote vegetable production in St. Croix County. Innovative techniques such as drip irrigation, plastic and organic mulches, weed suppression through cover crops, staking and season extension will be on display throughout the summer. A number of tours and workshops for both the general public and the commercial sector will be held during the summer of 2005. The horticulture agent will also participate in the 2005 Service Learning Day for New Richmond High School. This spring's project will once again entail greenhouse production of transplants, prepping the soil for transplanting and seeding and mulching the gardens. This is an excellent opportunity for students to see how they can make an impact and provide a necessary service within the community. The actual Service. Learning Date is scheduled for May 19 2005. 2 j Draft — Unofficial until approved The horticulture agent continues to work with West CAP (Western WI Community Action Agency), RC &D (River Country Resource Conservation and Development) and MOSES (Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service). This group of agencies realizes there are both opportunities and challenges that are faced in building a profitable market for locally grown foods. We have developed a survey that will hopefully provide the agencies with a better idea of how we can expand our assistance to producers in marketing and processing their value -added products. Following the survey we will determine if there is continued interest in areas where the organization could work together in educational programming efforts and the promotion of a regional food campaign. The horticulture agent has helped to bring three workshops to the region in the months of March and April. The first meeting will be on March 4, 2005 in Eau Claire. Invites have been sent to market managers and steering committee members for all of the Farmers Markets in St. Croix County and surrounding counties. Topics to be covered will include: - Developing bylaws, rules and regulations — Phil Harris, UW Agriculture & Applied Economics - How are markets organized: manager, board, steering committee - Establishing geographical boundaries, vendor stall size, fees - Expanding Markets - Market expansion issues - All Markets - Food safety & licensing — Dave Steinhardt, DATCP - Liability insurance — State Commissioner of Insurance - Market's relationship with local municipalities (Chamber of Commerce, Mayor) and market promotion by the municipality - Conflict resolution between vendors - Pricing - Generating support for the market - How to market the market - How to attract and retain customers - How to attract and retain vendors The second workshop will be held in Hudson, WI on April 2, 2005. It is an agricultural marketing workshop that will feature local producers of value -added products and regional efforts in innovative agricultural marketing. Sessions will include: direct marketing, pastured /free range poultry, herb production, cheese production by artisans, Rush River Produce, on farm milk processing, as well as a number of marketing groups such as Justlocalfood.com, Badgerland Produce Auction, SE Minnesota Food Network. The third workshop will be on April 6 th in Baldwin and will be a Turfgrass workshop that will be focusing on pest management, nutrient and pesticide runoff, integrated turf management techniques for producing a viable and healthy turfgrass. This is mainly directed at developers, city and county planners, landscapers, park and recreation ' managers, and golf course superintendents. 3 Draft — Unofficial until approved Family Living Agent's Report: Lestrud shared a power point presentation on the St. Croix Family Resource Center and discussed how this information is being shared with groups throughout St. Croix County. More families are using the center, more referrals are being made from the courts and Human Services, and there is a grant proposal for the center to also become the disability resource and referral center for the county. Lestrud presented evaluation results from the workshop, which she helped to plan on Measuring Program Outcomes. Many county agencies and non - profits learned how to identify meaningful outcomes for their programs, how to collect data, and how to evaluate the outcomes of their programs. Lestrud is currently chairing a subcommittee of the Early Childhood Interagency Council, which is looking into getting a free family newspaper printed for young families throughout the county. Preliminary discussions are underway with Helmer Printing.. Lestrud discussed the recent awareness program that she attended regarding the Meth /Amphetamine issue, and a potential Extension role in prevention. Lestrud discussed the obesity epidemic that is very much tied to the lack of physical exercise of most Americans. Lestrud has been doing some programming with HCE(Home and Community Education) regarding this issue, trying to encourage middle aged and elderly women to fit in time for aerobic, flexibility and strength training exercises. This has a direct impact on longevity, quality of life, and independence in later years. Lestrud shared a document highlighting her work responsibilities, including the value of each of the program areas as well as emerging issues. Resource Agent Report Five people from St. Croix County participated as guests in the Valley Rally legislative call trip. A follow -up meeting has been scheduled for Feb 8 to review the trip and to consider future directions. Ruetz moved to adjourn. Burri seconded. Respectively submitted, Eugene Ruetz Secretary mh 4