The presence of the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service in Caldwell County is nearing its 100-year mark.
But for many in the county, especially those outside the agricultural sector, the role the Extension office and its agents play in the community remains nebulous.
And that is a situation that today’s Extension agents are on a mission to change.
The Extension office is located on U.S. 62 West across from the industrial park, situated on “agriculture row” with Agri-Chem, Bremner and the Kentucky Soybean Association’s headquarters.
A staff of five handles its operations: Extension Agents Shane Bogle (agent for agriculture and natural resources), Courtney Head (agent for family and consumer sciences) and Rhonda Jewell (agent for 4-H youth development); Joni Phelps, Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) program assistant; and support staff members Jessica Board and Vickie Hatler.
Administrators at the UK College of Agriculture call the Extension Service one of the state’s best-kept secrets.
“We don’t want it to be a secret,” said Bogle. “There is a large percentage that we are not reaching, and we are always striving to reach that clientele.”
Bogle has been the county’s Extension agent for agriculture and natural resources since November 2004.
The agriculture role was the primary function of the county’s first Extension worker, J.M. Ligon, who began his duties in January 1916.
The Cooperative Extension Service, in Kentucky and across the U.S., had been established by the federal Smith-Lever Act two years earlier.
Ligon’s responsibilities as county agent also included the 4-H program, which encouraged the community’s youth to “learn by doing.”
A detailed report compiled by Eunice Beavers, Bingy Baker and Nancy Williams in 1984, the 75th anniversary of the presence of 4-H in Kentucky, sheds light on those early years.
The county’s own 4-H program began in earnest in 1923, with five clubs in existence and 96 young people enrolled.
By 1925, with J.F. Graham serving as county agent, 130 were participating in 4-H. Graham’s goal was “to give the farm boy and girl a vision, and teach them the better methods of farming and homemaking,” according to the 1984 report.
Much has changed since then.
Aspects of conservation and natural resources were added to the duties of the agriculture agent.
Bogle pointed out the case of two Christian County farmers who, in the 1960s, became some of the first farmers in the world to use “no till” crop production techniques.
“Kentucky was a leader in that conservation of our soil,” he said.
“As awareness of natural resources and soil conservation became an issue, natural resources was added (to the agent’s duties),” he said. “That’s just developed into so many other facets.”
In the mid-1960’s, 4-H became its own independent arm of the Extension service, and those in charge of the state’s 4-H programs, formerly considered assistant agents in agriculture or home economics, became known as Extension agents for 4-H. In the 1990’s, that position was further refined to agent for “4-H youth development,” in a nod to the efforts agents make in targeting the growth of the “whole child.”
The position now known as Extension agent for family and consumer sciences has also evolved over the years.
When the Cooperative Extension Service was established in 1914, female agents were on the front lines, setting up “home economics” programs and girls’ canning clubs.
The county’s first home economics agent was Nancy Scrugham Beck, who served from February 1936 to June 1946.
The home ec agents, also known as home demonstration agents, became family and consumer sciences agents in January 1998.
The three agents, Bogle, Head and Jewell, joined by Phelps as EFNEP assistant, work together to share the work done by researchers at UK and its partner, Kentucky State University, with the community.
“We work really, really well together,” said Bogle. “I’ll put us up against anybody in our ability to work together and accomplish many things.
“When one of us is out of pocket, the other one steps up.”
Education is the key word in the Extension service’s mission.
And though its roots are purely agricultural, the Extension office’s services are targeted to the community as a whole.
Agents commonly meet visitors to the office who have never set foot on a farm field.
“It happens almost weekly,” said Bogle. “We have a lot of folks that are retired, and they come in the door and say ‘I’ve got 20 acres, what can I do with it?’”
As agriculture and natural resources agent, Bogle can offer advice to landowners on what to plant, how to landscape, and how to keep bugs and weeds away.
Jewell’s 4-H program offers a wealth of activities for school-aged children, from sewing to shooting sports.
Head’s FCS offerings run the gamut of family management, from tips and recipes for healthy eating to ways to save money — all things related to food, clothing and shelter.
As the local EFNEP assistant, Phelps reaches more than 5,500 families a year, promoting nutrition and education among both children and parents.
“She’s just expanded our program by leaps and bounds,” said Jewell.
The agents are out of their U.S. 62 headquarters as much as they are in, taking their information to farms, schools, housing complexes, fairs and more — essentially anywhere they are invited.
They rely on their support staff, Board and Hatler, to handle the questions and issues raised by callers and visitors in the agents’ absence.
“We couldn’t do anything without our ladies out front,” said Bogle. “They’re the unsung heroes of the Extension office.”
Each program area has its own advisory council, and a 30-member county Extension council helps agents develop and implement programs to meet the community’s needs.
Seven members from the council serve on a district board that governs the office’s finances and sets the Extension tax rate each year.
That tax, paid by county property owners, covers the cost of facility expenses and the office’s support staff.
The agents’ salaries are paid by the UK College of Agriculture.
Visitors are welcome to call the office at (270) 365-2787, drop by or visit http://ces.ca.uky.edu/Caldwell/, the office’s Web site, for more information.
“We are not selling a product,” said Bogle. “We are an unbiased form of information, and (people) are very glad to buy into that.”
• The Extension office is making plans to showcase its services to the community on a large scale during next year’s Kentucky Soybean Festival, scheduled in Princeton July 28-30. The festival, sponsored in part by the Extension office and the Kentucky Soybean Association, will include exhibits, farm tours and much more.
