Extension Out Loud

Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Paul Treadwell highlights the impact that CCE has on the daily lives of New Yorkers through engaging interviews with researchers, educators, and practitioners. These wide-ranging conversations explore agriculture, food systems, nutrition, sustainable energy, youth development and more.

Mastering tomato variety selection with Cornell’s Greg Vogel 02/09/2026

News Faces of Extension : Crystal Stewart Courtens 01/06/2026

Innovations in apple farming with CCE specialist Mario Miranda-Sazo 05/19/2025

A conversation with David Kay, Climate change and sustainable energy critical issue lead 12/09/2024

A conversation with David Kay, Climate change and sustainable energy critical issue lead In a rapidly evolving world, strengthening connections between the work done in Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) program areas across the state and the related research conducted at Cornell University has never been more crucial. This episode of Extension Out Loud is the first in a series introducing the purpose and potential impact of Critical Issue Leads. As defined by Andy Turner, director of CCE and associate dean in both the College of Agriculture & Life Sciences and Cornell Human Ecology, these campus appointments will function as central leaders and liaisons, cultivating guidance and vision while connecting diverse program areas. Featured in this episode is David Kay, senior extension associate in the Department of Global Development and newly appointed Critical Issue Lead for Sustainable Energy and Climate Change at Cornell Cooperative Extension. Kay highlights the contributions of CCE in addressing climate challenges, and the importance of dialogue-driven approaches to foster understanding and action. Across multiple departments and over 45 years at Cornell, Kay’s research and outreach focus on energy efficiency, sustainability, and innovative strategies that integrate climate action with education. In addition to his work on campus, Kay chairs the City of Ithaca’s Sustainability and Climate Justice Commission and the National Extension Climate Initiative. A cornerstone of Kay’s approach is effective communication. He believes that while the science of climate change is robust, real engagement comes from understanding community priorities and equipping people with knowledge to make informed decisions. By embedding climate change insights into diverse educational disciplines—ranging from agriculture to nutrition—CCE underscores its relevance across societal sectors. “If I want to be a good educator and communicate with someone, I'm going to find out what they care about the most and figure out what resources can I bring to the table that would help them make informed decisions.” - David Kay Programs like agrivoltaics, which integrate solar energy with agriculture, highlight the collaborative potential of research and community-based education. These initiatives bridge the gap between campus innovation and local application, reinforcing CCE’s mission to empower communities. Looking ahead, Kay envisions expanding such programs to strengthen positive collaboration between research, education, and local engagement. Kay’s vision highlights the importance of informed, community-centric strategies in addressing the multifaceted challenges of climate change. According to Kay combining research, dialogue, and education, will ensure that CCE continues to drive impactful change, fostering resilient and empowered communities in the face of climate challenges. /episode/index/show/extensionoutloud/id/34283315

Cornell insect expert breaks down potential impacts of Joro spider 07/01/2024

Cornell insect expert breaks down potential impacts of Joro spider The Joro spider, an arachnid that's been in the United States for years in some southern states, has been trending in the news lately as the next potentially invasive species to land in New York State. Some media hypes giant, venomous, flying spiders, but how concerned should we really be here in New York about their potential arrival? To address these questions Alejandro Calixto, Director of the New York State Integrated Pest Management Program at Cornell University joins this episode of Cornell Cooperative Extension’s ‘Extension Out Loud’ podcast. Calixto discusses the myths surrounding the Joro spider and the impacts of a changing climate on the spread of invasives. While large and venomous like many spiders, the Joro spider does not pose a direct threat to humans. "Every spider has venom, but their venom is primarily for capturing prey and defense, not for attacking humans," said Calixto. One common misconception Calixto addresses is the idea of Joro spiders flying into homes or attacking pets. While they can disperse using a technique called ballooning—where they release silk strands to catch the wind and travel—they do not have wings or parachutes and are not aggressive towards humans or pets. Calixto highlights concerns about the Joro spider potentially outcompeting native species like the golden silk weaver in habitats where they overlap. However, their slow dispersal rate means any effects would likely be gradual and localized. Focusing on more immediate concerns for New Yorkers, Calixto mentions the rise of pests like the spotted lanternfly and the increased activity of ticks due to milder winters. These changes underscore the importance of vigilance and proactive pest management strategies to mitigate potential impacts on agriculture and public health. To learn more about the Joro Spider and other invasive pests in New York State visit the /episode/index/show/extensionoutloud/id/31967722

Cornell dairy specialist shares latest on avian influenza in cattle 06/14/2024

Cooperative Extension celebrates 55 Years of empowering communities through EFNEP 06/03/2024

Cooperative Extension celebrates 55 Years of empowering communities through EFNEP A trip to the grocery store today is an exercise in balancing budget against nutritional need. For many community members, these calculations lead to decisions based on economy and convenience. For historically underserved populations, this process is complicated by issues of access and the expense of healthier choices. Addressing this challenge is the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP), whose goal is to help folks understand and maximize the impact of food dollars. Federally funded and present in every state and U.S. territory, EFNEP programs are delivered locally through the Cooperative Extension system. This year marks the 55th anniversary of EFNEP, a celebaration that highlights the importance of local partnerships in empowering communities to eat healthier. This episode of ‘Extension Out Loud’ focuses on the impacts of EFNEP through a conversation with Carol Parker, nutrition and health program leader and Cynthia Fouyolle, community nutrition educator for Cornell University Cooperative Extension New York City (CUCE NYC), which administers EFNEP programming in the Big Apple. I like to describe us as being rooted and planted in the neighborhood. The communities that we're working in are the communities that we've been working in for over 50 years. -Carol Parker Before becoming an community educator, Fouyolle was an EFNEP program participant. Her journey illustrates the success of the embedded approach to education that forms the core of nutrition education by CUCE NYC. One of the things about the program is not only the food preparation. It's not only the exercise. It's not only what they've been learning. It's the passion that we share with the participant. It's the respect. - Cynthia Fouyolle Parker and Fouyolle discuss EFNEP’s history, educational approaches, and significant impacts over 55 years. The conversation highlights the importance of partnerships with schools and community organizations, and the diverse linguistic and cultural adaptations in teaching methods. It also emphasizes the long-term behavioral changes and empowerment of participants. Learn more about /episode/index/show/extensionoutloud/id/31549872

Reconnecting with Nature: Revisiting Liberty Hyde Bailey’s ‘The Nature Study Idea’ 04/22/2024

Reconnecting with Nature: Revisiting Liberty Hyde Bailey’s ‘The Nature Study Idea’ In a world increasingly dominated by technology, fostering a connection with the natural world carries more weight than ever. This episode of ‘Extension Out Loud’ is a conversation with John Linstrom, who recently edited a new version of Liberty Hyde Bailey’s book, “The Nature Study Idea.” Bailey, a horticulturist, and educator, helped found the Cornell College of Agriculture, becoming dean of what was then known as New York State College of Agriculture. He believed that cultivating a relationship with nature was not just beneficial, but essential. Originally written for elementary school teachers, Bailey’s work laid the foundations for 4-H, emphasizing an experiential approach to engage youth in active learning . This new edition of the “Nature Study Idea” brings Bailey’s ideas to a new generation. “Bailey’s philosophical and literary writing is just so beautiful and grounded ,” Linstrom says. “I think it really speaks to his idea of the human place in the natural world, and to our current moment.” Linstrom argues that Bailey’s work, though written over a century ago, offers valuable insights that have been somewhat lost to environmental thought. Bailey’s concept of nature study goes beyond the accumulation of facts about plants and animals. The Nature Study Idea emphasizes the cultivation of a sense of wonder and empathy for the natural world. Linstrom suggests that Bailey’s concept of “sympathy with nature” is particularly relevant today, as environmental concerns continue to mount. Linstrom’s edited edition of “The Nature Study Idea” offers a timely reminder of the importance of reconnecting with nature. During our conversation, Linstrom explores Bailey’s philosophy, rooted in observation, curiosity, and empathy, revealing a valuable framework for environmental education in the 21st century. Visit /episode/index/show/extensionoutloud/id/30904473

New CCE director shares vision, appreciation, and hope 11/30/2023

New CCE director shares vision, appreciation, and hope After nearly 10 years as the New York State 4-H Director, Andrew Turner ’88, MPS ’98, is moving into a new role as Director for Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) beginning Dec. 1. In this episode of ‘Extension Out Loud,’ Turner shares his vision for moving the organization forward and his deeply personal connection to and appreciation for the CCE educators across the state who selflessly drive and embody CCE’s commitment to New York state communities. Turner was prepared for his new role by a lifetime of personal and professional experiences. A third-generation extension professional, Turner has led NYS 4-H since 2014, providing program leadership, professional development, and support for one of the largest and most diverse 4-H programs in the nation. Prior to that, he spent two years on campus as CCE assistant director for field operations and communications. However, it is Turner’s boots on the ground experience at the county level that he says has most prepared him for his role of director. That journey began in 1989 at CCE Rockland County where Turner worked as a 4-H educator for nine years before serving as executive director for CCE Greene County for 14 years. Turner says having experienced CCE at different organizational levels, as well as being a Cornell graduate, has had a profound impact on the way he views the reciprocal relationships between communities, local CCE educators, and extension faculty and researchers on campus. We're not information providers only, we're community builders. And that happens through collaboration and context and embracing diversity, finding a way to engage all the people. While appreciative of CCE’s rich history of serving New York communities, Turner also acknowledges the need for extension to adapt and embrace new ways of reaching people. Still, Turner emphasizes the importance of maintaining the human element as part of extension’s two-way exchange of ideas with communities. “We're not information providers only, we're community builders,” he said. “And that happens through collaboration and context and embracing diversity, finding a way to engage all the people.” Download the podcast to learn more about Turner’s perspective on the future of CCE and extension work as well as his deep admiration for the educators who drive and define CCE’s work across the state. Download the (pdf) /episode/index/show/extensionoutloud/id/28861473

CCE shares strategies for building a resilient future in ag 10/11/2023

CCE shares strategies for building a resilient future in ag The agricultural sector dealing with unprecedented challenges in the face of climate change. To shed light on the efforts being made to address these issues, Jenna Walczak, Ag Climate Resiliency Specialist for CCE’s Harvest New York team joined Cornell Cooperative Extension’s (CCE) ‘Extension Out Loud’ podcast for a conversation about helping farmers adapt to the changing climate and build resilience in their agricultural practices. “Adaptation is the actions that we are taking in response to a changing climate. On farms in New York State, that might mean things like improving water management or soil health to be able to better withstand drought or flooding.” In this episode, Walczak discusses climate vulnerabilities, strategies for adaptation, and the future landscape of farming in New York. While climate-related challenges affect the entire state, their intensity varies across regions. CCE’s work involves tailoring adaptation strategies to cater to the specific needs of each region, ensuring that farmers receive personalized support. Walczak underscores the significance of re-establishing connections within agricultural communities and fostering the exchange of knowledge and experiences among farmers. By building stronger social networks, farmers can collectively address climate challenges and enhance their resilience. “One thing that is important in the agricultural community in terms of building resilience is really developing and continuing to grow social networks.” CCE plays a pivotal role in bridging the gap between university research and agricultural stakeholders. Specialists like Walczak serve as conduits for translating scientific knowledge into practical applications on farms. Events like facilitate collaboration among extension agents, researchers, and farmers, enabling them to share ideas and collectively strive toward a more resilient future for agriculture. Links: (November 9, 2023) EpisodeTranscript: PAUL: Welcome to another episode of Extension Out Loud, a podcast from Cornell Cooperative Extension. I'm your host Paul Treadwell. For this episode, I sat down with Jenna Walczak:, the Ag climate resiliency specialist from Cornell Cooperative Extensions Harvest New York team. Our conversation focuses on the ever-evolving climate challenges confronting the agricultural sector in New York. We also discussed the work of Cornell Cooperative Extension in facilitating innovation and collaboration to support adaptation, and climate resiliency and agricultural practices. JENNA: My name is Jenna, and I am an Ag Climate Resiliency Specialist on the Cornell Cooperative Extension Harvest New York Team. PAUL: Welcome, Jenna. It's nice to meet you here. When we're looking at New York State, what are the main climate vulnerabilities farmers are currently facing? JENNA: So there are a number of vulnerabilities or what are referred to as climate risks that are outlined in a 2014 report that's often called the ClimAID Report, and some of these include things like temperature, extreme heat, and more frequent and longer heatwaves are definitely of concern and something we already been seeing. Another risk is related to precipitation. It's projected that in the coming decades we might be seeing more precipitation over the course of one year but that this precipitation will likely be falling in more extreme rainfall events where we're getting more than 1 or 2 inches in a 24-hour period. Some other kind of risks or roller abilities are related to increased instances of diseases and things like that, so possibly more generations of an agricultural pest in one season. PAUL: Given the fact that New York State is a large and geographically diverse State, do the climate vulnerabilities vary by region of the state, or is it pretty consistent across New York State? JENNA: I think it's likely fair to say that every region will be seeing changes as a result of climate change but that the extent of those kind of risks or vulnerabilities may be different slightly from one region to another in the state. But there are certain risks, things like sea level rise, that will be seen in the Hudson Valley or around New York City that won't be a problem in Central New York. PAUL: At the outset of our conversation, can you just talk a little bit about the difference between climate and weather? JENNA: Weather is often thought of as something that we are seeing from day to day in the shorter term sense while climate is the patterns that are happening over longer periods of time. PAUL: Playing this out theoretically, we could-- for the climate, we could be experiencing a wetter climate, but we could have weather events that are droughts? JENNA: Absolutely, absolutely, and I think an important piece related to that is with those climate projections that I was mentioning earlier that are outlined in the 2014 ClimAID Report is that along with that description of possible wetter years, more precipitation in one year, there's also likelihood or increased chance of short-term drought in the later summer. PAUL: In your role, you talk a lot about climate adaptation. Can you describe for us what climate adaptation means? What is it? What does it look like in practice? JENNA: Adaptation is the actions that we are taking in response to a changing climate, whether it is seeing more extreme precipitation or short-term drought or extreme heat. It's the actions that we're taking across the state and across sectors of the economy or particularly in agriculture to meet those challenges. So on farms in New York State, that might mean things like improving water management or soil health in order to be able to better withstand drought or flooding. For our perennial cropping and trees, cropping systems, that might mean things like hail netting to try to avert the worst impacts of those events. PAUL: How do you get the word out, and how do people begin to understand the challenges they're faces and then-- they're facing and then change their practices? Is there a particular method you have, or is there a better way to approach this work? JENNA: Yeah I think what I'll say from my experience in my role in this position for about a year and a half now is I've been working to-- working with fellow Extension agents and technical service providers and especially farmers and others working in the natural resource field across New York State to build a common knowledge and a common understanding of some of the things that we've been talking about today, what the impacts of climate change will look like in New York State, many of which we're already seeing, as well as what the practical and the adaptation actions and climate mitigation actions that farmers can take as well as citizens and community members. PAUL: So we know that farming is, at best, a dodgy business. It has a lot of risks and variabilities, whether it's crops or pests or livestock, financial issues. You throw the variable weather that we're experiencing into that. What are some of the fundamental things or fundamental practices that can be done to make a farm more resilient or more adaptable? JENNA: In terms of resilience and adaptation, there are a lot of practices related to improving soil health and generally on-farm, other practices related to things like on-farm energy efficiency. Or as I mentioned earlier, water management can also take a number of forms on-farm, yeah, and some of the practices do vary based on the type of cropping system going on at an individual farm. PAUL: You mentioned energy efficiency, and one thing this-- this is to the side of our main conversation, but one of the things that we're starting to see is the transition of some traditional agricultural land into solar farms. Can you talk a little bit about the trade-offs or the costs and benefits of taking some land and setting it aside for solar production? JENNA: New York State has pretty ambitious goals in terms of renewable energy production, and part of that is increasing the amount of solar energy. So there have been a lot of conversations going on about how to best locate solar panels and taking into account the fact that we have certain areas of New York State that are prime agricultural land or prime agricultural soils. So there are now a lot of people doing work on the best use or siting of our land, which is really great and really important work. But there's also a lot of exciting projects going on about co-locating solar agriculture through things like agrivoltaics. Solar grazing is something that is increasing in interest and awareness among farmers in Extension, and then there's also ideas about growing tree crops or perennial crops or other vegetable and agricultural crops under solar panels and a lot of really exciting work going on about that. PAUL: I just have to ask because it sounds so cool. Solar grazing-- is it as simple as having your goats or your cows out grazing in fields with elevated solar panels, or is it something else? JENNA: Oftentimes it's a sheep grazing under solar panels in New York State, and yeah, I've heard a little bit about different organizations working on training programs. There are specific challenges that I think one would face grazing animal [? grazing ?] area and solar panels related to maintenance and rotational grazing, grazing time, and things like that. And exciting to see the work being done there. PAUL: Yeah, and it just sounds so cool. But anyways, if we're looking at being climate-resilient or these adaptation practices, what support is available to help farmers or producers who are building resiliency and adaptation into their processes and practices? JENNA: For that education piece, there are county and regional team Extension agents across New York State working on a variety of climate-related topics, everything from silvopasture and agroforestry to rotational grazing, increasing soil health, you name it. There's a lot of expertise in New York State, so that's that educational piece. And then as farmers are interested in implementing specific projects on their farm, they are able to connect to either the Soil and Water Conservation District in their County for specific climate related grant programs as well as the Natural Resources Conservation Service in their region to connect to some of those federal funding programs as well. PAUL: To follow up on that, we have talked about educational and economic supports that are available. Is there support for farmers or producers who are coping with the social and emotional impacts of climate-related stressors? That's a whole other layer on top of the normal things. Do we have access to resources that will help them cope with that? JENNA: Yes. In New York State, we are very fortunate to have a New York FarmNet, which runs an awesome group of both farm business, financial, and then mental health consultants across New York State and working with farmers and able to provide assistance in everything from business planning, succession planning to on-farm stresses that farmers and farm families and farm service providers are facing, which definitely may be increasing or overlapping due to climate concerns. PAUL: So that leads me to a follow-up question that you personally and folks who are in positions like yours who are doing this work-- that it has a certain weight involved, a certain heaviness to the topic. How do you maintain your well being while you're dealing with this very heavy subject? JENNA: I would say during the work day definitely connecting to colleagues and others who are doing similar work or able to express and share the challenges. And then outside of that, I enjoy spending time outdoors, so whenever I can get outside, hiking or biking or sitting by the Hudson River, that's what I enjoy. PAUL: So in a prior conversation we had, we talked a little bit and we brushed on this topic of peer support amongst farmers in dealing with these things. Can you talk a little bit about that? JENNA: Absolutely. I think one thing that is important in the agricultural community in terms of building resilience is really developing and continuing to grow and develop social networks, so whether that's farmers meeting one another and learning from one another, collaborating on projects, or farmers connecting to service providers, whether that's local Extension agents or Soil and Water Conservation District, Natural Resources Conservation Service, or other agricultural nonprofits in the area. And I think everyone who's working in the agricultural field just being aware of the services, educational events, financial supports available to them, and I think that can help farmers especially be able to access resources to preemptively prevent any sort of climate-related challenges on-farm, or in the unfortunate event that they do face an extreme weather event that might cause damage on their farm, that they know who to turn to get help as soon as possible. PAUL: Yeah, and that, to me, is particularly interesting because that kind of calls back to-- the way things used to be, agricultural communities, farming communities used to be fairly tightly-knit, and there was a lot of-- I guess I would call it mutual aid that would happen amongst farmers. And so even under this-- due to the situation, but one of the positives is the reweaving of some of this connectedness we used to have in our agricultural communities. And so Jenna, I understand that there is a climate symposium coming up in November at the CCE Agricultural In-Service. Can you tell us a little bit about what that is and what's going to be discussed at the symposium? JENNA: Yeah, so on November 9, the last day of this year's in-service on Cornell's campus, we will have a climate symposium, and it's really geared towards all CCE Extension agents and county-based regional team as well as Cornell faculty and staffs and agricultural stakeholders across the state. And the goal is really for everyone to have a chance to meet one another and connect and share the climate-related programming and education and research that they're working on and hopefully from there, to be able to, again, develop networks and learn who our colleagues are who we can connect to for future projects and programming. It's really supposed to be a start of this sort of work. PAUL: So if I'm at home listening to this and I'm not associated with Cooperative Extension, if I'm a farmer who's curious, can I participate in the symposium? JENNA: Yes. The event is open to the public as well, and I should also mention that for the first kind of half of the day, there'll be a virtual option for attendees as well. PAUL: And how do people find out about this if they're interested? JENNA: There is information on the in-service website. PAUL: And we'll be sure to link to that in our show notes so that people can find that. One thing that just popped into my head as we were talking here is we have Cornell Cooperative Extension. You're out there doing the work. The in-service is happening, and that's on campus at Cornell. And you're going to have Cornell faculty and staff showing up. Can you talk about the relationship between the university and Extension and then how the benefits of university research might flow through you to our stakeholders? JENNA: Absolutely, yeah. So there is a lot of work going on, a lot of research being done on campus at Cornell related to mitigating climate change on agricultural and forested and working regions across New York State, and out on farms across New York State is where we're really seeing a lot of the impacts of climate change. And I think the role of Extension is to really connect those two, so to help express the needs of farmers and landowners in New York State to research being done at the university and vice versa to share that research being done at the university with farmers across the state. So it is really an exciting position to be in, yeah, to amplify that research and that work being done. PAUL: So I have two last questions for you here, and I'm going to ask the more pessimistic one. First, so what do you see as the biggest barriers to progress when we talk about climate adaptation and farms? JENNA: One barrier I would say is the fact that there is often a high cost to some kind of adaptation and mitigation projects, but the good news there is that there is a lot of funding available from both the state level in New York as well as from the federal level coming down from the USDA and the Natural Resources Conservation Service that is specifically geared to go to farmers to help them to implement climate mitigation and adaptation practices, so there's good news there. I'd say another challenge is the fact that there are a number of people or farmers, gardeners who are interested in having agricultural production systems that are sustainable and resilient but they don't yet have access to land and resources in order to be able to pursue those agricultural operations. PAUL: And just to follow up a little bit on the funding issue, how do people find out about funding that's available at the state or federal level? JENNA: It's great to have a conversation with your county Soil and Water Conservation District staff or the regional Natural Resources Conservation Service technicians in your area as well because there can be a number of steps you have to go to before you can apply for the grant programs. But then those service providers are able to help guide you through that process. PAUL: So my final question for you, on a more upbeat note, is, in the realm that you're working in climate and resiliency and adaptation, what makes you hopeful for the future? JENNA: A couple of things. I would say one of the things that gives me hope is the youth engagement in climate and environmental issues and in all the energy. Yeah, definitely a lot of hope there. And another is the community-based organizations and programs that are already at work on climate issues across New York State and leading the charge /episode/index/show/extensionoutloud/id/28278626

CCE Broome commercial kitchen helps local chefs share the sweetness 09/13/2023

CCE Broome commercial kitchen helps local chefs share the sweetness Chef Chantay Skrine is dicing onions for her collard greens. Skrine, owner of Sweetay’s LLC in Binghamton, N.Y., is at work in a shared commercial kitchen on the campus of Cornell Cooperative Extension Broome County. The past two years have been demanding, but her presence here signals a major step in the growth of her food-based business. “Being able to utilize the kitchen here at the CCE has been awesome because I'm able to work with some amazing people.”- Chantay Skrine This episode of Cornell Cooperative Extension's ‘Extension Out Loud’ podcast charts Chantay's journey from home to commercial kitchen and beyond. Amy Willis, Food Systems Project Coordinator, and Katie Matsushima, Food Development Specialist, of CCE Broome County join the conversation to talk about the full range of support her team provides to help Southern Tier chefs successfully scale up a food-based business. “We always like to say, ‘What do you want to make? Do you have a business plan?’ We always just try to take a second to make sure that we can understand the bigger picture,” says Matsushima. The bigger picture often includes licensing and legal requirements. Combined with a scarcity of available commercial kitchens in Broome County, successfully navigating this landscape requires support and guidance. “You start at home you grow, develop a base, customers. you start developing those smaller pieces. And then it's time to really scale” -Amy Willis CCE Broome County offers a unique environment to support home processors who are ready to scale up production. The commercial kitchen is adjacent to the farmer's market. This means that fresh, local produce is available to aspiring chefs. Combined with CCE staff who can help navigate the many challenges facing small food-based businesses the odds of making a successful transition are dramatically increased. Download /episode/index/show/extensionoutloud/id/27978972

CCE's South Lawn Project: transitional jobs program cultivates opportunity. 06/15/2023

Aravelle: the extension story behind Cornell's newest grape variety 05/18/2023

Poultry in peril: CCE experts discuss avian influenza, backyard chickens and biosecurity. 03/30/2023

Poultry in peril: CCE experts discuss avian influenza, backyard chickens and biosecurity. Links to resources mentioned in the episode: Episode Transcript: Nancy Glazier:I'm Nancy Glazier. I am the small farms and livestock specialist on one of the regional teams for Cornell Cooperative Extension, the Northwest New York Dairy, Livestock, and Field Crops Team. And I've been with the team roughly 24 years. Speaker: Great to have you join us, Nancy. And Amy? Amy Barkley: Hi there. My name is Amy Barkley. I am the livestock and beginning farm specialist for the Southwest New York Dairy, Livestock, and Field Crops Program. So I'm essentially Nancy's counterpart in the Southwest Region of the state. I've been with Extension for about three years. But prior to coming to Extension, I worked in the commercial poultry industry. Speaker: Well, it's great to have you both here. And, Amy, it's really good to have your deep experience with poultry because today we're going to talk about avian influenza. It has jumped up in the news again. So I was just curious, what is the current, as of March 24, 2023, when we're recording this, what's the current status of avian influenza here in New York State and then across the nation? Amy Barkley: So as of March 24, 2023, we are up to 17 confirmed cases in domestic flocks and kept wild flocks of birds in the state of New York. Additionally, we have seen about a little over 300 cases in wild birds. And when we compare this to the national average, we have seen over 58 million birds infected with avian influenza across the nation and many thousands of birds affected from the wild bird populations. Right now, we're looking at a pretty even split between backyard birds and commercial birds. And we expect that split to continue going forward. Speaker: So avian influenza, are there different strains of it? And what is the current strain that is giving us concern? Nancy Glazier: Avian influenza has been around for a very long time. In normal years-- and we're in an abnormal stretch right here. Normal years, there may be the low-pathogenic strains that are around. But we've gotten into this highly pathogenic avian influenza, H5N1. And the outbreak actually started just a little over a year ago, with the first flock identified at the end of February, 2022 in New York. Through the wild bird migrations, that's when we've had the uptick in cases. And so now we're just kind of gearing up that spring migration. You look up in the skies and the wild geese, whether the Canadian geese or the snow geese, are out and about with some ducks and other waterbirds. So that's what's transporting the disease around right now. Speaker: It's not just chicken flu. Nancy Glazier: No. Speaker: So it really is more-- birds are affected across the board. Is that correct? Songbirds? Amy Barkley: For the most part. So most of the infections that we're seeing are in wild waterfowl populations, as had Nancy mentioned. We are also seeing with this particular outbreak a huge number of wild raptors that are affected. And they're likely affected because they're preying on those sick and dead birds that they're finding in their wild habitats so that they can sustain themselves. We're also seeing some of these outbreaks in corvids, such as crows and ravens. And, again, we think it's because they're feasting on some of these wild bird carcasses. Speaker: We've mentioned wild birds and flocks of chickens. Are mammals susceptible to H5N1? Nancy Glazier: We have had some mammals that have been diagnosed with avian influenza. And I think those populations primarily in New York has been the red fox. And there was a skunk. And there was actually a captive leopard at the Syracuse Zoo that was diagnosed and died. I think those wild animals are feasting on those carcasses that they find out in the fields. So it's a heavy dose of the virus that's impacting them. Speaker: So just to get this question out of the way, for us upright bipedal mammals wandering around, it's really not a concern that is going to infect us at this point, is it? Nancy Glazier: Not at this time. I think in the countries where people live with their chickens, there's a little bit more of a risk. And there has been less than a handful of human cases. But we all should practice biosecurity with our chickens, clean boots, all those things that we do. We should be experts at that right now, Paul, with just the sanitation and working through COVID. It's wash your hands, cover your cough, and all those practical things. And one of my taglines over the years has been don't kiss your chicken. Amy Barkley: I'll second that. Speaker: Is that a thing? Is that a social media thing? Or is that a thing people have been-- Amy Barkley: Oh, it is. Oh, it is. I mean, cute, cuddly chicks? I mean, what more would you want them to put them up to your face and give them a kiss? Speaker: Uh, that's not my first impulse. [laughter] So, Nancy, I just want to flip back. When you say a handful of cases, you're talking a handful of cases worldwide, right? Nancy Glazier: Worldwide, yeah. I don't have the number on that exactly, but-- Speaker: Yeah, but New York State, we haven't had any infected human beings? Nancy Glazier: No, no. Speaker: OK. Good. If I have a small flock in my backyard, if I have half a dozen chickens, what are some of the symptoms-- well, I guess this goes beyond just half a dozen chickens. In general, what are the symptoms to look for? And how do you assess whether your flock is healthy or not? Amy Barkley: That's a really great question. So with chickens, turkeys-- and when I say "chickens," I mean both meat chickens and egg-laying chickens-- the hallmark symptom is death without any other sign. When this disease gets itself ramped up in a flock, it'll kill off a flock in about 24 to 48 hours of those particular species. The other hallmark that we see is depressed appetite, maybe sneezing among the whole bird population, bluing of the waddles or the comb of the bird. And we'll also see decreased egg production. So perhaps you have chickens that are producing an egg a day. You go out into the coop tomorrow, there are absolutely no eggs to be found. That is a sign that something might be cooking. And it might be highly pathogenic avian influenza. I do want to make a point that waterfowl are the main carriers of this disease, in part because they survive it a little bit better than some of our other domestic poultry species. So they may be sick and you might not know. You might have some mortality, but it won't be as dramatic as it is with chickens or turkeys. Speaker: So backyard ducks aren't going to evidence in the same way that backyard chickens are. Amy Barkley: Right. Speaker: If you notice one bird is evidencing these symptoms, can you pull that bird out of the flock and will the rest of the flock be safe? Or is it if one bird is infected, it just sort of is a given that they're all infected? Amy Barkley: Yeah, so this disease transfers through your respiratory secretions and fecal secretions primarily. So if you have one bird that is sick with this disease in your flock and you go to isolate it, it's not going to help anything. All the birds in your flock will end up succumbing in one way or another. There's typically no recovery period. And that time of decreased health into death is very quick. Speaker: So what happens when an infected flock is found? What are the procedures that are followed? Nancy Glazier: As extension educators, we've gotten over the years the sick bird question. When it's one out of a flock, it's not a big deal. But when there tends to be a significant number, that's when it tends to be a serious issue. And the best resource to reach out to is New York State Ag and Markets. And they'll send out a veterinarian and come and assess the situation. They'll sample. They'll have it sent off for testing. And they, actually, if it's a suspect case, they'll send it off for double testing, to make sure that it's actually highly pathogenic avian influenza. And then, unfortunately, the only control method we have at this time is complete depopulation of the flock. Amy Barkley: And when Nancy says "complete depopulation," that means every single bird on a farm premises will be depopulated. They will be humanely euthanized. Speaker: If I have two chicken coops and they're 500 yards apart, if one is infected, they're all going to go? Amy Barkley: Correct. Speaker: After that happens, what are the biosecurity procedures you have to go through to make sure that you can then have chickens again without the virus spreading to them? Nancy Glazier: There has to be a pretty thorough cleaning and disinfecting of the premises. And then they need to be empty for 30 days if it's a barn or structure. If they're out, pastured birds or out in the yard, the recommendation is 180 days of no birds back on the farm. If this is a tough time of year for the virus to be killed because we haven't had the nice, sunny, warm days to kill the virus in the environment-- so if a farm does pastured poultry for a business, you think that could pretty much wipe out their whole season of pastured poultry. We've been really promoting the prevention-- keep your birds in and in a covered structure, keep your boots clean, no visitors. Some of those general practices are good for any situation, but they're really critical right now. Speaker: We talked about what happens when a flock is infected. And, Nancy, you mentioned a little bit about how do you keep a flock safe. But what are, just laying out methodically, what are the procedures to keep your flock safe? What are the biosecurity protocols you should have in place? Nancy Glazier: It's great to have a dedicated pair of boots for when you enter your chicken house or whatever your bird facilities. Contain the manure on them and not track that across the yard. And on the other side of that, you don't want to track in any wild bird manure into your birds. So really, it's an excellent idea to keep a dedicated pair of boots. Don't allow visitors. Watch out right now for any bird swaps, trading. Some of those things can raise issues. Ag and Markets, they're the ones that kind of set the limits on some of those operations right now. Keep your hands clean. Even if you want to wear disposable gloves can help with just that cleanliness. Keep traffic down as much as you can. If you're kind of a commercial type operation, you really want to limit the visitors. So, Amy, what else am I missing? Amy Barkley: Nancy, I think you got a big part of that. I think the only other thing I would add is if you're planning on running your birds outside, a lot of folks that raise pastured broilers raise them in what we call chicken tractors, which are essentially open-air pens that are moved across a field once a day or multiple times a day. We recommend that those folks who are raising broilers in that manner be really conscientious of where they're placing those chicken tractors over the course of the season, so making sure that when they first place those tractors, they're not in areas that wild birds frequent or have frequented at least 180 days prior and that once the broilers are out on pasture that those wild birds are not coming in and mingling or flying over or interacting with those birds in those pens. Speaker: [inaudible] Well, I have to ask, is there a vaccine? I mean, is there a magic bullet folks can rely on for this? Nancy Glazier: There is a vaccine. But it can impact our trade with our international partners. I think Amy is our better expert on that one if she wants to elaborate a little bit. Amy Barkley: I'll elaborate to the best of my knowledge. So Nancy's right. So there is a vaccine. But should we use it, it would essentially create a state where the virus exists still in the United States. It's just controlled with the vaccine. So that's why it impacts our trade partners. And because of that, we don't have permission to use it here in the United States on our flocks. Speaker: So what about backyard bird feeders? I know-- and, again, I might be misremembering, but I remember a few years ago there was this call for people to take their backyard bird feeders in because they were concerned about avian influenza. Is that a concern at this point? Amy Barkley: This is a really difficult question because the reality is we aren't testing songbirds as frequently as we're testing raptor mortality and wild waterfowl, both mortality and as regular checks. So we don't really know the extent of avian influenza in our songbird populations. What we do know is that some songbirds can carry it. And we also know that the communication of wild songbirds with wild waterfowl and then potentially in communication with kept birds can spread the virus from those two populations. So if you have poultry at home or if your neighbors have poultry, it's probably a good idea to take them down, just until-- at least until the spring migration is over. We might have another chance for this virus to dissipate in the summer, kind of like what we saw last year. But at this time of year, the risk is really high. And so if you don't have kept poultry at home, it's probably not going to help a whole lot. If you have kept poultry at home, it's another layer that you can provide a protection to your flocks. Speaker: So what about hunting? Is that OK? Nancy Glazier: Turkey season will be starting up in a month and a half or so. But for the most part, there isn't risks. Hunters are always looking for those healthy birds anyways. But it would be wise if they see a mass die-off of any of the waterfowl to report that to the DEC. Speaker: So is that New York State DEC or US United States DEC? Nancy Glazier: Yes, yes, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Speaker: If you have a flock and it is infected and you have to euthanize those birds, is there a reimbursement program? Is there any? Because the economic hit, I would imagine, could be pretty huge on your operations. So are there any supports for farmers who have to go through this process? Amy Barkley: There is some money set aside by the federal government to reimburse flock owners for the population of their flocks. And the way that that works is when Ag and Markets is called out to your farm, they will assess how many live birds are still on the premise. That live bird number is going to be the basis for payment. The payments are typically not going to cover the true costs of the bird. They're just to kind of offset some of that financial hit that producers and backyard flock owners will receive from the flock depopulation. The challenge with this currently is that this particular outbreak is the largest domestic animal health disease outbreak in the history of the United States. It's unprecedented. There is not enough money in the coffers to pay every single person the full value that had been assessed originally. So right now there's a lot of talk about how these funds are going to end up getting paid out and how much they're going to end up being. And there's just a lot of questions right now. I don't know the payment rate. We're not privy to that. And that's something that will have to be discussed one-on-one with flock owners and Ag and Markets. Speaker: For those of us in New York State, we go to New York State Ag and Markets. But let's suppose somebody from Pennsylvania is listening. Is there an equivalent Pennsylvania Ag and Markets that they would report to? Is that pretty much universal across the United States? Nancy Glazier: There is. And there's also at the federal level, there's the USDA Animal Plant Health-- Amy Barkley: --Inspection Service. Nancy Glazier: --Inspection Service. Thank you very much. I was trying to bypass that acronym, APHIS. And they work at the national level. They'll come in and oversee the depopulation with Ag and Markets. But they're available as well to field calls and questions. Speaker: So if anybody in New York State has concerns or thinks they might have a backyard chicken flock that's infected, their go-to contact is Ag and Markets? Nancy Glazier: Yes. Speaker: All right. We'll link to their resources in the podcast description so people can have access to that. Amy Barkley: In 2014 and 2015 was when we had our last avian influenza outbreak. That outbreak essentially ran itself out in six months. And part of that was due to the increased killing of the virus because of the temperature and solar radiation associated with summer. Last year we didn't see that happen with this virus, even though it's still an H5N1. We don't know what the timeline is for this virus. It could peter out the summer. It could get worse. We just don't know. And so we have to be prepared for anything. /episode/index/show/extensionoutloud/id/26380479

Sowing the seeds of success: tips for smart seed selection 03/06/2023

Sowing the seeds of success: tips for smart seed selection Links to Resources from this episode: (Word document download) Episode Transcript: PAUL TREADWELL: Welcome to Extension Out Loud, a podcast from Cornell Cooperative Extension. I'm Paul Treadwell. And it's that time of year. Seed catalogs have arrived. The days are slowly getting longer. And we look, with longing and hope, to our backyards, anticipating the day when we can finally plant the first seeds of the season. And so many seeds to choose from, as we flip through the pages and browse websites-- a cornucopia of potential boundless in its diversity and promise. Knowing what seeds to choose can feel overwhelming. But to help us sort through the options and decipher the nuance of growing zones, soil types, and more, I'm joined by Stephen Stresow of Cornell's Garden-Based Learning program. We talk about a number of resources that can help you plan and plant your garden, so be sure to check the show notes for links to those resources. And Stephen, if you could just introduce yourselves to our audience and let them know a little bit about you. STEPHEN STRESOW: Hello, everybody. My name is Stephen Stresow. I am a master's student here at Cornell University working with the Cornell Garden-Based Learning and Cornell Small Farms program. A lot of my research focuses on sustainable vegetable management. I should mention I study plant science. So it's really fun to go from the morning lectures on molecular biology and how plants think and do what they do and then to do some of the more community outreach-based things with these different programs at Cornell-- so really has the best of both worlds. PAUL TREADWELL: Great to have you join us. We're here today to talk a little bit because it is that time of year when we start thinking about seeds, just wanted to get some basic information about seeds and selecting seeds for your garden. I know that seed catalogs have started to show up. And if you flip open any random seed catalog, you're going to be-- I find myself both dazzled and overwhelmed by the selections. So I have a seed catalog that has, what, 50-some odd different varieties of tomatoes. So if I'm getting ready to think about starting my garden, what are some of the key things to look for when I'm looking at different kinds of seeds? Can I ask that question? STEPHEN STRESOW: Yes. That is a great question. And I too find myself overwhelmed a lot of times. And I have a multipronged answer. One, it's a great question, as part of my master's work is taking a lot of these different information, varieties, then putting them into a seed catalog just for New York state for New York gardeners so they can select varieties that have already been tested-- tried and true. The second part is it's all about right plant, right place. What makes a good variety in upstate New York is going to be different from what makes a good variety in Georgia or in Texas or in California. So one of the first things that you want to think of is your space-- your actual garden-- because there's some varieties that are going to grow really great in containers as opposed to directly in the ground. And that could just be for space requirements. That could just be some plants are smaller and more compact. So that's the first thing you want to think of. And then the second thing that you want to think of is your garden itself. Not just the space, but how much shade do you get? How much sun do you get? On those seed packets, does it say that this plant must have a trellis, or that you have to do anything special with it? And if you're a beginning gardener, you might not want to have to deal with trellising your bean plant. So if you don't have that much time, you might want to go with a bush variety instead of a pole variety-- same thing with tomatoes. And on that note with space, that goes on choosing the plants that you personally like to eat. If you don't like hot peppers-- you don't like jalapenos-- why would you want to grow them? And then portioning space in your garden-- if you want to grow corn, that's great. Corn takes up a lot of space in that garden. I know this answer is a lot of things that depend on the garden, and we haven't even got into the plant themselves. So I promise we'll get there in a moment. [LAUGHTER] Another thing you want to think of is on that note of personal preferences is, maybe, novelty. I personally like growing varieties that might be hard to find at the grocery store. It might be hard to find at the farmer's market. One variety that comes to mind is lemon cucumbers. Most people haven't heard of lemon cucumbers. And they are a variety of cucumber, then the fruit looks like little tennis balls. And they're super delicious-- this nice, mild cucumber flavor. This nice beige-yellow color. And so I love to grow that because I can't buy that anywhere. So gardening is also a lot about these personal preferences. And then the last thing, which is on the personal side of thing-- not necessarily in the plant-- is the end use, if you're going to grow one of those 50, 70 varieties of tomatoes, do you want to grow a slicing tomato? Do you want to grow something that you're going to can? Or if you think of cucumbers, the cucumbers that are really good for slicing in salads are different than the cucumbers that are really good for pickling. So you want to have this end use in mind. And once you go through all of those factors, that trims down the list of what you can grow pretty significantly. And what I like to do, personally, to decide once I've gone through all those maybe external constraints, is go to the Cornell gardening website, print out the recommended varieties list, and then go by crop. When I'm deciding, I can look at the seed catalog. So if you're in a store, it's really easy. Or whatever seed catalog supplier you pick, you can also have that sheet next to you. And you go, OK, I want to grow kale. The Cornell recommended variety list says these handful of kale varieties are good. This store has it in stock, so I'm going to buy it. And that's how I'd personally shop for my seeds. PAUL TREADWELL: Yeah the Vegetable Varieties for Gardeners guide is really useful in narrowing down the range of things. Even with that, when you look at a packet of seeds, you pick up a packet of seeds and you flip it over. And on the back, there can be this vast encyclopedia of information that-- I don't know if I'm atypical, but I don't have my growing zone memorized. And maybe people who are serious gardeners know this. But if you're just starting out in gardening, how do you start to make sense of things like growing zones and whether or not a seed is heirloom seed or an organic seed? Does it all come down to, I feel better growing organic, so I'm going to do that? Or how do you make sense of a seed package? [LAUGHS]. STEPHEN STRESOW: Oh, no, that's a great question. Even as someone who studies this, it can be very confusing at the time. First off, I would start off with a lot of people, when they think of organic, they might think of non-GMO, GMOs. And for all your listeners out there, GMOs are not something you have to worry about in the context of gardening, because no company is going to make the investment to make a genetically engineered carrot or basil. PAUL TREADWELL: Oh, really? STEPHEN STRESOW: Right now in the United States, there's maybe about a dozen crops that are actually genetically modified that have been approved for market. So even if they don't have a USDA organic or certified non-GMO label on it, if you're buying out the garden center, it's not genetically engineered because nobody's made a genetically engineered version of that crop. So that's the confusion that a lot of people have that maybe us plant scientists haven't a good job of explaining to the public. And then to that next question, so why you might want to choose an organic-certified seed versus non-organic seed. And that really comes down to how that seed is produced. If a seed is certified organic, it's produced under organic conditions. So if you are going to be managing your garden organically without a lot of these herbicides or pesticides, or even it can be a small organic farmer or organic farmer having a certified-organic seed, it was bred and produced in conditions that might be more similar to what you're going to be doing in your garden as opposed to non-certified organic seeds. That's really what it comes down to. Another thing you can look for is seed producers in your area. There's a handful of new seed companies who are breeding seeds specifically for, say, New York's climate as opposed to Florida, Georgia, or California, just because we have differences. And then heirloom and open pollinated are the next two things that you might find on the seed packet. Every heirloom seed is open pollinated, but not necessarily every open-pollinated seed is heirloom. And what heirloom-- that's not a word that we hear a lot. So I think of it as heirloom is an old-timey word for old-timey varieties. PAUL TREADWELL: [LAUGHS]. STEPHEN STRESOW: It's varieties that maybe have been grown 100 years ago, 50 years ago. They stay around because they have one trait, one flavor, one component that's really unique. We hear a lot in tomatoes. Heirloom tomatoes tend to be delicious. But they don't look like what you see in the supermarket because the supermarket have been bred to be shipped across the country to store well-- to hold up in the refrigerator. So that's what heirloom means. And then open pollinated is that you can go in your backyard, and you can hand pollinate. You can wind pollinate. The bees can pollinate it. And you will get fruit from it. And that's different from what we also see is hybrids. So hybrids are completely natural. I think it's a term that confuses a lot of people. And all that a hybrid seed means is that you took two plants, and through natural plant selection processes you make a new variety. So say, parent one is really high-yielding. And then parent two is really disease resistant. So you cross those two plants, and then you get that F1 hybrid that-- knock on wood-- hopefully has the best traits of both. And so hybrids are great-- all natural. The only problem with-- in air quotes-- with hybrids is when you save seeds from hybrids, they won't come what's called "true to type." So you won't be getting the seeds from that plant you grew. You're going to be getting seeds that you have no idea what those genetics are going to look like. So if you're growing a hot pepper, and you want to have a hot pepper, maybe that hybrid that you save-- those spicy genes don't come out, or vice versa. You might be growing a sweet pepper, and then some spicy gene-- some hot pepper gene that's been dormant all these seasons-- pops up. So I would not recommend saving hybrid seeds. PAUL TREADWELL: OK, yeah. So if you're looking at seed saving, which is something I remember when I was growing up. I remember my grandfather would save his bean seeds and things like that. You could save hybrid seeds, but you're going to-- well, that's going to be a surprise garden then if you're saving hybrid seeds because you don't know what you're going to get next year, right? STEPHEN STRESOW: Correct. Correct-- surprise garden. Good surprises, bad surprises. PAUL TREADWELL: Yeah, I mean, depending on how fussy you are. I just want to go back to the organic seed thing for a quick second. Even if I buy all organic seeds, I can immediately make them non-organic by treating them with pesticides or things like that, right? STEPHEN STRESOW: Yes. So USDA organic is a very strict certification process to have something USDA-certified organic. So you can have that seal-- sell it by the seal-- that little logo that you see. There's all this paperwork. There's steps that you have to do. You have to transition your land from non-organic to organic. It's a robust national program to make sure that anything you buy that has that label meets the specific set of regulations. As a gardener who's growing stuff for home use or to share with your family, you can grow stuff organically-- use organic practices. But that seed that you sell, because you're not following the USDA national organic guidelines, you're not having an inspector come inspect your facilities. You can't sell it using that USDA logo. That doesn't mean that the crop that you're growing because it doesn't have that certification, which most people use to enter different markets to get a higher price for it, that there's anything wrong with that seed. It's just you're not paying for that label. PAUL TREADWELL: Right. So another thing on the back of seed packages that I know that I experience a lot is I will become very enthusiastic when this sort of weather starts happening. And I'll go and I'll buy a bunch of seeds. And they're all marked-- I'm buying seeds this year. They're for the planting season 2023. Do seeds expire? Do the seeds that I bought for this year-- can I not plant those next year? What is the downside? STEPHEN STRESOW: So it goes back to a conversation about surprises. So most seeds, you also might see on a seed packet-- it says germination percentage 90%, 95%-- really high numbers. And that means that 95% of those seeds in those packets are going to germinate. And that number holds true for about a year. And then every year after that, especially depending on how the seeds are stored, you're going to see a decline in those germination rates. So if you're a farmer-- you're growing stuff for production-- you definitely don't want to gamble. Are 10% of my seeds going to germinate? Are 70% of my seeds going to germinate? So that's why most people buy seeds year after year. Some of those seed packets will definitely survive two years, maybe three years. But it's really up to how much risk you're going to take. I know when COVID first hit, I'm back home. We're pulling seeds out of the garage. And some packets, everything germinates and it's fine. Other packets, absolutely nothing popped up. So waiting longer than a year for seeds that you've saved just introduces a lot more of that unknown variability. So it's 100% up to you as a gardener. Some tips first-- if you're going to store those seeds, you want to store them in a paper container because moisture and seeds, when you don't want them to germinate, is bad because then they could get moldy and just all die. A lot of people will store them in the refrigerator. And if you are like my parents-- and I have taken over the refrigerator to put in tulip bulbs and all these other non-immediately edible items-- and you can't store them in the fridge, just keep them in a dry cool place away from light. A cupboard or a pantry is pretty good for most people. PAUL TREADWELL: We have growing zones. STEPHEN STRESOW: Yes. PAUL TREADWELL: And I know, even in New York state, isn't there variation in the growing zones? Or am I misreading the maps? STEPHEN STRESOW: Oh, you are 100% correct. Yeah, growing zones in New York and in many states are very different. Long Island-- well, I guess, first I should explain to the audience that a growing zone is defined as the average minimum temperature. So a lower growing zone means that it's a lot colder from where you're from. And then a warmer growing zone is your average minimum temperature is a lot higher. So we have growing zones in Long Island is going to be very different from a place closer to the Adirondacks. And growing zones are really important if you're growing perennial species because that tells you if a perennial species like a tree or a blueberry bush is only suited for a particular growing zone. Then you don't want to grow a thing that's only hardy to zone 5 in zone 3 or zone 4 because come winter, it's just going to freeze and it's not going to make it unless you have a greenhouse or some plan to come up with that. But what's also really important, which a lot of people focus a lot in growing zones, is first frost date and last frost date. So your last frost date will be that time in April and May-- maybe even June-- that the risk of frost is still there. So we might even have some warm days in April. But if your last frost date is, say, May 15-- like it is in Ithaca-- you wouldn't want to plant something like tomatoes or eggplants that have no frost tolerance before that last frost date because even if you have a warm spell of weather, that risk of frost can come in and wipe out your garden. You might be able to plant kale, lettuce, some things that are a little bit frost tolerant. And shout out to Extension websites. For each county in New York you're in, your local Extension office will have a planting calendar. So it'll have different crops that you can plant come April or different plants you can plant in May. And they also have these things called last planting date, which means that's the last time you can plant that crop and get a reasonable harvest off of it because then the first frost of the year comes in. And maybe that first frost is first week of September. Maybe it's an unseasonably warm year when you get it to October. That goes back to something that is important when selecting seeds is knowing your growing zone-- knowing your first frost date, your last frost date. If you're up in the Adirondacks, you might not want to choose a variety that has 100-120 days to maturity. That might be great if you're in Long Island, somewhere that's a little bit warmer. But you could be running into either ends. You might not have a long enough growing season. So that days-to-maturity is one of those inherent seed characteristics that you might want to look out for, too. PAUL TREADWELL: If you take this seriously, you really need to sit down and map these things out, don't you, to effectively plant a garden that's going to give you the maximum satisfaction, I guess, is one way of saying it. STEPHEN STRESOW: Exactly. And that's why I recommend using those Extension resources and having those calendars because it's easier to look at them and say, don't plant these crops by this date. And you'll have a couple of days variation. Maybe last frost is earlier by a week, later by a week. But it gives you some guidelines that I find personally really helpful. PAUL TREADWELL: In looking at growing zones and first and last frost dates, I don't think I'm alone in noticing that we're starting to have some erratic behavior in our weather. How often are these growing zones updated and changed? Is climate change having an impact on our growing zone? Or is it have we not had enough time of this unsettled weather pattern to really factor it into how we plant our seeds? STEPHEN STRESOW: Yeah. So climate change is definitely affecting growing zones. But the thing you have to remember with growing zones is that it's an average-- of the average minimum temperature. So if we have one unseasonably warm year, that might be balanced out, quote unquote, by an "unseasonably cold year." So that average isn't changing. The last time the growing zones were updated was in 2012. So it's been about a decade. And that just goes because to update it annually for all those places in the country just doesn't make any sense, especially since you want to have a pretty long time to get those consistent, average datas. But yeah, we definitely see places are getting warmer, even if that's not reflected in a growing zone or last frost date/first frost date. But that's the thing with erratic weather and why it's important to still look at those historical averages of when your last-- when your first frost is-- because even a warm year might, all right, we haven't had a frost since mid-April. And this calendar says May 15. But to plant anything, you run into that risk that, historically, frosts have happened to that date. But I'm right up there with you. It is a lot warmer. I'm from Texas myself. And yes, those summers are very, very warm. [LAUGHTER] PAUL... /episode/index/show/extensionoutloud/id/26117865

CCE, NY FarmNet helping farmers confront mental health challenges 01/23/2023

CCE, NY FarmNet helping farmers confront mental health challenges For this episode of Extension Out Loud I’m joined by three guests who are active in a new program focusing on mental health on the farm. Farmers faces several complicating factors that create mental health stressors – long work hours, volatile commodity prices and lack of access to mental health resources being serval of these factors. New statistics from the CDC reveal a startling truth about agricultural work, with suicide rates for farmers and other agricultural workers at 36 per 100,000, making agricultural work one of the highest ranked occupations at risk. My guests - Nicole Tommell , an agricultural business specialist with Cornell Cooperative Extension, Kendra Janssen of Farmnet, and Becky Wiseman a clinical social worker and consultant for Farmnet explain the roots of this crisis and the new Farmer First Aid program and its train the trainer model. Before we jump in, a quick note on the contents of this episode. Throughout our conversation we discuss depression and suicide. Listener discretion is advised. Links Episode Transcript PAUL TREADWELL: Welcome to Extension Out Loud, a podcast from Cornell Cooperative Extension. I am Paul Treadwell. And for this episode, I'm joined by three guests who are active in a new program focusing on mental health on the farm. Farmers face several complicating factors that create mental health stressors, long work hours, volatile commodity prices, and lack of access to mental health resources being several of these factors. New statistics from the CDC reveal a startling truth about agricultural work, with suicide rates for farmers and other agricultural workers at 36 per 100,000, making agricultural work one of the highest ranked occupations at risk. My guests, Nicole Tommell, an agricultural business specialist with Cornell Cooperative Extension, Kendra Janssen of FarmNet, and Becky Wiseman, a clinical social worker and consultant for Farm Net, explain the roots of this crisis, and the new Farmer First Aid program, and it's train the trainer model. Before we jump in, a quick note on the contents of this episode. Throughout our conversation, we discussed depression and suicide. Listener discretion is advised. NICOLE TOMMELL: Hi, everyone. My name is Nicole Tommell. I am the Central New York dairy, livestock, and field crops team farm business management specialist. I'm also the team lead. And we cover eight counties, from Madison County to Saratoga County. PAUL TREADWELL: Thank you Nicole. And Kendra? KENDRA JANSSEN: Yeah. I'm Kendra Janssen with FarmNet. So I'm the office administrator here. So we are offering these mental health first aid courses for free to New York State agricultural communities. And I help organize all this, and pilot them, and get these trainers out there and ready to instruct. PAUL TREADWELL: Hey, Kendra. Just for my benefit, can you tell me a little bit about FarmNet? KENDRA JANSSEN: FarmNet is a unique program. We offer free financial and family consulting to New York State's agricultural producers. So if you're a farmer in New York State, we offer financial business analysis. We help with business transfers, succession planning. And then we also help with the stress management side of things and family side of things, communicating. So it's a unique program, as in there's two consultants that go out to the farms and to clients. And they help together. So it's not just a financial consultant going out alone, but rather it's a financial, and a family consultant, and a social worker going out and addressing the issues that the farmers are dealing with. PAUL TREADWELL: Thank you. And Becky? BECKY WISEMAN: Yes. I'm Becky Wiseman. And I have been working with FarmNet for now five years. I am an clinical social worker. I am the family side of the team that goes out. PAUL TREADWELL: We're here to talk about, this is a new program that's starting to be deployed. So who wants to introduce the program to us and tell us a little bit about what it's supposed to do? KENDRA JANSSEN: FarmNet received a grant from USDA NIFA. And it's the National Institute of Food and Agriculture. And with this grant, we were able to have several folks throughout New York State that have an agricultural background become instructors in mental health first aid. So Becky, one of our FarmNet consultants, and Nicole, with Cornell Cooperative Extension, both became certified instructors in mental health first aid. Along with them, there is a cohort of others that became instructors from Farm Bureau to other FarmNet consultants. PAUL TREADWELL: So what does it mean to be an instructor? What does that role do? KENDRA JANSSEN: As an instructor, Becky and Nicole, how about you guys? NICOLE TOMMELL: So an instructor, we actually went through a very intensive training program, which is a three-day program, 24 hours, which basically covered the gamut of how to deliver very sensitive content to people. So we can go in and teach people how to deliver the content and understand mental health first aid in their communities so that they can identify problems at the ground level. So to get people help more rapidly than their traditional doctors or first responders. So it's really just ground level type health that we are instructing people on how to identify. BECKY WISEMAN: Which like when we have a physical problem that happens and we call the ambulance, the team that comes out are not the doctors. They're not the people who perform the surgeries. That's what we train. We train people to be able to not diagnose the problem, but be able to know how to work with people who are in a mental health crisis. How to identify what's going on. How to listen effectively and attentively and be supportive and know some of the steps then that needs to be done to help that person get the kind of care that they need. PAUL TREADWELL: What has brought us to this point where we're starting to train people to do this work? BECKY WISEMAN: There's been increased stress and suicidal risks in agricultural workers. In fact, the CDC, in January 2022, the suicide rates for agricultural workers were 36 per 100,000. And I think what we're seeing more is this isn't something that's brand new. I believe that agriculture workers and farmers have been increasingly at risk for suicide for a number of years, one of the reasons why FarmNet was founded in 1987. And I think that now there's been more emphasis on it because people across the spectrum of mental health issues are being more aware of problems. And I think it's losing some of its stigma that was once attached to it. And farmers have been very receptive of this program. FarmNet gives people a chance to find out that they can talk about their crises, talk about what's going on in their lives. And we listen. And that's one of the things they taught us, right? And it was so difficult. NICOLE TOMMELL: Yes. It was a lot of listening and understanding not just verbal cues, but body cues as it was very intensive training. But you are correct, Becky. And just kind of touching back. 1987, you look at what happened in the '80s with the farm crisis, and that really is why FarmNet came out of that. And we got lots of suicide and people hurting themselves. In the '80s and with COVID, we saw people with the lockdowns have issues. We always look at pre-COVID, post-COVID time period. Even pre-COVID, even though we didn't see it, it was very prevalent because just the stress of the economics on the farm family really did take a toll. And within this program, it's not even mental health that we're talking about. We also talk about addiction. Whether it's alcohol or opioid drug addiction, we do talk about that and the identifying factors of that. We see across the country the opioid addiction rates have gone up significantly. BECKY WISEMAN: And it's a lot of stressors too because COVID added to falling commodity prices. And then you also have the labor shortages that farmers were dealing with and then the supply shortages, all those stressors add up. And then that increases the risk of suicide, depression, and substance use. PAUL TREADWELL: So Nicole, I just want to ask. Do you see a difference between the size of the farm and the problem? Does that have bearing on it? Or is this pretty much universal across most farmers? NICOLE TOMMELL: It's universal. I mean, mental health affects everyone in some way, shape, or form, maybe not somebody directly, but maybe indirectly. So I can't comment to whether it's predominantly small farm or large farm. I just think that it's just across the scale. I look at it as we're creating awareness. And whether it may not be the farmer, but it may be the farmer spouse. It may be the farmer's children. It may be an aging parent. So it could be anything along that spectrum. When that person is tied to the farm, the farm finances, the production side of it, it kind of just all is wrapped into one, in my perspective. BECKY WISEMAN: I agree with you. KENDRA JANSSEN: It doesn't matter, small or large farms. We all have issues that we have to work through and deal with on top of just dealing with the farming and managing the farm. You still have to go home. And you still have to take care of whatever you're dealing with at home. No one is immune to it. PAUL TREADWELL: There is stigma attached to discussing your mental health of other people. And Nicole, I think you indicated earlier there's been a slight shift-- or maybe it was Kendra-- there's been a slight shift in attitudes. Is that shift enough? How much further do we have to go to get this out into the open where it's an acceptable thing to talk about? BECKY WISEMAN: The more the general public talks about mental health, the more it becomes OK. And I think it has become more available, just verbally, socially acceptable to talk about mental health issues. That will help reduce the stigma. I think it's just really positive that USDA has provided this kind of funding for programs such as ours to be able to address mental health issues. PAUL TREADWELL: If you identify a farmer who is at risk, many rural communities are under-resourced, there may not be facilities or professional help nearby, what are the next steps? How do you get them to appropriate help? NICOLE TOMMELL: So that's where FarmNet comes in because we have a 1-800 free hotline. We as folks out in the community can't call for them, but we can encourage the farm to call on behalf of themselves. There are also people that will sit there with a phone, so just for moral support. I would dial the phone, call in to FarmNet. They always answer. There's never a recording, which people really do appreciate. So the worst thing to do is if you're having a crisis and you call somebody, and it's press 5 for help. Or dial 911 if you feel as though you're in a terrible emergency. FarmNet will answer the phone. There's always a live person on the other end. And then they can go through the steps to help that person and get an in-person meeting or whatever they feel the next step is. PAUL TREADWELL: Kendra, FarmNet, is a national program? Is it just in New York State? KENDRA JANSSEN: It's just in New York State as of right now. So our funding is only statewide. So that's why we are pretty unique as in New York State. And there's not that many. I would only say maybe one or two throughout the United States that have a similar program. And as Nicole was mentioning, as people call in, they talk to a live person. And I've answered that phone at midnight or 2:00 AM and dealt with emergency calls. Also, we have an answering service, which is another human being too that will push it through. If I'm on the phone at the time that someone calls in, then we also have an auxiliary service to answer. And we pilot and assign consultants. Within 24 hours, that caller will get help. They will receive a call from a consultant. Where if someone's contemplating suicide, that is escalated. That's immediate help. There's number 24-hour wait. PAUL TREADWELL: During COVID, we came to rely on technology as a way to establish some continuing or ongoing connection with people we used to see face-to-face. Can you talk a little bit about the impact of that as technology found new utility, I guess, in delivering aid that otherwise would be out of reach? BECKY WISEMAN: And we see that with COVID too. During COVID, we used Zoom a lot. We used phones, and FaceTime, and any sort of avenue electronically that was available. If we could not have our feet at the farm and be on site, we were virtually on site. NICOLE TOMMELL: And now, also say, Paul, just one extra step to that or a one-off would be the social media presence of the impact of mental health and how people are coming out and speaking about suicide awareness, substance abuse awareness, their own personal journeys in mental health. You see that on TikTok, or Facebook, or Instagram. It's ever present out there. And I think that social media has really driven positive results of getting the word out there about destigmatizing mental health. Really quick, as we were talking, I was thinking about I saw a TikTok just the other day. It was a spoof on two nurses in a rural hospital. And they said, there's a farmer in here. And they were like, oh, my gosh. There's a farmer here. Let's go take care of him right now. What's his problem because he never comes to the emergency room? So we know that that's how farmers are. And people in the agricultural industry, it's like, oh, we'll do it tomorrow. But social media has really ramped up people recognizing, seeing the need, and I think really pushing that to the front of the page. PAUL TREADWELL: That's fascinating that you say that because we so often hear about the negative impacts of social media. So it's kind of comforting to hear the fact that there is a utility to social media that has a positive benefit. I want to just flip back to this farmers don't go to the doctor. Is some of that a natural reticence, but is some of that economic? NICOLE TOMMELL: I think it's both. But some it too is they just don't want to take the time. I mean, I have farmers that don't want to have rotator cuff surgeries done because they know they'll be laid up for so many months. Or they need hip or knee replacements. And they just don't want to deal with that. So they would rather go through the pain than go and go to the doctors and know that they're going to be out of commission for six weeks or three months. That spurs the substance abuse potential issues, kicking that can down the road. I hate using that. It's really what happens. It's kind of a big snowball effect. PAUL TREADWELL: Let's talk about a number of farmers that have been interacted with, the number of farmers that up to this point have received some sort of care that they would not have otherwise received. Can you talk about that a bit? NICOLE TOMMELL: Yeah, or even like some of the agricultural community that has taken the mental health first aid courses. So we offered over 10 of them throughout 2022. And we've had over 200 folks in the agricultural community attend these. That was a really good turnout. And it's educating the agricultural community on how to better identify and help folks that are dealing with mental health crises. PAUL TREADWELL: When you talk about the agriculture community, are you talking about folks like Nicole? Or are you talking about actual farmers themselves? Or is it a mix? KENDRA JANSSEN: It's a mix. It can be Cornell Extension folks. It can be nurses. It can be people in the hospital that work with farmers that come in or teachers that work with students that are farming. It's across the board. Basically, everyone in the community is impacted by a farmer one way or another. And we're just trying to educate the communities throughout New York State on listening. Have listening skills. Do you see something or see someone acting off, a little different? Maybe they're quiet. They're just mad. Be there for them and try to figure out what's going on. And we also are offering Safe Talk and Talk Saves Lives, which it's a suicide prevention course as well, just basically listen. Acknowledge what's going around and in your surroundings. BECKY WISEMAN: And not be afraid. I think it breaks down some of our stigmas or what we should say or what we shouldn't say. We can't be afraid to ask somebody. NICOLE TOMMELL: And that's sometimes one of the first questions. When I get a caller to the 800 line, to FarmNet, and they seem-- they're sad. They're depressed, stressed. It's a tough question, but that's the first question. Are you contemplating suicide? Are you safe? These are questions that need to be asked right in the beginning because we care. We want to help. And we want to assess the situation so that we can provide the help that's needed. PAUL TREADWELL: You're listening to Extension Out Loud and our conversation about the new Farmer First Aid program. There are a couple of things that come to mind. But one is, this is shifting some of the work of extension workers and some of the work of FarmNet. And it's really opening up this mode of caring that may have been somewhat de-emphasized in the past. Nicole, I want to ask you specifically. When you open yourself up to caring, you open yourself up to a lot of risk. You're taking on some of the emotional burden that is brought out there. So how do you as an extension professional cope with that? Do you have strategies and tools? NICOLE TOMMELL: Paul, that is a great question because over the course of COVID, a lot of our farm business management specialists got really burned out. And a lot of our extension colleagues were burned out. So we put on a three series seminar with the help of New York FarmNet to help our colleagues get some tools in their toolbox. Because that's what was happening, is we were going out to the farm. We are working. We're dealing with these folks and hearing their kitchen table talks, which they can be mentally exhausting. We were dealing with this and COVID. People were dumping milk. People were not getting paid for their product, whatever that may be. They have children at home. They're stressed about their kid's school, their education. I mean, we heard it all. And it was burning us out. But I know that if I need help as an extension specialist, I can call FarmNet. And I know that I can call and get help that I need from my colleagues in mental health. And so doing that gives me a lot of relief. But also just caring for myself and making sure that I take the time that I need to be able to process this stuff is really important. Burnout is real in this job, as we all know. We need to make sure that we are healthy for ourselves, healthy for our families, and then also healthy for the people that we are working with. We want to be our best self. PAUL TREADWELL: Thank you. So Kendra, I want to flip the question over to you because Nicole just said she might contact FarmNet for help. So it sounds like you're at the bottom of the heap here, bearing the burden of multiple people asking for help. This is a very heavy thing. So what do you do to make it bearable? KENDRA JANSSEN: Yeah. And just like Nicole said, it is, it's a lot. And I'm glad that Nicole and her colleagues use us as a resource too because that's what we're here for. And she's frontline. They're frontline with the farmers. So it's important to do self-care and for us to be there to help them so that they can provide that important work. And it's the same with our consultants. So we have trainings throughout the year. I usually plan three to four trainings for our consultants. And they come on site. And it's like a retreat. So we have trainings on taking care of ourselves so that we can continually be refreshed, in a sense, so that we can provide the essential help to callers, and to clients, and farms that are calling in. Because it is, it's a draining work. And you can easily become... /episode/index/show/extensionoutloud/id/25574715

Leading Through Extension - Ashley Helmholdt and garden based learning 08/11/2021

Leading Through Extension - Ashley Helmholdt and garden based learning Episode links: Episode Transcript: PAUL TREADWELL: Welcome to Extension Out Loud, a podcast from Cornell Cooperative Extension. I am Paul Treadwell. KATIE BAILDON: And I'm Katie Baildon. PAUL TREADWELL: This is our final episode in the Living Through Extension series that we've been running. And as a side note, it's also the final episode that my co-host will be joining me for the show. We want to say goodbye to Katie Baildon and wish her best in her next career move. You'll be missed, Katie. KATIE BAILDON: Thanks Paul. I'll definitely miss doing these podcasts with you. PAUL TREADWELL: For today, who are we talking to? KATIE BAILDON: Today we talked to Ashley Helmholdt. And she's the Adult Program leader for Cornell garden-based learning, which means that she engages with master gardeners and master gardener coordinators across New York state. ASHLEY HELMHOLDT: My name is Ashley Helmholdt, and I'm the adult program leader for Cornell Garden-based learning. I've been here for approximately two years. It's been a really interesting journey getting back to extension work because it's really where I started off in most of my volunteering and even some of my practicum work in college and graduate school. So, I'm from western New York but I've lived all over this country. I've lived in Michigan for a large chunk of my life. I went to undergrad there, Michigan State. And lived in Savannah, Georgia, as well. And across these experiences, I really have more of a background in urban planning and environmental studies and environmental justice. And so I have this real focus on the urban environment, but the impacts of urban greening on local communities. And that's really been the central theme of my career. And so it's a little different way of getting to working with the master gardener volunteer program at Cornell garden-based learning, but it makes a lot of sense when thinking about my background. I really worked in a national nonprofit called Earth Force, where I worked with watershed-based education in a lot of urban areas throughout the Midwest, as well as working for several years for farmers markets and farmer's markets nutrition education programs, starting up a SNAP program at a farmers market and Double Up Food Bucks program, which is similar to what we have in New York state around increasing purchasing of fruits and vegetables. So I really got kind of cut my teeth more on environmental education and farmer's market work. And then really, that led into doing some local government work in a sustainability office in Savannah, Georgia, where I worked directly with community organizations and community gardens and really helping to support, organize, develop, volunteer programs, even developing a sustainability plan and several grant programs that supported this idea of using vacant spaces in urban areas to really support those communities, whether it be through food security or reducing flooding. The central theme of my career is just working in these vacant, underutilized spaces and helping support the way that we can enhance urban greening through them. Like I said, community gardens were really a central part to that. So when I moved back to New York state after having my son, I really was interested in getting back into that work. And really extension is just the perfect kind of place for me. Because this place for applied research really takes place right, where we take the great work going on at Cornell and we apply it to communities where they can use it. And so that's what I really went to school for. I really was interested in more of the applied piece, how does this really address community issues. And that's exactly what the Master Gardener Volunteer program does. It prepares adults to take on action projects in communities, to work with community partners, to address issues through the use of gardens. I really love that, and that's what Cornell Garden-based learning is all about. And we really prepare those CCE educators to prepare their volunteers to do that. So that's been a really fun thing, being able to connect interesting and creative new projects through Cornell, to communities that can use them. KATIE BAILDON: You mentioned Cornell Garden-based Learning and that you're the adult program leader. And you also mentioned the Master Gardener program. So can you tell us how those pieces fit together. ASHLEY HELMHOLDT: Cornell Garden-based learning is really a partnership between myself and Marcia Eames-Sheavly, who runs the 4H Youth Gardening component. So there's always been this kind of partnership between across the generations. So we do mostly adult programs, and Marcia really works primarily with 4H youth. And I think there's a real synergy there. Because again, we're a little different than most states in that we don't have a top down Master Gardener volunteer program, but we provide guidance and professional development to the CCE educators. That's really our mission. We want to provide and support those CCE educators in connecting the Cornell resources and really preparing the master gardeners for new cutting edge kinds of programs. So we develop those statewide projects that master gardeners can get involved in, as well as we really prepare the curriculum resources that they use for preparing their volunteers. And then at the local level, they're really taking that and adapting it to their local needs so that their master gardener volunteer program might have slightly different looks around the state. But they're all going to have that same overarching mission of focusing on food security or environmental stewardship, which is our mission. And we, like I said, really provide the professional development to develop peer educators and really develop high quality adult education programs, which is really where we are similar across the youth and the adult programs. PAUL TREADWELL: So Ashley, who are master gardeners? ASHLEY HELMHOLDT: Master gardeners across the state really look very different. We have programs in very urban areas to very, very rural areas. Primarily, we tend to work with an older population of folks because of the volunteer commitment. And most people have that time once they're retired. So we have a large retired community that works in the Master Gardener program. But we actually have seen a lot of diversity and increase in younger people, people with children, people with jobs join the Master Gardener program in the last year when many people have taken those trainings online. And so that was a big push that we made over the last year and a half. We had funding before COVID started to really take what was a new online curriculum and really adapt it so that it wasn't just a library, Cornell Garden-Based Learning Library is what it's called. But it was actually a guided course that each county could use for the Master Gardener program. And what I'm hearing from all of the coordinators is that they are able to get a larger diversity of people in their programs because of that. So when many of them took it online, they still included some in-person, outdoor, hands-on components. But by having a majority of the training online, it really opened up for people who wouldn't normally have the ability to take the course. So that's been a really interesting development. And I know that's something that was kind of a little bit of good timing around having the funding and having a person who could help us adapt our curriculum to that online need. So our master gardeners, like I said, because we share that mission statement across the state and our programs statewide really share that mission, we finally get people who are interested in that community education mission of what we do. So they're not out there implementing gardens for others, but supporting as liaisons, developing educational programming, and developing demonstration gardens, as well as supporting these statewide educational programs like Seed to Supper, which is the beginning low-budget gardening program offered statewide. As well as the Vegetable Varieties Child garden program, which is another kind of demonstration garden to teach the public about new vegetable varieties. So these are just a few of the statewide programs that we kind of replicate statewide. And so there's a little bit of uniformity to our master Gardener program statewide. KATIE BAILDON: And you said earlier that New York is a little bit different than most of the more top-down Master Gardener programs. Can you tell us more about the national program and how it got started, and some of those kind of missions or goals that level might be? ASHLEY HELMHOLDT: Yeah, and so the Master Gardener program really began in the-- I've gotten a couple of different accounts-- but I believe in 1975 is the right year. It really began out west. And as a state, every state has really adopted this great popular program as a model. What's nice is the nationwide network of Master Gardener coordinators provides kind of this common ground and common language that we can all use around what are some best practices, for instance, around a number of volunteer hours. What are best practices around the kinds of projects that I was kind of talking about. So making sure master gardeners are having a similar kind of educational mission nationwide. That really has helped me a lot. Because we are very county-based program, whereas many states have the same exact rules for every county and kind of a central reporting system. Whereas we're not funded that way. So what I really learned from the national programs is really, what are those best practices that are out there that we've learned from other states. And we've actually just created a new kind of program guidelines document for existing coordinators to look at and say, OK, how can we be more aligned with the national best practices, versus having different guidelines for counties. PAUL TREADWELL: So it started in '75. Obviously the profile of master gardeners is currently undergoing some transition for a number of different reasons, some societal, some access to technology, the impact of COVID. Are there integrated elements, or has the program shifted to embrace diversity, equity inclusion? And how has that manifested in your work with Master Gardener coordinators. ASHLEY HELMHOLDT: Yeah, that's a great question. And this has actually been an ongoing thing prior to even a lot of civil unrest that's happened over the last year. Part of our mission statement is focused on food security and sustainability education. But also, specifically in our Seed to Supper program, which is in 13 counties statewide, there's a real focus on cultural awareness and cultural sensitivity in our workshops that we prepare volunteers to work in vulnerable communities that are not necessarily what are represented in our volunteers all the time. And that's been a really intentional move. Because, again, I think what's happened a lot with volunteering-- and this is true just nationwide, this is just the statistics-- that we tend to be a white, upper middle class, women-dominated volunteer program. And that's partly due to just the time of the volunteer commitment. And so part of my job I think is helping to lower the barriers to entry to the Master Gardener program, by not only creating programming that's going to be accessible to people, but also developing in our coordinators the skills in working across difference and working in communities that perhaps extension hasn't always had a really solid relationship. And that's not always to say that there aren't, there definitely are a lot of our CCE educators that have a lot of experience working across different cultural communities. But we have, as you know, a lot of different cultures in New York state. Many of our Seed to Supper programs work with communities of Americans that are just getting involved. And maybe not just getting involved in gardening, but just getting involved in the community. And so we've really worked pretty hard to create that program to be as low a barrier to entry as possible. So it's kind of like a gateway to the Master Gardener program. It's a no-cost low-budget gardening curriculum. We work with community partner organizations that work with low-budget gardeners to recruit new folks into the gardening community, to welcome them and help them see that this community is theirs, as well. And so that's been a really important program for doing that. But beyond that, I think that program has been going on since 2017 here, and it's actually started at Oregon State University. So it has a track record of increasing people's confidence and sense of community. So it's really, it's more about building community. Gardening skills are a part of that. But the first part is building the community and building the relationships, which is not always what comes first when you think of Master Gardeners. And I really think that that's something we're trying to make kind of a central part of our program, really having those skills at reaching out across differences and building communities because gardening can be a common language. And many of our Seed to Supper participants end up being volunteers in the Seed to Supper program, as well as teaching us about new ways to garden, new varieties we can grow in New York state. It's really an exchange, not just a one way street. I'm really hopeful that program, along with kind of lowering the barrier to entry for Master Gardener volunteer programs is going to really see a bigger uptick in a larger number of people, including people who are working and parents and might not have all of the expensive gardening tools. You don't need all that. You really-- most of my gardening experience has been in a community garden. So I know firsthand, from a very humble experience, that you don't have to have lots of money to garden. We really just need space, community, and education. And that's what we really hope to do to make it really accessible. KATIE BAILDON: As you were talking, I was thinking, we hear a lot about the role of home gardening in food security. But I'm wondering if you can talk a little bit more about that and whether the Master Gardener program looks specifically at food security and home gardening as a possible solution to some of the food security issues that families might face. ASHLEY HELMHOLDT: Going back to Seed to Supper a little bit, the survey that has been done in the program since it began in Oregon really showed that just being educated on the resources available in the community for gardening, but also the resources that people might not know about related to even SNAP, for instance. You can use SNAP benefits to buy plant starts at a farmer's market. There are resources we can use to increase food security that, again, build on those other sources of food security and communities. In addition to that, I think that the main thing that we've learned from surveys is that just having access to the knowledge and the people, connections, is what helps people to take that next step. Because as you know, gardening is actually pretty complex. And it's not really that easy to grow lots and lots of food for yourself. But in community, we can do a lot more. And our master gardeners are amazing at growing food and really have amazing skills in this department. Just to give you an example, they donated over 7,000 pounds of food to local food banks through the demonstration gardens that we've been involved with around the state. The master gardeners want to do this because they have access. They know what they're doing and they know how to produce excess. But I think where we really come in is connecting people to not just the resources and the people that can help them, but also those next steps. How do we cook food. And we have programs for that, through our SNAP program. We have programs to help people take those next steps. And that's where I think you're really-- the food security piece comes in. Is you're not just growing food. You're learning how to use it in the best way. And so that's really where I see the food security piece coming into play. And we have seen a lot of increase in demand for that kind of learning. So I think across all socioeconomic backgrounds, people want awareness. So community gardens I feel like have even a larger role to play in this because they provide this larger amount of land and larger group of people with which to ask questions and get support. I know personal experience that has been critical to learning. Because I came to gardening the roundabout way, through learning, through community members who helped me learn the skills. And so I feel like knowing I didn't grow up with this background, I didn't go to school for that, it can be done. And you can do it well. And we can support these community members and growing their own food in a larger amount. But it really takes that community piece to build in that food security element, because those connections are really critical to that. And our CCE programs are just so well established to help people do that. So I'm excited about that. I think that a lot of potential there to do even more. PAUL TREADWELL: So Ashley, in an urban environment-- let's talk about gardening in urban environments for a minute. How do you find land? What's the process? And how do you find seeds, are there community banks, shared-- you know, what is the process? ASHLEY HELMHOLDT: And the answer to that is that it is very different in every community. In the ones that I worked in local government, again, I was kind of supporting getting people. I was the connector to resources. So in many communities, where there's not a person like that, it can sometimes be really difficult overcoming the barriers to getting access to land. And a lot of those barriers have to do more with policies around access to land and just those initial startup costs. I was involved with, we used FEMA lots. These are lots that are never going to be built on because they flood. So there wasn't as much of a competition for those lots for other purposes. But in other communities, that's not true. There's development pressure on those kinds of vacant lots. So having consistent policies and having somebody who can help you navigate those policies in each community is kind of critical. That's something that our CCE folks could be potential conduits to helping people overcome those barriers to getting gardening. But a lot of our established urban gardening environments, like in Buffalo and Rochester, there's a lot of community gardens already. It's just getting access, overcoming those barriers to water and the costs of maintaining that. And that, a little different per community. And New York City obviously being the biggest and the most complex. They have whole teams of people to help those community gardens kind of keep up with all the regulatory pieces. So it's a very complex question. And it's actually got a very different answer for every community. But it's an important one. KATIE BAILDON: Yeah, so we talked about some of the food justice issues and diversity equity inclusion and programming. Are there any other sort of trends that you're seeing in the work that you're doing that you're responding to? ASHLEY HELMHOLDT: Yeah, I think that obviously climate change is so intertwined with all these other diversity, equity, inclusion and food security issues that it's hard to piece them out. And one of the things I applied for some funds for was a food forest trial garden program, again, to teach people about ecological learning skills that also help with some of those ecosystem services issues and communities. So both feeding people and addressing some of the ecosystem services that our communities need to adapt to climate change. At a very small scale, very quick description of what food forests are, they really are... /episode/index/show/extensionoutloud/id/19820681

Leading through Extension-The Cornell Farmworkers Program 08/03/2021

Leading through Extension-The Cornell Farmworkers Program Episode links: Episode transcript: PAUL TREADWELL: Welcome to Extension Out Loud, a podcast from Cornell Cooperative Extension. I'm Paul Treadwell. KATIE BAILDON: And I'm Katie Baildon. PAUL TREADWELL: We got a chance to sit down and talk to-- KATIE BAILDON: We talked to Mary Jo Dudley. She's senior extension associate and director of the Cornell Farmworker Program in the Department of Global Development at Cornell University. PAUL TREADWELL: The format of this episode is the result of us wanting to give Mary Jo a platform to explain the Farmworkers Program in some detail. MARY JO DUDLEY: My name is Mary Jo Dudley. I'm the director of the Cornell Farmworker Program, which is a university-wide program. And my faculty appointment is in the Department of Global Development, which is in the College of Ag and Life Sciences. The Cornell Farmworker Program has quite a long history. It actually started under the name of the Cornell Migrant Program over 54 years ago when students, in order to graduate, needed to work on a farm. So for students who were from farming families, they would work a full semester on a different farm. But students who hadn't grown up on a farm would work a full year on a farm. The program was born out of student activism. Because at this time, a Cornell alum donated a large apple orchard in Wayne County to the university, and it became one of the first experiment stations. So many students worked on that farm, and they lived in migrant housing and worked alongside migrant farm workers who, at that time, were primarily Southern Blacks. This had a deep impact on the students. They were surprised about the situation of farm workers, in particular migrant farm workers. And they went to the Cornell Faculty Senate, along with their faculty mentors, and the senate approved a resolution that Cornell should have a program specifically dedicated to the needs of farmworkers and their families. So with that background, our program really focuses on farmworker-identified needs and opportunities. The program is dedicated to improving the living and working conditions of farmworkers and their families. But we also seek recognition for their contributions to society and their acceptance and full participation in local communities. So this includes things like equal protection under the law, earning a living wage, living in safe and comfortable housing, and more importantly, receiving respect as workers and as individuals to allow them to participate fully in their communities. So how do we understand what farmworkers need? And the way that we approach this is direct interviews with farmworkers in the format of a needs assessment. The interviews examine where the workers originate. Why do they migrate? How do they get here? How do they find their employment? What is their job? What is their day to day? What do they enjoy about their job? What do they find challenging? What do they do during their time off? How do they interact with others in local communities in the rural areas? And what are their goals for the future? And this aspect of understanding where they came from, why they came, how they located employment, and what their goals are for the future drives the agenda of the Cornell Farmworker Program, because we look at how people assess where they are today and where they'd like to be in one year, five years, 10 years. And so we can look at the current challenges and go from there to how to address those challenges. So who are the farmworkers in New York state? Currently, most of the farmworkers are undocumented workers that come from rural areas of Mexico and rural areas from Guatemala. And we have a small portion of workers who come from Jamaica through the temporary guestworker program. When we talk about farm workers, we often talk about seasonal or year-round and temporary guestworkers who come through the H-2A program. And those workers come with a visa with a beginning date and an end date. And they also have a very specific wage rate, which is higher than the New York state minimum wage for farmworkers. The 2017 ag census estimated that New York state has approximately 56,000 hired farmworkers and an additional 40,000 unpaid workers, which typically refer to family members. In addition, we have over 1,100 workers who work in packing plants, in the apple packing plants and in other packing plants. So when we talk about farmworkers, it's important to think about, who are we including in that pool? In New York state, we had a major transition around 2000. And preceding 2000, about 2/3 of our workers were migrant workers, people who followed the season and followed the crops. And about a third lived year round. But starting in 2000, that shifted dramatically. So currently, we have about 2/3 of the farmworkers live year round, and about a third migrate. And that's directly associated with the changes within the dairy sector, in which a workforce that had been a family workforce or locals, neighbors, cousins transitioned to an immigrant workforce, with those workers coming primarily from rural Mexico and Guatemala. And that is a heavily undocumented population. If we look at agriculture in New York state, because of our prevalence as leaders nationwide in apple production-- we're the second-largest apple-producing state, in pumpkins, in maple syrup. We're the third-largest dairy-producing state, and we're third in cabbage, grapes, cauliflower, and fourth in crops including pears, tart cherries, sweet corn, snap beans, squash, and we're fifth in onions. These are all very labor-intensive crops. So traditionally, that large group of farmworkers were referred to as migrants, those people who followed the crops. So they would begin in Southern states and work in harvest activities in Southern states and follow the harvest up the coast. For those who were what we call the Eastern migrant stream, they would work in the Carolinas, come to New York state. And once the harvest had been completed in New York state in November, typically around Thanksgiving, they would return to Southern states. We saw a change in this since 2000, where rather than follow crops, there was a transformation within the farmworker population where they would work on more than one farm and engage in agricultural production activities following the season of the year. So we find in upstate New York, we have people in the winter months-- January, February-- who are tying grapes, and later in the spring, they might be planting apple trees. And then, later, they are pruning apple trees, for example. And they will eventually move on to harvest activities and post-harvest packing plants. So by working in different farms on different commodities, they can basically find employment in agriculture year round. And agriculture has always been an entry point for recent immigrants because you don't need to know how to read and write in English to do agriculture. So if we look historically, it began with former African-American sharecroppers, and we've had any number of immigrants coming to the US that entered employment through farmwork, Italian immigrants, Finnish immigrants, German prisoners of war, coal miners. The [INAUDIBLE] who traveled the freight trains often lived from doing agricultural work. This changed with the introduction of guestworker programs. So the guestworker programs were actually a newer version of what is called the [SPANISH] program. When we have a labor shortage, and we can certify that there's a labor shortage, we can bring workers from other countries to do that work. And they come with a work visa referred to as H-2A temporary guestworker visa. And their visas are issued with a beginning date and an end date. Initially, we saw workers who were coming from Jamaica and other Caribbean Islanders. Later, we had US workers coming from Puerto Rico under contracts. They didn't have the visa because they didn't have to worry about citizenship. And currently, our H-2A guestworker program has workers from Mexico, Jamaica, and Guatemala. So in the '80s, between the 1980s and the 2000s, farmwork became an area for entry into the workforce for recent refugees. We had Haitians who arrived in Florida because of changes in Haiti. We had Guatemalans and Salvadorans who fled violence in Central America as well as coming from the other sides of the globe, refugees from Bangladesh, Southeast Asian women, Cambodian women. So it's important to understand that immigrants have always been a critical part to farmwork. For those workers who have lived in New York state for an extended period of time, they have created families here. Many of them have US-born children. That dynamic changes in that this pattern of migration-- moving north and south, returning to home countries-- has diminished significantly. It also raises different priorities among the farmworker population. The primary priority that we have learned about through our research is the heavy weight of immigration concerns among this heavily undocumented population. But those who have children also want to understand how to navigate in their communities-- what is appropriate in our actions with schools, how to locate daycare centers. We don't have statistics on how many people have families and how many people do not. But in general, those people who are living and work in fruit and vegetable year round are more likely to have family members. And dairy workers, which are obviously year-round workers, may or may not have family members. The major factor in this is that dairy workers typically have employer-provided housing. So some employers are not interested in housing a family, and their housing might not be appropriate for anything other than single men. So it varies tremendously. And we don't have statistics and don't intend to collect statistics on that because that changes constantly every day. But what I would say is that as we see more families, the interest in learning how to navigate in their communities comes to the fore. Most of the farmworkers who are here currently are here to work. And that's something that our research showed, that the farm workers come to work. And when you talk about their future, their plan is to return home. They don't come to stay. Over time, their personal situation may change. As they marry or they have children, that may change. But what motivates them to come is either they are fleeing violence, or it's an economic reality that they cannot earn money where they are from. And they come here to work, to earn money, to pay back the debts that are incurred with coming here, and to create a nest egg so they have something to go back to. They may purchase land. They may purchase animals. They may build a house. However, their primary priority while they are here is the workplace. They want to be successful in the workplace, they want to understand opportunities for advancement in the workplace, and they want to be involved in a positive workplace. So we did a large research project that we worked with producers and farmworkers to look at, what is a positive workplace? And on our website, we have the results of that research plus tips and tools for creating positive workplaces. And the tips and tools for creating positive workplaces revolve around establishing good communication coupled with mutual respect. So typically, in our interviews, in our needs assessment interviews, farmworkers will identify interest in how they can improve relations in the workplace with their employers, with their co-workers. And it's a challenge because, for many of them, their co-workers are also their housemates. But in understanding the workplace and understanding the need to communicate well with others in rural communities, they're interested in learning English. And they're interested in opportunities to learn English that are fluid and flexible because they may not have a constant time off. And most don't have their own transportation, and public transportation in rural areas is unreliable. So one thing they talk about is they want to understand what services are there and how they can access that. But since immigration is at the top of the list, it's important to understand that we live in an area of intensive immigration enforcement. And over the years, immigration debates have been stalled. We're now in a new era where we're talking about the Farm Modernization Act, which would provide an accelerated option for legalization of farm workers. But until that passes, farm workers talk a lot about the presence of law enforcement officials in rural areas that identify them as potential undocumented workers. And so this risk of having law enforcement come to your house or stop you while you're going shopping is a very real risk. And that can lead to deportation and lead to separation of undocumented workers from their US-born children. The ACLU refers to this as the Constitution-free zone of the United States, those areas in which immigration enforcement can take place without any necessary catalyst. And so the question of immigration is very central to the discussion about farmworkers. Some of them ask, are they supporting local economies? Are they doing work that others won't do? And our research points to the fact that they come to work, not to stay. Many ask, why don't they just apply for a visa? And there is no visa for workers on dairy farms. What we see is a situation where workers are doing physically demanding work in all kinds of weather. In our research, they discuss social, economic, linguistic, and geographic isolation. It's a relatively young workforce. In our research, they discuss challenges to adapting to new communities. That includes things like language, cultural norms and expectations. Many of the farm workers note that we talk a lot about time. We're out of time. We're running out of time. We don't have enough time. And so that's part of what they always find interesting. Of course, the challenges of living in rural, geographically isolated areas where there is no public transportation, the desire to have a positive workplace, to communicate well with your co-workers, to understand how to negotiate for changes in the workplace. And for those who now have families, they're interested in how to interact with schools, daycare. And as immigrants, many of them express loneliness, missing their family, missing home. I think one of the aspects that is often not visible is while the general public has a sense that this is very physically demanding work, they may not have as close a sense of the dangers associated with the work, for example, dangers associated with using ladders or equipment, and both mechanical equipment on fruit and vegetable farms and equipment in milking parlors, equipment in processing and packing plants. It's dirty work, and there are dangers associated with working with large animals on dairy farms. Another aspect, which is very prevalent in our conversations with farmworkers is that they work in both extremely hot and extremely cold temperatures. All of you who have experienced an upstate winter understand what it would be like to spend hours in February tying grape vines to a wire. And as we talked about a little bit before, the challenge is that many of them now have US-born children. In fact, in the US, there are over 4 million US-born children with one or more undocumented parent. And since the undocumented parent runs the risk of deportation, the possibility for family separation is very high. So part of what we do is we support farmworkers in addressing these needs and fill in the gaps. We have students who go to farms during the farmworker's day off and tutor them in English as a second language. And I'll talk a little bit about some of the other things. COVID-19 really changed the game with farmworkers. Our priority was maintaining ongoing communication with farmworkers. So we had to nearly, overnight, transition from face-to-face, on-farm workshops to developing a system where we could quickly communicate with a large number of farm workers. We developed a system of text messaging to 3,000 farm workers that we had their personal cell phone numbers. And we had their personal cell phone numbers because they have participated in an activity with us in the past few years. We do many on-farm workshops about how to navigate within an intensive immigration-enforcement environment. We do many workshops where we assist families in assigning temporary guardians for their US-born children. And so we had those numbers, and we utilize that system to begin communicating with farmworkers about critical issues. PAUL TREADWELL: And you're listening to Extension Out Loud, the podcast from Cornell Cooperative Extension, and our conversation with Mary Jo Dudley. As we talked to Mary Jo, the issue of the pandemic came up. And this section really looks at our farmworkers and the challenges they faced in dealing with this crisis, including isolation, access to health care, and issues of food security. So you had a database of 3,000 numbers that you could rely on. Can you talk a little bit about what it took to build the trust to be able to develop a database like that? Because obviously, farmworkers aren't just going to give any random visitor their cell phone number. MARY JO DUDLEY: That's right. So I personally have been working with farmworkers for over 16 years. And that means regularly going to farms, regularly interacting with people. We do workshops. We do training activities. We do troubleshooting. Our workplace relations project-- we interview farm owners and managers and ask them how their workplace has changed over time, and what are the challenges as well as the benefits. And then, separately, we meet with farmworkers and talk about what it's like to work in that workplace. We analyze what they are both saying, and we host an all-farm meeting in which we address the challenges that they face. And we have developed, as I mentioned earlier, a series of tips and tools that are available for farm employers as well as farm workers. One of the things that this research highlighted was that workers often did not have a face-to-face interview with their employer. They came to work on the farm, they shadowed another worker, but they never had that, welcome to the farm. This is what we're doing here. And so we put together a bilingual tool which is a worker orientation checklist that farmers can use. When you have a new worker, did you talk about benefits? Did you talk about how to ask for time off? Did you talk about scheduling? Did you talk about training opportunities? So that's an approach in which we interacted with hundreds of farmworkers. And in the immigration arena, many of the farmworkers who came here without proper documentation have US-born children. However, in order to create a legal document that assigns a temporary guardian for their US-born children, they have to have a current federal photo ID from their own government. So 13 years ago, we started working with the Mexican and the Guatemalan consulates to bring them to upstate New York so farmworkers could get those necessary documents without running the risk of traveling from the North Country to New York City, where the possibility of being detained was very, very high. So in a recent mobile consulate event that we had with workers from Guatemala, we had 400 people come in a single day. And so when they come, we collaborate with partners. And during that event, clinic was present to give free health consultations. We have pro-bono immigration attorneys on site in case people have immigration questions. We have workplace safety people on site to share resources. And so over the years, many farmworkers have attended either an on-farm workshop, a research project, a consulate activity. And so that's how we have so many personal phone numbers, because we asked them if they... /episode/index/show/extensionoutloud/id/19819973