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Annual Report - October 2010 - November 2011
St. Joseph County MSU Extension
St. Joseph County MSUE Staff:
Lyndon Kelley, Agriculture &
Agribusiness Institute-Irrigation
Maury Kaercher, Agriculture &
Agribusiness Institute-Field
Crops Temp
Eva Beeker, Children & Youth
Institute-4H Program
Coordinator
Diana Fair, Health & Nutrition
Institute-Disease Prevention &
Management
Linda Kline, Health & Nutrition
Institute-Program Assistant
Tonya Barrington, Program
Aide
Deanna Mumby, Program Aide
Linda Towles, Prog. Aide;
Master Gardener Coord.
Brad Neumann, District
Coordinator
More regional staff on page 2
St. Joseph County MSU Extension
612 East Main Street
Centreville, MI 49032
Phone: 269/467-5511
Fax: 269/467-5641
Email:
Web:
www.msue.msu.edu/stjoseph
It is with great pleasure that the staff of Michigan State University (MSU) Extension in St. Joseph County submit this annual report for 2010-2011 to the Board of Commissioners. The report provides highlights of key educational initiatives conducted by MSU Extension staff in St. Joseph County over the course of the last year. The programs we highlight detail some of the knowledge, behavior and condition outcomes that result from our educational programming in the county.
MSU Extension takes pride in partnering with St. Joseph County, the State of Michigan, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to deliver our programming to the residents of St. Joseph County. This partnership ensures that residents of St. Joseph County have access to the research and educational resources available at Michigan State University. In other words, local support for Extension leverages hundreds of additional MSU faculty and Extension educators from around the state who also deliver educational programming to St. Joseph County residents. You are encouraged to browse the sidebar on page 2 of our annual report for a partial listing of Extension staff from other southwest Michigan counties that also bring their expertise to county residents as a result of your local investment.
On behalf of Michigan State University Extension, we would like to thank you for your support. We look forward to continuing our partnership with St. Joseph County to improve the quality of life for all residents by Bringing Knowledge to Life!
Our Mission:
Helping people improve their
lives through an educational
process that applies knowledge
to critical needs, issues, and
opportunities.
MSU Extension continues to advance the agriculture industry through trials and research in St. Joseph County. Research results are translated into reports and other educational materials to be delivered each year during winter programs.
One such trial is a five acre switchgrass plot located in the corner of an area seed corn field, with half under irrigation and the other half dryland. The purpose of the research is to (1) determine the impact of irrigation on establishment and yield of switchgrass and (2) evaluate whether switchgrass, as a biomass crop, could be grown on dry corners and in seed corn setback areas. Dennis Pennington, Bioenergy Educator, says it takes three years to achieve a mature stand and conclusions can’t yet be drawn, but preliminary results suggest that switchgrass could help fill a gap for seed corn producers.
In March of 2011, Lyndon Kelley, Irrigation Educator, and Mike Staton, Soybean Educator, held a focus group comprised of St Joseph County soybean producers and an agribusiness agronomist to identify and prioritize local on-farm research projects. Three projects were identified as having the potential to increase soybean yields on irrigated coarse-textured soils. 1. 20 pounds of actual nitrogen applied at a certain stage in growth (R3). 2. A foliar application of boron fertilizer applied at the R1 growth stage. 3. Two rates of potassium fertilizer applied in the spring (100 lbs. per acre and
200 lbs. per acre of 0-0-60).
Trial results suggest that the addition of potassium or nitrogen fertilizer at the specified growth stages does not significantly increase soybean yields. The results of the boron trial are yet to be finalized. Kelley and Staton do plan to conduct another focus group in February 2012.
Agricultural Trials and Research
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Today, MSU Extension educators specialize in narrower subject areas and cover broader geographic areas than in the past. We see the need to become more specialized as industry has become more technical and the challenges in our communities have become more complex. To that end, many other MSUE staff serve the needs of St. Joseph County residents, including:
• Deb Barrett, Children & Youth Educator
• Roger Betz, Farm Management
• Bob Bricault, Consumer Horticulture
• Beth Clawson, Community Food Systems
• Zelda Felix-Motley, Nutrition Ed.
• Beth Ferry, Swine Educator
• Ron Goldy, Vegetable Educator
• Jeanne Himmelein, Commercial Hort.
• Jane Herbert, Water Quality Educator
• Rita Klavinski, Community Food Systems
• Mark Longstroth, Small Fruit Educator
• Bruce MacKellar, Field Crops Educator
• Dale Mutch, IPM and Cover Crops
• Roberta Osborne, Dairy Environmental Management
• Dennis Pennington, Bioenergy Educator
• Julie Pioch, Public Policy Educator
• Suzanne Pish, Social/Emotional Health Educator
• Mark Thomas, Product Center Counselor
• Natalie Rector, Manure Management
• Bill Shane, Tree Fruit Educator
More MSU Extension specialists and educators serving the needs of St. Joseph County residents can be found at: http://people.msue.msu.edu/
St. Joseph County Extension - A Focal Point for Irrigation
When people think about Michigan irrigation, St. Joseph County
comes to mind. The sandy soil and easily accessed abundant water
supply supports an estimated 110,000 irrigated acres of cropland
in the county. St. Joseph County makes up almost one quarter of the
state’s irrigation but more importantly is central in a region of over
650,000 acres of irrigated land within a two hour drive. The largest
pool of irrigated land east of the Mississippi coupled with a
moderating effect of the Great Lakes and sandy soils that allow
minimal delays to planting, field operation and harvest have earned
the area national recognition for seed, vegetable and specialty
crop production.
Since St. Joseph County stands in the center of the irrigation region,
it is easy to see why MSU and Purdue Extension placed their jointly
sponsored irrigation field educator in the St Joseph County MSU
Extension office. The Michiana Irrigation Association, a non-profit
irrigation educational group with more than thirty-five years of
history serves as an advisory board identifying these major
educational efforts: Educate irrigators on opportunities to improve
irrigation efficiency while improving profits; improve irrigation
water management through better scheduling, improved uniform
applications and controlling run-off; and irrigation designs for
beginners and advanced irrigators.
St. Joseph County MSU Extension staff also maintains a website
library that provides area irrigators with factsheets, presentations,
educational materials, reporting forms and registration
requirements. The site is positioned to come up high in many of the
web search systems when searching for Michigan and Indiana
irrigation related topics.
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St. Joseph County is a powerful hub in the Michigan agricultural economy. The County is home to the largest production area of hybrid seed corn in the nation. It is also home to one of the most diversified cropping systems in the state, with more acres and types of large scale specialty field crops produced than any other in the region. However, a significant new challenge was identified in a St. Joseph County Field during the summer of 2010, a new weed species native to the southwest U.S. called Palmer Amaranth.
Palmer Amaranth is a member of the pigweed family, a cousin to the redroot pigweeds that we find in fields, farms and gardens across the county. However, this weed is an aggressive competitor in fields and grows to be over 5 feet in height while producing over 400,000 seeds per plant. Even more problematic, this strain of the weed has tested resistant to glyphosate, the most commonly used herbicide in soybean production. The “good news” is that the weeds were susceptible to several of the classes of herbicides used to control weeds in commercial and seed corn fields. The “bad news” is that soybeans, snap beans, and potentially potatoes may face challenges from the new weed species.
Dr. Christy Sprague, Weed Control Specialist in the Department of Crop and Soil Science at MSU, conducted a greenhouse trial in the fall of 2010 and determined that the weeds can withstand a 32x application of glyphosate applied at the full rate. In response to this challenge, Dr. Sprague conducted a full research study to investigate using pre-emergence + post emergence + residual herbicide treatments of all available soybean herbicides to identify which options might work the best in controlling this aggressive new weed species. While some control programs surfaced as being significantly better than others, no option controlled 100% of palmer amaranth seedlings over the course of the season. We will be sharing the results of this research at MSUE grower meetings held in many locations around southwest Michigan this winter.
A second round of field research is scheduled for 2012, as well as a more thorough analysis of how many acres are impacted by the weed. The current estimate is that the weeds primarily exist within about a 6 square mile area in St. Joseph County, with several fields exhibiting low populations currently. With the amount of wheel traffic that goes through the fields in St. Joseph County (a potential source to move around the seed), the problem is sure to spread. In addition, there is potential risk for the commercial and seed corn industry because some strains of Palmer Amaranth have become resistant to the family of herbicides, which may be providing some to most of the control of the weed in corn production. The goal of this research is to protect St. Joseph County’s largest and most vibrant industry, production agriculture.
MSU Research to Control Emerging Weed in Soybeans
This has been another good year for the Master Gardener Volunteer Program. This year, 11 people completed the class with 10 of them completing their 40 volunteer hours to received their basic certification.
Once again, our major project was the educational garden at the fairgrounds. The volunteers spent their time working in the garden from the beginning design to the end, with clean-up and readying the garden for planting next year. This year the volunteers put in a total of 1,095 hours in the garden alone, not to mention the volunteer hours they have put in for their communities, churches and garden clubs.
There are 6 garden clubs in St. Joseph County and currently there is at least one Master Gardener in each club. The Three Rivers club has the most with 6 Master Gardeners, with 4 in the Sturgis garden club. Colon has 3 volunteers and Mendon, Burr Oak and Constantine each have one Master Gardener volunteer involved.
At the October awards banquet, two of the volunteers received their 500 hour pins and one who received his 250 hour pin. These pins are awarded for the number of accumulated hours that the volunteer has put in since they first became certified. With volunteer time valued at $19.79 per hour, that’s nearly $10,000 worth of volunteer time by one individual!
Master Gardener Volunteer Program
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modeling project (made of wood
shavings), a tie-dyed t-shirt
(wardrobe personalization),
painting projects, and creative
crafts. Not only was the still
project exploration a hit, but also
the fishing, canoeing, swimming
and the “bog” fun, making camp
a huge success.
Along with Pam and Idy, we have
a hired cook, Patti Adams, a
waterfront director, Melanie
O’Connell (Sturgis Public Pool),
and “Nurse Betty” Meyers, RN.
We also had thirteen volunteer
parents who came to help with
fishing, canoeing and still project
exploration many times over the 3
day period.
This year the camp theme was
“Campin’ in the Decades”. Each
cabin had a decade theme and
name. The camp counselors
decorated their cabin to fit their
particular decade. The campers
had a great time dressing to the
theme and learning a little about
the “old days”. To wrap up the
4-H camp is one of the most
anticipated events of the year and
this year was no exception! Each
year for 3 days and 2 nights in
July, Camp Fort Hill becomes home
away from home to 70+ 4-H
youth, ages 7-12 years old, and
13 teen leaders. Each 4-H
member comes with the thoughts of
getting to do “fun stuff” at camp
without mom or dad!
There were some significant
changes at camp this year. We
hired Pam Keeslar to be our camp
director and Idy Stemely to be the
Assistant Camp Director. Pam is a
4-H leader with the Courageous K-
9’s 4-H club and is a 5th grade
teacher at Eastwood Elementary
School in Sturgis. Idy is also a 4-H
leader with the Rolling Clovers 4-H
club and also is a 5th grade
teacher at Hoppin Elementary
School in Three Rivers.
Both Pam and Idy brought a
renewed energy to camp with lots
of new ideas. Pam and Idy had
several still 4-H project ideas for
the kids to explore. Each camper
was able to “make and take” a
“decade” experience, the campers
danced to music from the 50’s,
60’s, 70’s and 80’s. Who knew
that poodle skirts and rolled up
jeans could be so fun?!
The dates for 2012 4-H camp have
been set for July 10-12. We are
looking forward to another great
experience with all that 4-H and
Camp Fort Hill has to offer.
4-H aims to help young people
become self-directed, productive
and contributing members of
society. We accomplish this through
programming designed to build life
skills, support in-school learning
during out-of-school experiential
educational programming, and
teach employment skills needed by
today’s and the future work force.
4-H projects are the vehicles we
use to achieve these broader youth
development goals.
Children and Youth Institute Focuses on Life Skills at Summer 4-H Camp
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six weeks and one-time
presentations. During the
educational sessions, participants
gain knowledge and skills in
planning and preparing healthy
meals, reading food labels to
make healthier food choices,
saving dollars at the grocery
store, reducing fat, sugar and
sodium and preventing food
borne illness. Each weekly session
also emphasizes the importance of
regular physical activity.
SNAP-ED continues to be the
largest out-reach educational
program provided to county
residents who receive, or are
eligible to receive, food stamps.
Initiated in 1994, this educational
program continues to reach
hundreds of adults and youth in St.
Joseph County during series lasting
According to the 2008-2010 County Health Rankings of Michigan, over 30% of St. Joseph County adults are
obese and approximately 10% are diagnosed diabetics. In an effort to promote healthier lifestyles, MSU
Extension developed the Disease Prevention and Management Work Group within the Health & Nutrition
Institute. The workgroup team, including St. Joseph County based Educator Diana Fair, identified three curricula
to address the increasing problems of chronic disease and diabetes, in particular. These curricula include Dining
with Diabetes, a four week series addressing diabetes education, nutrition, meal planning and food
preparation; the Michigan Diabetes Prevention Program, a five week series focusing on lifestyle changes to
prevent or lessen the onset of diabetes, and PATH (Personal Action Toward Health), a six week series focusing
on increasing the self-management skills of people with chronic disease or their caretakers.
PATH, developed by Stanford University, was offered throughout the State of Michigan
through grants provided by the Office of Services to the Aging and awarded through
regional Area Agencies on Aging. In 2010, St. Joseph County was one of a four county
applications to be awarded a PATH grant through the St. Joseph County Commission on
Aging, with MSU Extension and Community Mental Health as collaborating partners.
In June 2010, Diana Fair completed the four day PATH training offered through the AAA grant along with two
staff members from Commission on Aging and one staff member from Community Mental Health. In the fall of
2010, Fair and her Community Mental Health partner held their first six week workshop and are currently
conducting their fourth PATH workshop held in the County. Over 32 adults have participated in PATH workshops
conducted by the MSU Extension/Community Mental Health partnership, gaining skills in reducing stress and
increasing problem solving abilities, improving communication, gaining knowledge in nutrition and physical
activity, and practicing weekly action plans designed to achieve goals.
Participants have reported fewer visits to medical doctors and hospital facilities, decreased levels of pain,
fatigue and depression, and increased ability to problem solve and set positive healthy lifestyle changing goals
during the workshop evaluations.
SNAP-Ed series and presentations
were conducted throughout St.
Joseph County by Diana Fair,
Extension Educator, and Linda
Kline, Program Associate, at
locations including in-home,
Keystone Homeless Shelter,
Department of Human Services,
WIC at Community Health Agency,
H.O.P.E. House, Child Care
Resources, Public Schools, after
school programs, and the Sturgis
Parenting Fair.
MSU Extension Health and Nutrition Institute
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MSU is an affirmative-action, equal-opportunity employer. Michigan State University Extension programs and materials are open to all without regard to race, color, national origin, gender, gender identity, religion, age, height, weight, disability, political beliefs,
sexual orientation, marital status, family status or veteran status.
MSU Extension was built on the foundation of extending the university’s knowledge to address real-world issues and opportunities facing Michigan residents. It continues with the same mission today: to help people in every community improve their lives through applied science-based, university-generated knowledge. MSU Extension staff members deliver educational programs centered around four broad topic areas:
Agriculture & Agribusiness - Supporting Michigan’s second-largest industry is key to a brighter future. Activities in this area emphasize increasing agricultural producer success, supporting food safety, reaching new markets and advancing agriculture through applied research.
Greening Michigan - Moving toward a sustainable future for our state will require leveraging existing networks of community and economic development leaders, entrepreneurs, and visionaries. They’ll engage new partnerships to focus on initiatives around responsibly managing Michigan’s rich natural and human resources.
Health & Nutrition - Increasing Michigan’s productivity and reducing healthcare costs will give Michigan residents the tools they need to embrace healthy living. A healthy population is also a sound financial investment for the future.
Children & Youth - Ensuring a productive workforce means preparing today’s young people to be tomorrow’s leaders, entrepreneurs, educators, mentors and skilled employees. Youth programs are empowering youngsters to expand their horizons and lay the foundation for lifetime success.
Since an initial February 2010 meeting with St. Joseph County MSU Extension and the Michigan Department of Transportation, the Centreville Safe Routes 2 School (SR2S) initiative has expanded to involve numerous partners and collaborators, all of which have contributed to encouraging and/or enabling more children to bicycle and walk to school: • Village of Centreville and Centreville DDA • MSU - School of Planning, Design, and Construction • Wayne State University - School of Engineering • Nottawa Township Library • Michigan Department of Transportation • Michigan Fitness Foundation
During the 2011 calendar year, the Centreville SR2S initiative gained momentum with the design and facilitation expertise of Wayne Beyea, Extension Specialist, and Warren Rahue, MSU Professor of Landscape Architecture. As a program within the MSU Extension Greening Michigan Institute, Beyea and Rauhe conducted a Safe Routes 2 School Design Initiative with the Centreville community.
Over the course of the year, Beyea and Rauhe conducted a series of public forums to gather input regarding desired improvements to the routes to and from school and surrounding the school campus. They also worked with the community to conduct a ‘walking audit’ in which parents, students, and school officials literally walked the town to take photos and document the areas needing improvement.
In August 2011, MSU, in partnership with Wayne State University, revealed a set of final designs for improved walking, biking, drop off/pick up zones, improved parking areas, and bus loading/unloading zones. The designs, in combination with the written input from community partners, constitute the Centreville SR2S Action Plan. Having a SR2S Action Plan has allowed the community to obtain a $5,000 grant from the Michigan Fitness Foundation to implement a Walking School Bus, in which adults accompany children along a designated route to and from school. The grant has also allowed Centreville Public Schools to conduct pedestrian and bicycle safety instruction in the classrooms.
MSU Extension helps Centreville develop Safe Routes to School