eco tip
County extension agents are on the
front lines of this effort, offering low- or no-cost soil testing, handbooks on a variety of local gardening topics and workshops on everything from making rain barrels and creating rain gardens to implementing eco-friendly pest control, cultivating native plants and employing best practices for organic gardening. Master gardeners that volunteer their expertise are central to supporting extension outreach activities. “We would love more business
HOME GARDENERS M
HELP FOR
Extension Agents at Your Service by Yvette C. Hammett
any home gardeners readily list flies, wasps and beetles among the “pests” in their
gardens. However, many of these are actually pollinators that help boost production of fruits and vegetables; others are beneficial insects that keep the real plant-killers at bay. A quick call to the local cooperative extension service can help sort out friend from foe—and that’s just the beginning of what this valuable, underutilized resource can offer. Each year, millions in federal
taxpayer dollars help fund county agricultural extension programs administered through the 108 colleges and universities that comprise the nation’s land grant university system. Te U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which supplies the money, also helps fund science-based research meant to reach not only farmers, but home gardeners seeking advice on best practices.
14 Central Florida
www.NACFL.com The USDA is trying to do a
better job of raising public awareness of assistance that’s readily available, free of charge, especially now that it’s getting more funding.
Organic on the Rise “The good news is that the 2018 Farm Bill provided increases for many of our programs, including the organic agriculture research and extension initiative program for which we received significant funding,” says Mathieu Ngouajio, program leader for the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. The USDA is eager to see the
connections their constituents are making with the research. “We want to identify the needs of organic gardeners, and the best way to meet those needs to get our research into their hands,” Ngouajio says.
from the public,” says Weston Miller, an associate professor with Oregon State University’s extension service. “Te public service of the master gardener program is to answer questions,” including what and when to plant and how much irrigation is required. In Oregon, there are 3,500 master
gardeners, with 650 volunteers in Portland alone. “We train master gardeners in how to use our resources and interpret the research to the public,” Miller says. “Tere are trained volunteers
in pretty much every county in the country ready and willing to answer any gardening question,” Miller says. For example, a new organic gardener might not know the correct soil amendments to use or how to start a composting pile to supplement the soil in an organic garden. Tere is also a nationwide network
called Ask the Expert (
USDA.gov/ask- expert) and questions will automatically go to an extension staff person or master gardener in the area where the inquiring gardener lives.
Reducing Confusion Many of those getting into organic gardening might feel confused as to what connotes organic, Miller says. “Organic gardening is using a naturally formed material for fertilizer and pesticide, from plant, animal or mineral sources.” The biggest area of confusion is
that many people think organic means
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Shutterstock.com
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