MAEA Messenger
MAEA Messenger
February 2003
Important Dates
President’s Report
Greetings!
Hopefully this newsletter finds you fully engaged in winter programming. While you have been busy putting the finishing touches on your winter events your MAEA has been busy also. Your officers, regional directors, and committee members have been actively involved in carrying out the business of your association. I will briefly list a few of the highlights.
RUP Certification Fee Exemption Your association headed off a planned change to charge MSU Extension Agents a fee for taking the restricted pesticide certification exam or renewal via credits. Dean Krauskopf met with MDA and reminded them that we are a partner in this certification process. MDA agreed that if an extension agent is actively offering pesticide exams, and/or re-certification credits in his/her area that the fee would still be waived for that agent. This issue came to the MAEA Board and Dean agreed to pursue it. Way to go Dean!
2007 Annual Meeting & Professional Improvement (AMPIC) Bid The bid committee is aggressively putting plans together for the 2007 AMPIC to come to Michigan. They will present the bid with accompanying video at the Wisconsin AMPIC in Green Bay. Come to our spring in-service to learn more about their plans. They are also initiating the fund raising drive for the hosting of this AMPIC. We still have no other North Central States that are announcing that they will bid against us so our chances look very good. Still the committee is not taking their task lightly as they want to give the best first impression possible when we make our bid. Phil Durst is the committee contact.
Spring In-Service Again this year we will be offering a spring in-service during ANR Week at the Kellogg Center. There should be more info in this newsletter. Professional improvement is one of the major goals of our association to make sure that our members are the best that they can be. That is why we continue to value this in-service. We have some great topics and some very important speakers lined up for this event. Director Maggie Bethel will meet with us Monday night, March 3 speaking on the budget and its impact on position management. Tuesday morning at breakfast, Speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives Rick Johnson, a farmer and great supporter of Extension will join us to provide an update on the State budget situation and what we need to do as an organization to survive. Then Dean Armstrong’s Luncheon will follow later that day. It is important that you attend these events for your benefit and for our association to have a good showing of agents to demonstrate that we are very concerned and that we are active. Committee contacts are Joanne Davidhizer, Dean Krauskopf and Bruce MacKellar. We hope to see you there!
Recognition & Awards This committee has also recently sent out the application form for the Communication Awards. Also check out the most recent County Agent magazine for all the details of awards that you may apply for. With the advent of no or small raises being forecast this year, many National awards do caring cash awards, that for a year, might help to off set the lack of a significant raise. Check with committee Chair Tom Dudek, or some other State agents that have been very successful over the years in winning State and National awards. Showcase Michigan’s excellence and take the time to apply!
Budgetary Issues During these times of budget reductions your association officers are involved in pursuing methods to lesson the impact on our profession. Dan Rossman and myself attend the North Central States Extension Officer Training and Update in Kansas City, MO. recently. We learned that most other States in NC are in similar situations. We will make a full report at the spring in-service about how other States are coping and what they are doing that helps to lesson the impact of budget reductions. Also we are working closely with the Michigan Council of Extension Associations (MCEA) to determine if there are any silver linings that we can obtain for our membership during these tough economic times. Your ideas are welcome.
Wisconsin Monday Night Dinner The committee is finalizing their plans for pulling the Michigan Fish Boil off at the Wisconsin AMPIC. Officers in other States are looking forward to this unique culinary event in July. We will need a lot of help from our membership on the day of this event. Please make plans to attend and provide labor for this Monday night event. Family members are welcome and encouraged to help as well. Even if you cannot stay for the entire week, a road trip to Wisconsin for a few days can be a fun event (I did it to Peoria back in the 90’s). Chuck Pistis is the committee contact.
Make Sure You Are Providing Solutions And Not Just Answers
by Jerry Lindquist, MAEA President
A local newspaper columnist while interviewing me about my presidency role with MAEA asked if my attaining this high honor was because of my great leadership ability and wisdom, or just because my time had come and I was the next in line. To try to prove that it was not the latter I will dispense a few words of wisdom I have composed after twenty years of Extension service.
These budgetary times are trying for all Extension staff. It is in these times that we really start to reflect on our past and wonder more about our future. How valuable am I to my community and to my organization? How valuable is MSU Extension? Will we survive these coming rounds of budgetary cuts? Will I survive?
Be reassured that over the ages with other budgetary slumps young and seasoned agents alike have asked these same questions. Be reassured we will survive. We are a strong organization that is founded in the research and teaching base of a great Land Grant University. We are deeply rooted in our community. We may change, but we will survive.
With the "we" in the last paragraph being MSU Extension, the other question "Will I survive" must then be addressed. There are no simple answers to this question as every position and every individual is different.
The following words of wisdom may help you evaluate this question for yourself. Make sure that as you work with clientele in your community that you are helping them to discover solutions to their problems or issues and just not providing them with answers. This is what makes county extension agents unique. We are out working every day in the communities. We are connected to these communities and the citizens that live there. We take the best-researched based information that is available and apply it to our communities and the need of individuals based on our personal knowledge of those communities and individuals.
Here is a prime example. Last fall a well-seasoned farmer asked if he could come to my office and discuss a fertilizer issue. I new it must be important if he wanted to come in to the office to talk. He brought along his soil test results and we discussed his fertility strategy and seemed to find a rather easy resolution. Then he brought up a herbicide question and I began to realize why he really had wanted to come in. He had run into a new weed problem in a field last summer. He had spoken to a regional herbicide representative about possible control measures and the rep provided him with his best recommendation for herbicide control. I was impressed that the young representative sensing maybe some reluctance in the farmer to the recommendation had mailed him supporting literature including excerpts from the MSU Weed Control Guide showing the new products effectiveness on this weed. The herbicide representative had provided him with the best-researched based answer and felt that he had solved the farmer’s problem.
The farmer asked me what I thought about this recommendation and I said after a quick review, that I thought it should work. Then he asked me "what about the herbicides impact on the groundwater?" Then the light went off in my head. This family had back about ten years ago led the fight against a corporation coming into the area to mine fertilizer from the earth. The family’s major concern was local groundwater contamination. Once I began to realize what he was seeking we went over a list of less leachable herbicides that would still given some control to this weed and found one that he was satisfied with. When he left he said with a twinkle in his eye "I think you have solved my problem, I thank you."
In this fast paced world that we work in today, make sure that you take the time to find solutions. Producers can find answers on the internet from another State or another agency. By getting to know producers and their business we are better able than anyone else to work with them to help them find real solutions that they will adapt.
Young agents need to get connected to their clientele. Older agents at times need to re-connect as operations change and other family members take over those businesses. If you are feeling stressed by the current budgetary news, make sure that you are finding real solutions for your clientele and get out on the farms, the greenhouses, or the woodlots and stay connected with your clientele. Keep up the good programming that you do and we will survive!
President- Elect Report
NACAA professional developments programs are a success because of the leadership from members serving on our committees. There are some national level committee roles that you could fill. The deadline for applications are March 1, 2003.The North Central Region will be filling Vice Chair positions for: Animal Science, Horticulture & Turf, & Aquaculture/Sea Grant.
In addition the Program Recognition Council has positions open to fill, which include national committee chair for: Scholarship, Extension Programs, and Communications and regional committee vice chair positions for: Communications, 4-H and Youth, & Professional Excellence. These are two-year assignments.
A three-year assignment as National Professional Improvement Chair is available.
Application forms are available form the Gratiot County MSU Extension office or the NACAA web site.
New MAEA Members
by Dan Rajzer, MAEA Treasurer
The following people have become new members, or have returned to MAEA after a short leave:
CONGRATULATIONS and thank you!
MAEA Membership Status
We are in the final weeks of our membership drive and I want to thank all of you who continue to support MAEA by renewing your membership. As of this writing, 108 of you believe in MAEA’s goals and objectives strong enough to financially support us. I know that during these difficult times, county budgets, as well as personal incomes, are tighter than ever before, which means we have to do more with less.
Like any other organization, MAEA also feels this crunch. We expect membership and revenues to be less than last year because of budgets and also because of retirements. Over the past year, 15 of our MAEA colleagues chose to retire and we wish them the best as they pursue life’s other opportunities. In addition, 5 other MAEA members have left MSU Extension employment.
So, as you can see, it is going to be challenging to keep our membership up. Our goal is 131 paid members by March 6th. This would allow us to continue offering 3 Distinguished Service Awards and 2 Achievement Awards. We would also be able to maintain our 5 voting delegate seats at the NACAA Annual Conference.
Please check with your colleagues and encourage them to renew or become new members of MAEA. With your help, I’m sure we’ll reach our goal.
Thanks,
Dan Rajzer, MAEA Treasurer.
Friendly Reminder
by Dan Rajzer, MAEA Treasurer
Sometimes things slip through the cracks, so please help me out…
Below is a list of last year’s members that I have no record of membership renewal for this year. If my records are wrong, please let me know. Also, if your dues notice got eaten by the dog, or lost in the snow, just let me know what your intentions are (I won’t tell anyone!)
Dan Bolinger, Mark Ash, Craig Burns, Ann Chastain, Paul Gross, Mary Dunckel, Hal
Hudson, Steve Fouch,
David Ivan, Fred Hinkley, James Kalishek, Doo-Hong Min, Jim Nugent, David Stroud, Yvonne
Bonnie Wichtner-Zoia, Angela Eichorn, Mark Breederland, Hannah Stevens, Kristine Hahn,
Gretchen Voyle, Stephen Stewart, Ralph Heiden, Mark Hansen, Jim Isleib, Mark Thomas, Jim
Lucas, Ron Kinnunen
Dan Rajzer
Treasurer
Participate at 2003 NACAA AM/PIC.
Share your knowledge and experiences through Poster or Oral presentations at
Green Bay. Enter yourself or encourage fellow agents. Michigan has great
programming. Let's show the world!
The simple instructions and entry forms appear on pages 9,10,11,12 of the January 2003
County Agent magazine awards edition.
Applications need to be in the hands of our state MAEA chair, John McKinney, so that he
can forward them to the national by March 15th. Call McKinney with questions.
MAEA Spring Conference and Meeting
March 3 and 4, 2003
Kellogg Center, Michigan State University
March 3, 2003 Spring Conference Agenda
11:00 – 12:00 Registration (Kellogg Center Hotel Lobby)
12:00 – 1:00 Lunch
In- Service Program (Room 106 – Kellogg Center)
1:20 – 2:15 What will Extension’s Role Be in Homeland Security – Bob Tarrant, MDA EM Coordinator and Mark Hansen, MSU.
2:15 – 3:00 West Nile Virus, What Agents Should Know For 2003 – Dr. Rich Merit, Entomology
3:00 – 3:15 Break
3:15 – 4:00 Ideas and Resources to Help Agents to Program in Product Agriculture Presentations and Discussion. Tom Kalchik and others.
4:00 – 4:45 Irrigation/Water Rights Discussion – Scott Piggot- MFB
4:45 – 5:15 Managing Image Size and Quality for use in PowerPoint Presentations, Web Pages and Printed Documents - Mark Longstroth and Bruce MacKellar
Monday Evening Meal and Activities
6:00 – 9:00 Evening Meal at the MSU Livestock Pavilion Auditorium
(Featuring Pork Loin, Chicken)
Keynote Speaker – Maggie Bethel, MSU Extension Director
MAEA Bid Committee Booth for Green Bay NACAA National Meeting
Other Displays
Tuesday March 4, 2003 Agenda
7:15 – 8:30 am Breakfast (Room to be announced)
Keynote – Rick Johnson, Speaker of Michigan House of Representatives
8:45 – 11:30 MAEA Meeting (Room 106 Kellogg Center)
11:45 – 1:45 Deans Luncheon
* Several AoE’s are meeting on Tuesday Afternoon after the Dean’s Luncheon.
Registration Information:
Full Registration $60.00 (This includes the Dean’s Luncheon)
Partial – Monday Afternoon/Evening $35.00
Partial – Tuesday Morning/Deans Luncheon $35.00
Registration for Retiree’s and other Association Members
For Monday evening meal $14.00
Registration Deadline, February 25, 2003 (for Dean’s Luncheon)
To register, Contact Dan Rajzer at (269) 445-8661 or by e-mail at rajzer@msue.msu.edu
Dan will be on hand to collect registration fees at the Kellogg Center at 11:00 am on the day of the program.
MAEA Members
It Works!
In our MAEA December newsletter, I promised you that I would let you know how the new payroll deduction works for members’ support of our planned 2007 NACAA meeting.
Well, I set up payroll deduction in December for myself and it began coming out in January. Everything appears to be working well, so I thought I would put in the relevant information for you in this month’s newsletter.
My challenge to you is that each member does a payroll deduction of $10 per month for the next five years up to our meeting. This would equate to $120 per year or $600 dollars from each member toward the 2007 meeting. Because of the Michigan Tax credit and charitable deduction on your federal income tax return, this $120 yearly contribution could cost as little as around $50 per year. If 130 active members took up the challenge this prong of the fundraising project would raise $78,000. Individual contributions from Life Members and others could easily bring this total to $100,000. The payroll deduction form can be found at http://www.givingto.msu.edu/PledgeForm_2002.pdf. Print the form out and fill in your contact information, the payroll deduction section and under Gift Allocation Opportunities include the following; Allocation of Choice: MAEA 31-1011, Code: A10258 and your total annual contribution. Forms need to be mailed to University Development, Michigan State University, 4700 South Hagadorn Road, Suite 220, East Lansing MI 48823. You can also use this form for one-time contributions. For those of you receiving our newsletter by mail, we have also included the pledge form with this month’s newsletter and have filled in the necessary code numbers. Please, everyone get involved. Being able to talk about our own member’s investment in this program to potential donors will make a difference.
Your Finance/Fundraising Committee for the 2007 planned meeting will continue to keep you abreast on our efforts. Members include; Mark Longstroth – Chair, Phil Taylor, Dave Guikema, Dean Krauskopf, Paul Gross, and John McKinney. Ned Birkey – 2007 Treasurer and Stan Moore – Vice Chair for Fiscal and Logistical Management, also work closely with this committee. Norm Brown serves in a consultant role for our fund raising efforts. We appreciate any input that our MAEA colleagues have to offer as we undertake this important effort.