Ginger:

I have been involved with Cornel and Rutgers MG programs. I have also been using the internet for research for 10+ years, and I feel that when the extension agent gets put out to pasture, so does the the MG program.

Budgetary problems will always exist for extension services; that's a fact of life. Depending on where you live, the political and community influence available can make or break extension, also a fact of life. So good contacts are as important as efficiency in running the MG programs.

I have found extension agents to be hard working and dedicated people, who work for relatively little pay. They coordinate, consult, diagnose plant problems, manage the hotline, deal with the land grant colleges, make many management and technical decisions, and do much more. How could the internet perform these tasks? How would unpaid MG's handle the work load? ... A recipe for disaster.

Here are two ideas:
Get the MG's to do more to support the work of the extension agents...especially the MG's predominately engaged in 'social' events. And I suggest finding a way to get the money necessary to support a much needed organization.

JP

I don't know whether to blush at my brush with fame or just be honest and admit that my "chicken little" reports may or may not apply to any one particular area.

Mn is a fairly large state, with most of the southern and western portions hosting a reasonably healthy ag economy. These counties will likely continue to gladly support a healthy extension office. The northeast quadrant's economy is diverse; a little subsistence farming, forest prod's, minerals, some manufacturing, etc., but there are some local economies that have depended heavily on taxpayer subsidies...one of which is the extension service. A major political revolution has been occurring in that many seasoned legislators from the NE quadrant have been retiring, leaving influential commitee posts open for new faces. Many of these posts have gone to rep's from the Twin Cities Metro area, who are often conservatives resentful of the "welfare" extended to the NE quadrant (at their expense).

My county is one of the wealthier in this "welfare" group; nevertheless agriculture contributes far less than any other segment to the local economy. Cold, hard numbers suggest that other needs will get the funding.

Perhaps the astute operator can find ways to make a few shekels from providing a service the government no longer can.

I'm glad you posted your original response, eyolf. That way, we can look to the future and start fundraising or working harder to help the ext agents, as jpgardener suggests, or get entrepreneurial and start a like program for profit(!), or . . . what else?

This could be a good brainstorming/problem solving thread, as well as a way to take the temperatures of MG programs around the US.

Thanks.
Ginger

In California, the program is funded by University/State and County funds. As you know things are not the best in our economic fortunes. Our office has decreased in size but the wine industry is big in Napa and we still have people in it. The office in Sacramento County, our state capital closed because the county could no longer afford to rent the space for them.

Our group has picked up fund raising programs and we are pretty self sufficient in funding the items needed to reach the gardening public and we have people in our group who do all the planning of new MG programs taking some of the load off the office people.

Penny

For those people who think the county agent or "farm advisor" only benefits agriculture they should know that diseases affecting native trees and shrubs are usually first discovered by these agents, Here in California we are experiencing the loss of many Pine trees due to pitch canker disease and our oaklands are threatened by sudden oak death disease. Both of these were first discovered and brought to the universities attention, and are being fought on the ground by "farm advisors". The city dwellers need to learn a well funded extension service is also to their benefit. Al

In my county the MGs are already doing the work of the extension agent because there isn't one. She quit and everyone else on the staff was fired when our county commissioners axed Extension funding this year; despite the fact that our county population is growing outtasight and land is being clear-cut and stripped faster than you can say 'suburban blight.' All the new homeowners want to know what they can do with stripped clay subsoil that not even grass will grow on and they can barely dent with a pickax, and that's when they come to us. Guess what? There's only a handful of volunteers left to answer the phone, and no one on salary who has to be accountable to the puzzled people who call wanting to know how they can get some help. Our organization rallied and politicked at the last minute (which is when we were let in on the fact that Extension was going down the tubes -- our agent let us know in the same breath she told us she'd given her 2-week notice) and convinced the commission to throw us a bone -- a portion of the original budget that gave us a windowless room at the Park & Recs office where we can continue to work for the county without pay or praise. This is why our county is losing experienced Master Gardeners, and I believe the same scenario is playing out in other parts of the country, where the prevailing political climate emboldens local governments to say, "Let's fire all the paid staff and let unpaid people do their jobs. We'll have to give them a title, like 'Master' something. That way they'll think they're doing something special and won't feel like they're being exploited. It's brilliant, huh?" Oh yeah, that'll work. And besides, you can learn all that stuff on the internet, right?

Well I don't think you can learn to garden by going on-line any more than you can learn to farm that way. Extension could still play a very important role in community-building, but I have been discouraged witnessing how politically inept NC's extension apparatus has been in the case of our county. Unless they stop acting like a bureaucracy and start acting like a non-profit with a mission, employing smart public relations, excellent liaison with their volunteers, and voter education, I do think Extension offices everywhere are going to find themselves losing their volunteer base, their funding, and ultimately, closing their doors.

Well said, Shenandoah.

This thread could become a bellwether for MG programs across the US.

I hope more people from more states will add their stories.

Life changes. We are on the cusp of changing from an ag to a hort emphasis in university-led extension prgms. We need some sort of template re how to carry this out smoothly and with civility--transitioning, not detonating, the current programs and funding, from ag to hort.

Disturbing trend? More like history repeating itself. The Master Garden Program in many states was instituted as a way of bypassing budget cuts that left Extension programs under staffed. There once was a time when the Extension agent over saw of staff of edjucated horticulturists and agriculturists. Budget cuts did away with these positions. So look on the brighter side of life your only a volunteer and your liveliehood is not being threatened. However I'm sure that Extesnion will come up with a soultion - ie parking Master Gardeners in front of a computer to e-mail answers to people with questions.

"However I'm sure that Extesnion will come up with a soultion - ie parking Master Gardeners in front of a computer to e-mail answers to people with questions."

Ah, like a telemarketer on the phone? I hope not...I want someone who has the passion for their niche to help with my questions....someone that is not feeling encumbered by having to remember the delete and send buttons. Let/s remember that MG's are the pinnacle points of reference and experience. Put them in front of a box as their only contact, you might aas well have them being nothing but virtual reality. Sorry I want the human touch in the realm of horticulture and landscaping.

Our Extension Agent is heavily into helping 4-H, which is important in our county, plus he started several months ago to appear on one of our radio programs for a half hour to 45 minute 'call in' segment answering peoples hort and ag questions. It has gone over very well, and I believe between the two items plus MG, his dismissal could cause a political firestorm here.
Are your Ext Agents working to expand their efforts to make themselves more valuable and more known in the area?

Washtenaw County in Michigan is unique in that our extension agent (the person who runs the MG program) is funded by the county, not the state Extension Service. I don't know why this is the case. However, the county has been cutting back services, and our MG Coordinator is being let go. Another member of staff will be taking over her duties as well as his own. I'm not sure how that is going to work out.

This is especially ironic as Washtenaw County in general and Ann Arbor in specific are some of the wealthier areas in Michigan and also the most "green" minded. Our county also trains and *maintains* one of the largest numbers of MGs in the state. In that light, I'm really surprised these cuts are happening.

Monica

While I still feel very strongly that our county needs an extension agent committed full-time to the MG program, I will admit (as an answer to royruss' question), that our agent didn't make a grand effort to be perceived as valuable. She has excellent gardening knowledge, but it's not in everyone's nature to seek out PR and goodwill and play an active role in the community. However, I do think the latter is a key skill for agents, esp. these days with cuts looming.

Although I'm ignorant of the politics behind our cuts, and I realize this is "Monday-morning quarter-backing," I do know the county had flexibility in what positions it would cut. So I can't help but wonder, if our agent had been a bit more publically active and committed, whether that position might have been saved? (I realize the answer could still be no because as someone else pointed out, the county gets so many free hours of service from educated MG volunteers, maybe it figures why bother paying anyone?)

Most Extension Programs are funded by some combination of State and County funds. Want to keep these programs around? Then call your county council and state reps and tell them how important these programs are to you!

Better yet, put it in writing.

I am bumping this up to the top so forum newcomers may see and respond. Take the time to read this thread, also the two entitled "Master Gardener Attrition' and "Lessons from Captain kirk."

It is a pretty good idea to let your state and county reps know the importance of programs like the Master Gardeners and the Extension Service.

The crazy thing is- When I lived in Clayton County, GA I worked for extension and we had a fulltime extension agent. Now Clayton Co. is only a hop-skip-and jump from Atlanta- so you can imagine how rural that is (NOT). We moved to Pike County- very rural- the agent left his position and UGA will not replace that position because of budget cuts. Very sad indeed. The MG group here is not active as a group. And that's sad too. But as always Gardeners are very resilient people and I'm sure there are some good ideas out there to help get over the hump. Meanwhile people are committing "Crape Murder" at an alarming rate-

ejb190 and ginger_nh, I did write all of my reps and my governor, as did many other individuals and groups. We succeeded in keeping the MG program, but not its coordinator.

Excellent-congratulations, GardenFaerie. Proves that making the effort pays off(or at least helps).

Ginger

I am in two master gardener counties. One has a part time paid coordinator and the other one never has. The one without the paid position actually runs better. The members seem to feel more responsable and are quicker to step up to the plate. The paid coordinator position is always looking for someone for the job. An active advisory committee or board of directors elected by the members with support of the farm advisor seems to do a better job. Al

Gardenfaerie has a misconception. Your Extension Office is funded, everywhere, with a combination of federal, state, and local tax dollars. For every dollar Washtenaw County spends on the extension service it gets 6 dollars in return from MSU (state government) and, through MSU, the federal government, USDA, same as Muskegon, Ottawa, Allegan, Ingham, Kent, Wayne and the rest of the 88 counties. As the farms have dimished and the funds did grow tighter some positions have been made regional, ie the fruit specialist now covers 12 counties and is based in Ottawa County, but the research station at Clarkesville is still there and operating and fully staffed.
MSU's goal is to try to maintain a County Agent, a Hotricultural Agent, and a 4-H Agent in each county office, but that too depends on how much funding the county will give. If your county cuts its matching funds so will Michigan state.

I haven't been back to this forum for a while; It's good to see some activity on my old complaint threads!

I suspect that almost everyone's mileage will differ. Each state will likely have somwhat different interpretations of the fed regs, and will certainly have their own rules. In areas with already strong MG programs, I'm certain that things will continue for at least a while. In my area that isn't the case.

To be fair, the U of Mn continues to support research and outreach, and each county does have an extension office here. But more and more counties are like mine, with a part-time assisant (secretary) whose time is shared with another office or two. Our extension office fields calls for 4-H, some county health programs, pregnancy & early childhood development and some drug abuse prevention services programs as well as the ag and hort stuff. There is now an extension agent's name on the building directory, but I happen to know that she lives and works 90 miles away in another county. There is no computer or phone on her desk, so I assume she attends occasional meetings here, but largely telecommutes from her office in that other county.

While the farm economy is small in our area, I did notice a yellow pages ad in the new phone book for a "farm consultant", so apparently the slow loss of free help from the government creates an opportunity for entrepeneurship!