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Daviess County Cooperative Extension reviews programs, staffing and outreach; open house May 20
Summary
Clint Hardy, the county agricultural extension agent, told the fiscal court on May 8 that the Daviess County Cooperative Extension has five agents, 11 staff, extensive volunteer support and will host an open house May 20 to showcase programs including agriculture, 4‑H and nutrition education.
Clint Hardy, agricultural extension agent for Daviess County, briefed the fiscal court on May 8 about the county's Cooperative Extension programs, staffing and community outreach. Hardy said the county office includes five agents and 11 total staff, supported by volunteers and university specialists, and that the office helps translate University of Kentucky research into local services.
Hardy told the court the extension's programming spans agriculture and natural resources, horticulture, family and consumer sciences, 4‑H youth development, and a federally funded nutrition education program that works with SNAP beneficiaries. He said the county has a long-running grain variety and yield demonstration program and that extension staff help facilitate local administration of the Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund. "Our goal'is to bring research in University of Kentucky to the people of the Commonwealth," Hardy said.
Hardy provided several quantitative details: since 2002 Daviess County has distributed more than $4 million from the state agricultural development allocation (county receipts typically about $150,000 per year); extension programs logged nearly 13,000 hours of programming and volunteer commitment in the most recent fiscal year, produced nearly 60,000 direct contacts (a figure Hardy said is likely an underestimate), and recorded about 1,661 volunteers. He also announced that Quincy Swanigan has been hired as a nutrition education program assistant.
Hardy invited the public and fiscal court to an open house on May 20 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the extension office on the community college campus to learn about volunteer opportunities, master gardener activities, 4‑H camp and other programs. He provided a contact phone number for the office and said the extension maintains a Facebook page and a University-hosted website.
The presentation emphasized the extension's role as a county-university partnership and its use of local volunteers and long-term demonstration plots to support agriculture and youth programming.
