Congratulations!
This week at the annual Nebraska Green Expo Conference, Backyard Farmer received the `Golden Leaf' Award from the Nebraska Nursery and Landscape Association. The award is given only when an individual or an organization has made significant and sustained contributions to the nursery industry. Since its initiation in 1999, it has been awarded only seven times.
Congratulations to the Backyard Farmer team for this most deserved recognition!
ABN Annual Meeting
The Ag Builders of Nebraska (ABN) met on Wednesday, January 18. A state senator VIP luncheon was held with 21 senators in attendance. ABN officers for 2012 are: Al Svajgr, President; Ben Steffen, President-elect; Doug Gibson, Secretary; Ronald Krejci, Treasurer; and Roger Wehrbein, Immediate Past President. A handout distributed at the meeting titled Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Year in Review 2011, can be found at http://go.unl.edu/dqj. The ABN program also included a three-person panel that critiqued IANR. Extension received some good comments along with the suggestion that we find ways to get beyond being the best kept secret.
Grant Announcement
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln will lead a $25 million project to reduce throughout the beef production chain the occurrence of E. coli strains that pose a major threat to public health. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture announced the grant at UNL Monday, January 23.
Jim Keen, a UNL veterinary scientist, will lead a team of 48 scientists from 11 land-grant universities and other partner institutions to conduct integrated research, education, and extension projects. UNL and Kansas State University – with 32 scientists -- will conduct most of the research, education, and extension work for this project. Extension is about one-third of the project with our own Dr. Thippareddi helping lead this component.
FYC Partners Meeting
Yesterday, the Family, Youth, and Community Partners held their annual meeting and their Legislative Luncheon. Twenty legislative offices were represented, a great turnout. For the program, we shared information about CEHS and Extension’s work related to military families. Mark Simmons along with David Hill from the National Guard and three youth participants in the Operation Military Kids program shared how OMK made the deployment of their family members easier and the importance of these kinds of opportunities to families undergoing the stress of military life. We also shared information about the Child and Youth Training and Technical Assistance program designed to help improve the quality and quantity of child care for off installation military families.
Marilyn Kimbrough of Geneva will serve as the incoming president and Toni Kuehneman of Papillion as president-elect. Kim Dunklau of Pilger serves as secretary and Joan Adkins of Laurel as treasurer.
During each meeting, Partners are asked to share contacts they have made with decision makers (state senators, board of regents members, etc.). Their experiences are impressive. Many of them have several face-to-face conversations during the year and keep the dialogue going via e-mail during the session. They are continually strengthening their relationships and in turn the advocacy they can do on our behalf. We appreciate their work.
-- Elbert C. Dickey