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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAg & Extension 01-06-04 X ST. CROIX COUNTY NOTICE OF COMMITTEE MEETING TO: Clarence Malick, Chairman St. Croix County Board FROM: Chris Bethke, Chairman COMMITTEE TITLE: Extension Ag Committee/Resource & Education Committee DATE: January 6, 2004 TIME: 12:30 p.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 • WACEC PLANNING DEPARTMENT'S REPORT • Appliance Collection Proposals • Resolution on Committee Transfer of Recycling Program • 2004 Calendar of Events 4 -H YOUTH AGENT'S REPORT • Preliminary Enrollment Report • 4 -H Club Leader Trainings • State Work Teams — Multicultural Understanding • Savvy Consumer Curriculum AG AGENT'S REPORT • Heart of the Farm, Farm Analysis Program (pilot project) • Commercial Horticulture Business Meeting • AAIMS Farm Record Keeping Meeting • Needs Assessment • 4 -H Dairy Committee • Ag Ag/Business Program Planning Conference • Agronomy Update Meeting • Dairy Road Show • Ag Lenders Conference • Wisconsin Renewable Energy Coop Annual Meeting • Farm Income Tax School • Positioning Your Farm Business for the Future • Wisconsin Forage Council Annual Meeting • Area Corn Conference • Value Added Conference • Strategic Planning Training • Farm Management Programs • Farm/Individual Contacts • Large Dairy Group Meeting RESOURCE AGENT'S REPORT • Star Prairie /Stanton Drinking Water Program • Small Business Management Counseling FAMILY LIVING AGENT'S REPORT • HCE • Nutrition Program • Strengthening Families Program HORTICULTURE AGENT'S REPORT • Community Gardens Update • Horticulture Business Class Update • Fresh Market/Fanner's Market Organizational Meeting Scheduled for January NEW BUSINESS: ANNOUNCEMENTS & CORRESPONDENCE POSSIBLE AGENDA ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING: ADJOURNMENT (Agenda not necessarily presented in this order.) SUBMITTED BY: Kim Reaman DATE: December 19, 2004 COPIES TO: County Board Office County Clerk News Media/Notice Board Committee Members AG & EXTENSION / RESOURCE & EDUCATION / PLANNING COMMITTEE January 6, 2004 Agricultural Service & Education Center Convened: 12:30 pm Baldwin, Wi. Adjourned: 2:15 pm Present: Leon Berenschot, Ronald Raymond, Art Jensen, Chris Bethke, Lee Milligan, Jim Janke, Kimberly Reaman, Jennifer Havens, and Mary Lestrud The meeting was called to order by Chairman Chris Bethke Date of next meeting was set for February 3, 2004. Jensen moved that the agenda be adopted as presented. Burn seconded the motion. Motion carried. Burn moved that the previous meeting's minutes be approved. Raymond seconded the motion. Motion carried. Raymond moved that the vouchers be approved. Jensen seconded the motion. Motion carried. Administrative Report Federal Budget - No report State Budget — No report County Budget — The 2003 budget is close to being wrapped up. There was a shortage of over $4,000 in health insurance that was absorbed. Half of that amount was able to be covered in the line item Operations and Maintenance which was the cost of the Tl line to the Ag Center. That cost is now paid by computer services department. End of the year purchases included a digital camera with optical zoom, two battery packs and two memory sticks, lightweight plastic tables to be used for outdoor field days, worktable for the main work room and new glass for the portable overhead projector. We are expecting a couple of final bills for paper to be paid out of the 2003 budget yet. WACEC Report — The December district meeting went well. A video tape showing program planning from Western District Counties was shown and is available at the Extension Office. A suggestion was made to possibly use it with our report to the county board. Planning Department Report Havens presented a list of bills in the amount of $634.98. The motion was made by Raymond, seconded by Jensen to approve the list of bills as presented. Motion carried. Havens provided posters to the committee members to promote the cellular phone donation program in their communities. Appliance Collection Proposals: Havens presented information on the two proposals received for the collection and disposal of appliances for the 2004 season. Applications were received from JR 1 I Appliance Disposal, Inc and Kleenair Disposal. Havens recommended selection of JR's Appliance Disposal, Inc based on meeting the requirements set forth in the proposal specifications and the exceptional programs and services provided by this contractor in past contracts. A motion was made by Burri to accept the proposal from JR Appliance Disposal for the 2004 collection season and was seconded by Berenschot. Motion carried. Resolution on Committee Transfer of Recycling Program: Havens presented the Resolution Amending Board of Supervisors Rules and By Laws in Regard to Changing Committee Responsibilities for Parks System and Recycling Program. A motion was made by Jensen to approve the resolution. The motion was seconded by Berenschot. Motion carried. The signed resolution was also presented and signed by the Planning, Zoning, and Parks Committee in December and was to be presented to the Administration Committee on 1/6/04. 2004 Calendar of Events: Havens presented a draft of the St Croix County Recycling 2004 Calendar of Events. Staff is working to finalize all the details with municipalities and will have a final draft available in the next few months. Once the schedule is finalized with all participating municipalities, the newsletter production will begin. Staff chose the proposal from Resco Print Graphics for the production and printing of the 2004 -2005 newsletters. 4 -11 Youth Development Agent's Report Preliminary Enrollment Report: Currently the enrollment of traditional 4 -H club members is 671. New enrollments are accepted throughout January so there may be a couple new members /families yet. That is down by 20 members from last year. 4 -H Club Leader Trainings: Reaman will provide leader training for clubs and county committee this spring. One of the topics will be conflict management within the group. State Work Teams — Multicultural Understanding: As a result of the state -wide program planning conducted last fall, several state work teams have been identified to develop programs according to the identified needs. Reaman was assigned to the Multicultural Understanding work team. The group defines culture much broader than race and ethnicity. For the educational purposes of this work team, multiculture is defined in the broadest sense: age, gender, rural /urban, differing abilities, along with race and ethnicity. There will be three tracks: one for a youth audience, one for adult volunteer leaders, and one for staff. Savvy Consumer Curriculum: St. Croix County has signed up to be a pilot for this new consumer curriculum. Teens have tremendous spending power and often don't have the skills to manage their resources particularly regarding credit card use and savings plans. Reaman will pilot the materials with the 4 -H Junior Leaders, who are older teens in the program. She meets with them monthly. There may also be clubs who are interested in piloting the curriculum for younger members. Calf in the Classroom Pilot: Reaman has been working with the Hudson School District to pilot this project. It is a two -year commitment with 2nd and 3 grade classrooms to help students learn about food sources The 2nd grade class "adopts" a calf at a dairy farm and follows its development over two years with weekly lessons and weekly updated digital pictures of the calf on a website. Videos of the calf, barn, and farm, as well as interviews with the farm staff, would be included on the web site. Weekly lessons will be provided for the teachers in math, social studies, art and language arts. It's a unique 2 s project because with the electronic technology being used, the dairy calf can be brought right into the classroom. Family Living Agent's Report Lestrud discussed the current emphasis with the Nutrition Program, smart shopping and preparing meals at home. She and Mabis created a display board and teaching materials on this topic that are being used at WIC (Women, Infant, and Children) sites during January and February. They show the tremendous savings families can receive by shopping wisely and eating out less often. Many of the WIC clients have asked for even more basic information on how to make a grocery list. Nutrition educator, Martha Mabis, hired with a federal grant, meets with each client to go over the material. Also, Lestrud is in the process of hiring a new educator in Polk County. Lestrud is coordinator for the nutrition program for St. Croix and Polk Counties. Lestrud passed out copies of the HCE (Association for Home and Community Education) newsletter and program books for committee members to study. Upcoming programs this month include healthy diet information including carbohydrates and insulin resistance taught throughout the county by Lestrud. She is working with the organization to reign in their spending and sponsor additional fundraisers for long- term viability. Lestrud is working with the Family Resource Center to plan and promote upcoming Strengthening Families classes for parents and 10 -14 year old children. She will be doing a PowerPoint presentation to Human Service professionals and next month at the committee meeting regarding the national results from the program. Lestrud is also working with a committee to do a countywide fundraising campaign, smaller than last year, called "500 Hands for Children ". Agriculture Agent's Report Eleven dairy producers from St. Croix, Pepin, Buffalo, and Trempealeau Counties participated in a pilot farm business analysis and strategic planning plot project. Milligan developed and taught three hours of the 12 -hour curriculum. This pilot program will be improved and taught in St. Croix, Pierce, and Polk Counties in February and March. Five people attended the AAIMS computer record keeping workshop. The continuation of this workshop will be re- evaluated for next year. Milligan facilitated a dairy team meeting with a dairy producer to solve a production problem. An action plan was developed. Milligan and Carl Duley, Buffalo County Agriculture Agent, met with a potential speaker for a meeting to address the needs of Hispanic employees on dairy farms. Milligan met with the commercial horticulture class twice to teach on the topics of financial analysis, business structures, and pricing direct marketing produce. The Agriculture and Natural Resource agents met in Reedsburg to develop team plans. Milligan participated in the dairy and farm financial management teams. 3 Individual contacts included farmland rental rates, strategic planning, building rent, farm building design, expansion, farm financial analysis, dairy and beef nutrition, labor management, pasture renovation, and farm record keeping. Milligan and Greg Andrews, Pierce County Agriculture Agent, met with a group of agricultural businessmen to gather educational programming ideas for 2004 and 2005. Ideas that were discussed included brown root rot, emergency forage crops, conservation plans for new landowners, small farm education, fertilizer economics, dairy cows transition, improving forage quality, improving milk quality, milk marketing, site issues for expanding dairies, business management, and beef production. The St. Croix County 4 -H Dairy Committee met with Milligan to develop their 2004 schedule. Milligan also wrote a newsletter. In January, Milligan will be participating in the Western Wisconsin Dairy Road Show in Menomonie, Ag Lenders Conference in Menomonie, Farm Income Tax Workshop in Baldwin, Positioning Your Business for the Future in Menomonie, Wisconsin Forage Council in Eau Claire, and Farm Financial Analysis Workshop in Polk County. Milligan also will be meeting with some agriculture lenders to develop agriculture programs in dairy, beef, and crops for February, March and April Resource Agent Report Janke updated the committee on the results of the drinking water program in Star Prairie and Stanton. Additional data has become available since the December meeting. There were 2 samples that exceeded the limit for lead and 1 sample exceeded the limit for copper. No samples were over the limit for triazine, but 11 of the samples had detectable amounts of triazine. Small business counseling was held in Hudson on December 19 with a full appointment schedule. Jacque Foust from UW River Falls volunteered to assist in the counseling. A new director for the Small Business Development Center has been hired and will start on January 8. Janke distributed copies of a news article in the December 28 St. Paul Pioneer Press that featured the Business Market Analysis program that Extension has been leading with the Chamber of Commerce. Berenschot moved to adjourn. Burri seconded the motion. Motion carried. Meeting adjourned. Respectfully submitted, Art Jensen Secretary pmh 4