Published: February 08, 2010 05:58 pm      

Mary Helen Ferguson - What we do at N.C. Cooperative Extension

Sometimes I forget that a lot of people are not aware of many services offered through N.C. Cooperative Extension and the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. I thought I’d use this opportunity to inform or remind people about some of the agriculture-related resources available to you.

Cooperative Extension works in Family and Consumer Sciences (what used to be called home economics, more or less), 4-H Youth Development, Leadership Development, and Community and Economic development, too, but I’m focusing on what we provide in the areas of agriculture and natural resources.

At our local office, I (the Cooperative Extension horticulture and forestry agent) take questions related to home horticulture (lawns, home gardens, etc.), commercial horticulture (fruit/vegetable/nursery crop/etc. production, commercial landscaping, pesticide applicator licensing, etc.), forestry, ponds and miscellaneous other topics related to plants, soil and critters.

By the time you read this, we should have a new Cooperative Extension livestock/field crops agent to answer questions in those two areas.

I would have tried to help you but don’t have expertise in those fields. We also have Cooperative Extension area agents who work multiple counties in poultry and dairy.

When you have a question and we don’t know the answer offhand or after doing some research, we have a number of resources from which to draw.

N.C. Cooperative Extension is affiliated with N.C. State University and N.C. A&T University, as well as county governments.

We have people at both universities who we can call on for help. A central purpose of Cooperative Extension is to “extend” the learning of the land-grant universities to the public. We provide education.

Besides taking questions, we also provide that education through a variety of classes and demonstrations, articles in the newspaper (no kidding) and online (http://randolph.ces.ncsu.edu), radio spots (WKXR 1260, just after the obituaries at noon), and newsletters.

If you’d like to get newsletters and be informed about upcoming classes, send me an e-mail to maryhelen_ferguson@ncsu.edu and let me know what topics interest you.

Although we like to help people learn and make decisions before they have a problem, a lot of times when people come to us they already have a problem.

It could be a weed in the pasture, a disease in the vegetables, insects on the shrubs, or something that just isn’t growing well.

Sometimes we can tell you immediately what seems to be the issue and, within a few minutes, suggest remedies and talk about how you might prevent the problem in the future.

Other times, we may need to send a sample of the plant to the Plant Disease and Insect Clinic at N.C. State or to a particular faculty or staff member.

These folks attempt to diagnose problems or identify weeds and then get back to in touch with us so that we can then help you.

The help of the NCDA&CS Agronomic Services lab can be, and is often, employed to help prevent or solve a problem.

A lot of people already know that they can take a soil sample, have it tested and get recommendations about what to do.

What people may not know is that the NCDA&CS lab provides several other services as well.

Do you have some compost or other organic material that you’re thinking about tilling into your garden but not know what it will add to your soil?

You can get a “waste” analysis.

Do you want to know about the water you’re using for irrigation or livestock watering, or if your pond water is healthy for fish?

You can get a solution analysis.

The NCDA&CS lab also provides tests for nematodes (microscopic worms) in soil, for nutrients and salts in soilless growing/potting media, and nutrients in plant tissues themselves.

Sometimes more than one of these tests is needed to figure out what is causing a problem on the farm or in the garden.

Unlike soil tests, there are fees for these other tests – the fee, per sample, is usually about $5.

We at the local Cooperative Extension office can help people interpret the reports they receive from NCDA&CS after getting these tests done.

Maybe you know a little more about what we do now. If you want to take advantage of our services, you can give us a call at 336-318-6000 or e-mail me at maryhelen_ferguson@ncsu.edu.





Mary Helen Ferguson is a horticulture agent with the Randolph County Center of the N.C. Cooperative Extension Service in Asheboro. She can be reached at (336) 318-6000 or by e-mail at maryhelen_ferguson@ncsu.edu