The ships that 4-H builds

John Lawrence’s message from May 7, 2018

Last week I met with our youth program specialists during their training session on campus. In our short time together, we covered the usual organizational topics, budget updates, my plans for a summer of centennials, visiting sessions around the state and the internal communication committee.

I also shared a little extension history from R.K. Bliss, as I like to do from time to time. In 1952, R.K. compiled and edited “The Spirit and Philosophy of Extension Work.” The book is a collection of significant extension papers, including some written by R.K. himself. In one, he focused on “Ships That 4-H Club Work Builds.” He wrote about workmanship, fellowship, acquaintanceship, friendship, sportsmanship, partnership, salesmanship, leadership, stewardship and citizenship. Workmanship was achieved “through better methods of farming and homemaking.” The remaining ships, as R.K. wrote, “have to do principally with getting along with other people. Learning to live happily as families and with neighbors is one of life’s most important achievements. 4-H Club work is training youth not only how to make a living, but also how to live more successfully.”

Today 4-H is building ships not only through club work, but also through all our youth development programs as we invest in Iowa youth. We call it empowering youth to reach their full potential through youth-adult partnerships and research-based experiences. Did you know?

  • 4-H experiences are designed to strengthen a young person’s sense of belonging, generosity, independence and mastery.
  • 4-H’s priority areas are STEM, healthy living, leadership and civic engagement, and communication and the arts. These areas fully align with Iowa State University, ISU Extension and Outreach, and 4-H National Headquarters (USDA/NIFA).
  • Local dollars are leveraged by state, federal and grant dollars. In fiscal year 2016-2017, the state 4-H office brought in over $1.25 million in grants and contracts to support youth across Iowa. These funds helped support lower individual costs for youth and their families; lower county costs for high quality educational products and programs; development of new research-based educational products and programs; research and evaluation; and adoption of new technology.

Each year we reach about 100,000 Iowa youth through 4-H Youth Development. (Want the numbers for your county? Download 4-H Data for Decision Makers.) We build skills in Iowa youth to improve their college and career readiness, address achievement or opportunity gaps, and encourage youth to use their skills to shape Iowa’s future. Or, as R.K. said, we help youth learn to make a living and live more successfully.

Congratulations to our extension colleagues who will be receiving university awards, including:

  • R.K. Bliss Extension Award, Jerry Chizek, Region 7 director
  • Award for Distinguished Service in Extension, Beth Doran, beef field specialist
  • Award for Outstanding Achievement in Extension or Professional Practice, Alison Robertson, professor and extension field pathologist
  • Award for Early Achievement in Extension or Professional Practice, Lee Schulz, assistant professor and extension economist
  • Professional and Scientific Outstanding New Professional Award, Sara Sprouse, human sciences specialist
  • Award for Achievement in Economic Development in Iowa, CED Latino Business and Entrepreneurship Team – Lisa Bates, Himar Hernandez, Victor Oyervides, Jill Sokness, Scott Timm and Jon Wolseth
  • Award for Early Achievement in Teaching, Christopher Currey, assistant professor of horticulture
  • International Service Award, Manjit Misra, director, Seed Science Center

One more note: Make sure to review the May program update from the leadership team.

— John D. Lawrence
Iowa State University Vice President for Extension and Outreach

County fairs

John Lawrence’s message from July 17, 2017

Picture this: a summer day, hot and humid, with no discernable breeze. Do you know where your county extension professionals are? On any given day between mid-June and mid-September, they can be found at their county fairgrounds. That’s not surprising, since the Association of Iowa Fairs membership includes 106 Iowa county and district fairs plus local festivals and related activities. Our partnership with county fairs is part of our history and tradition. R.K. Bliss wrote that “from the first the Extension Service was called upon to give help to fairs during the fair season … The principal contribution of extension to fairs in the early years of the Extension Service was to make them more educational.” Our county fair contribution continues, as we provide education and build partnerships to solve today’s problems and prepare for the future.

4-H Youth Program Specialist Mitch Hoyer probably has lost track of how many times he’s heard fairgoers say, “I didn’t know you could do that in 4-H!” (He’s superintendent of the 4-H Exhibits Building at the Iowa State Fair.) Iowa 4-H’ers’ fair exhibits represent the broad scope of our 4-H Youth Development program, covering animals, ag and natural resources, creative arts, family and consumer sciences, personal development and STEM. 4-H youth also participate in communication events, educational presentations and working exhibits. 4-H at the fair is far more than cows and cooking, though there are plenty of these exhibits too. The Association of Iowa Fairs gathers statistics from the financial reports that all fairs are required to file. For 2016, did you know?

  • 17,139 4-H and FFA livestock exhibitors brought 70,311 livestock entries to their county fairs.
  • 14,885 4-H and FFA building exhibitors showed 66,814 exhibits.
  • 4-H/FFA premiums totaled $533,324.

However, more important than the money, ribbons and competition, is the education that occurs. Fairs give 4-H’ers an opportunity to demonstrate what they’ve learned. The evaluation they receive helps them measure their progress toward meeting their goals and against standards of excellence. They also gain encouragement and inspiration to expand their project interest and activity. In addition, their families get to work together and the public gets to see what it means to be involved in 4-H. The whole county fair experience is one more way 4-H meets the needs of Iowa youth.

County Fair Memorandum of Understanding

Our county extension councils have great partnerships with Iowa’s county fair boards. About 60 counties even have a written, signed MOU that lists each group’s responsibilities for making their fair successful. That’s a great idea that we’d like to expand statewide. So we’ve started a committee with representation from fair boards, FFA, and ISU Extension and Outreach. They’re thinking about the key aspects that make a great fair and developing a template that other counties can use to write their own MOUs. We hope to have a draft ready for extension councils and fair boards to review this fall, with a finished template available in December.

With turnover on county fair boards, within FFA programs and in our county extension offices, it makes sense to capture some county fair best practices and get them down in writing. If you have any insights you’d like to share, please contact a regional director, Bob Dodds or yours truly.

One more thing: The Black Hawk, Polk and Jefferson County Extension Councils are partnering with College of Human Sciences researchers in the next round of the Engaged Scholarship Funding Program. It’s a great opportunity for councils to invest in new research with Iowa State and partner with ISU Extension and Outreach to bring educational programs to county residents.

 — John D. Lawrence
Iowa State University Interim Vice President for Extension and Outreach

Feeding people, then and now

John Lawrence’s message from May 30, 2017

As I was paging through my extension history book the other day, I found myself reading about ISU Extension and Outreach work during wartime – an appropriate topic for Memorial Day weekend. R.K. Bliss was extension director during both World War I and II, leading our organization in all-out efforts to produce and preserve more food. During World War II in particular, extension professionals engaged Iowans in increasing meat, milk and egg production. Extension pamphlets shared calls for teamwork on the battle field and the home front – from producing and conserving food, to sharing labor, power and machinery. Iowans answered the call, as Bliss noted: “Never before in recorded history had so few people produced so much food.”

One hundred years ago in April 1917 the United States entered World War I and Iowa initiated a War Emergency Food Committee. The committee used the budding county extension system and county farm bureaus (the forerunner of the Iowa Farm Bureau) to deliver the message about increasing food production and reducing waste. There was a particular emphasis on increasing grain and hog production to support the war effort. A slow growing season and early frost in 1917 threatened corn production, because much of the corn froze before it matured and would not germinate when planted in 1918. Extension led a seed corn inventory and testing program to find and evaluate seed for the following year. The U.S. Food Administration declared that “pigs are as essential as shells” in winning the war. Extension helped Iowa farmers answer the call to raise more pigs, and Iowa has been a major pork producer ever since.

During WWII our organization helped identify and coordinate 28,000 volunteers – 14,000 men and 14,000 women – to provide leadership in the war food production program. That was a man and woman volunteer for each four square miles and 15 or 16 farm families. Think of the task before them. Men and women were leaving their homes and communities to go off to war or to industries supporting the war, and resources were being rationed. Iowans were being asked to increase production of food and reduce waste through education and improved efficiency – our wheelhouse. Compared to the prewar 1938-1940 average, by 1943 Iowa had increased total production of corn 30 percent, hogs 53 percent, eggs 51 percent and soybeans 300 percent. Farmers even added 45,000 acres of a new crop, hemp, for ropes and fiber. It was estimated that there were 455,000 gardens in 1943 and that rural and urban Iowans canned 150 million quarts of food, dried a half million pounds of food products and stored 5.7 million bushels of fruits and vegetables.

A focus on feeding people always has been part of ISU Extension and Outreach’s history and continues as part of our future. ISU Extension and Outreach is not mobilizing farmers and families during war time, but we still address timely and relevant issues. Did you know?

  • More than 1,100 livestock producers, veterinarians and feed distributors in Iowa participated in workshops, webinars or podcasts to increase their knowledge of the new animal antibiotic use regulations, improve their management related to judicious use of antibiotics in animal production, and improve record keeping related to medication use. They manage or impact more than 4 million animals.
  • Over one-half of Iowa farmland is under some form of lease agreement, and farmland leases are an on-going discussion between tenants and landowners. In 2016 some 2,100 participants attended farmland leasing meetings to increase knowledge on leasing arrangements, and 96 percent indicated they were satisfied the meeting met their expectations. Popular publications on leasing were downloaded more than 415,000 times, and new videos received 3,176 views.
  • ISU Extension and Outreach provides Pesticide Safety Education Program training to more than 25,000 certified applicators who each year safely apply pesticides to virtually all of Iowa’s 24 million crop acres, as well as to residential and recreational land.

Even in Agriculture and Natural Resources we focus on the people, rather than things you buy in a bag or spray over the field. We help Iowans build their capacity to better their lives and make sound decisions. Of course, this also applies to our Human Sciences faculty and staff working with families from cradle to grave, from training child care providers to working with eldercare. It applies to Community and Economic Development – whether that be planning and zoning or new businesses on main street. And it certainly applies to 4-H, as we build capacities and strong individuals through positive youth development and leadership opportunities. Because a strong Iowa requires not only feeding people, but also keeping them healthy, helping their communities prosper and thrive, and turning the world over to the next generation better than we found it.

— John D. Lawrence
Iowa State University Interim Vice President for Extension and Outreach

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