CARET is not a vegetable

What is CARET? It is the Council for Agricultural Research, Extension and Teaching (CARET) and its members are advocates for land-grant agricultural programs in research, extension and teaching. They represent Michigan State University (MSU) with county officials and state legislators, and advocate for us on a federal level. Our three CARET representatives are Glenn Preston, Char Wenham and Doug Lewis.

Glenn is a dairy farmer, Char is a business development consultant, and Doug is an attorney and the director of Student Legal Services at the University of Michigan. What do they all have in common? MSU Extension has been an active and meaningful part of their lives. They want to carry their message to our leaders and decision makers at the local, state and federal levels.

Last week, I attended the CARET Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. with our CARET representatives and had the chance to meet with our Congressional offices. Dr. George Smith, associate director of AgBioResearch, and Dr. Mike Kovacic, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources director of stakeholder relations, were the other members of our group. The highlight of our time in Washington, D.C. was visiting our congressional representatives and sharing about the work that is going on at MSU. We also had a chance to spend time with Sen. Debbie Stabenow and Sen. Gary Peters. These visits provide an opportunity to remind them of the work that we do, and learn from them about concerns and opportunities that we may be poised to address.

Meeting with Senator Stabenow at Good Morning Michigan, March 8. From left to right: Jeff Dwyer, Mike Kovacic, Char Wenham, Senator Stabenow, Doug Lewis, George Smith and Glenn Preston. Photo courtesy of Senator Stabenow.

MSU Christmas tree resources abound

If you’re a procrastinator and you haven’t purchased your Christmas tree yet or even if you’ve had it up and decorated for weeks, you’ll want to listen to a conversation on WKAR. Kirk Heinze, host of Greening of the Great Lakes, interviews Bert Cregg, Michigan State University Extension specialist and associate professor of horticulture and forestry, on how to pick out, care for and dispose of a live Christmas tree: http://www.mlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2015/11/michigans_christmas_tree_indus.html

(After clicking on the above link, scroll down for the link to the conversation.)

Dr. Cregg mentions that many people have never had a real Christmas tree. To allay their doubts and fears, he and his team have developed programs and educational resources. One such resource is an MSU Extension article on first-time tree buying by Dr. Cregg and senior Extension educator Jill O’Donnell:

http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/buying_your_first_farm_grown_christmas_tree

Scroll down on the same page to find more articles, a Michigan Fresh fact sheet Michigan Christmas Trees (written by Jill O’Donnell, Bert Cregg and Extension educator Erin Lizotte) and videos produced by Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR) Communications on selecting and caring for your tree.

Here’s a link to 14 new 15-second videos produced by ANR Communications giving species-specific information regarding Christmas trees: http://bit.ly/1ORVlc4. Retailers can use QR codes that link to the videos on tree tags to help consumers optimize tree quality and longevity.

In addition to educating the public, MSU Extension and AgBioResearch specialists and scientists are busy doing research that will assist growers with fertilization management. They’re also working with genetic selection, finding and identifying the species and types of trees that adapt best to Michigan growing conditions.

Watch this ANR Communications-produced video on Christmas tree research, part of the Did You Know? video series:

The video will be shown on WKAR on the following dates and times:

• WKAR HD: Sat., Dec. 19, 4:57 p.m.
• WKAR HD: Mon., Dec. 21, 12:27 a.m.
• WKAR HD: Tues., Dec. 22, 10:57 p.m.
• WKAR CRT (Create): Tues., Dec. 22, 3:56 p.m.

Statewide MSU Extension and ABR Issue ID survey deadline extended

As of today, approximately two-thirds of the district focus group sessions identifying community needs and issues have taken place. Participation has been high and the preliminary feedback has been very positive. There are a few focus groups still scheduled for November, but most of the remaining sessions will take place in January.

Back in August, we asked assistance from all Michigan State University Extension staff to help promote our online Issue Identification (Issue ID) Survey, which we launched in September. As you know, the survey is designed to collect input from Michigan residents 18 years and older. Like the information collected through the district focus group sessions, this input will be used to shape future MSU Extension educational programming and MSU AgBioResearch research.

Earlier this month, we released multiple language versions of the survey. It is now currently available online not only in English but also in Spanish. In addition, it’s available in hard-copy form in English, Spanish and Arabic. Originally, the survey deadline was set at Nov. 15; however, we’ve decided to extend that deadline to Jan. 31, 2016, in part, to promote the multiple language versions but also to increase input from others throughout the state as well, making sure we collect data from a broad audience.

We know you’ve done your part, because responses from the survey are continuing to come in. However, we ask that you continue to promote the survey. Some ideas to further promote the survey follow:

 

• Share on Listservs: Share information about the survey with Listservs and include it in your communication. Include the link to this MSU Extension article about the survey.
• Share with partners and friends: Identify organizations that can help MSU Extension reach target audiences who might not already be receiving information from MSU Extension. Often, partner organizations and friends are happy to help push the survey to their contacts.
• Share the link directly to the survey when appropriate: msue.edu/focus
• Share through your email: Add this sentence to your Outlook signature and embed the link: Take the MSU Extension and AgBioResearch Survey to Sharpen Our Focus.
• Share through social media: Look for messages you can share on the MSU Extension Facebook and Twitter Also, please encourage partner organizations to use their social media accounts to help spread the word about the survey.
• Share with media contacts: While Agriculture and Natural Resources Communications is pushing out information about the survey to print, digital, radio and television media, you are encouraged to share with any personal media contacts. That extra push may result in more media placements.
• Share the Issue ID handout provided on SharePoint: You can find it located in the Survey Promotional Materials folder by going to MSUE All Staff ‒ FEC Action Teams ‒ Issues Identification Team ‒ Survey Promotional Materials.

We’ll all look forward to seeing the results of our efforts!

Making It in Michigan Conference honors entrepreneurs, director

The eighth annual Making It in Michigan conference and Premier Specialty Food Marketplace Trade Show took place Nov. 10 at the Lansing Center in Lansing. This year’s theme was “Ingredients for Success – Components and Processes for Safe, Sound and Smart Product Development.”

The Michigan State University Product Center hosts the conference. The Product Center was established in 2003 with funds from AgBioResearch and MSU Extension to improve economic opportunities in the Michigan agriculture, food and natural resource sectors.

Chris Peterson, Nowlin Chair for Consumer-Responsive Agriculture in the Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics, is the center’s director. Dean Fred Poston presented Dr. Peterson with a tribute letter sent on behalf of Gov. Rick Snyder. In the letter, the governor expressed deep appreciation for his years of dedication through his work with the Product Center.

Michigan State University (MSU) College of Agriculture and Natural Resources Dean Fred Poston (left) reads from the tribute letter presented to Dr. Chris Peterson, MSU Product Center director, (right) on behalf of Gov. Rick Snyder at the Making It in Michigan Conference at the Lansing Center in Lansing, Mich., Nov. 10, 2015. Photo credit: Kraig Ehm

The letter said in part, “On behalf of the people of Michigan, thank you for your dedication and commitment in helping Michigan businesses develop and commercialize goods in the food, agriculture, and bio economy industries. Utilizing the talent that Michigan has to offer is key to our comeback and reinvention. I am confident our state and countless individuals will long reap the rewards of your positive contributions.”

Product Center innovation counselors regularly assist entrepreneurs in making critical marketing, business and product decisions. As you view the following videos of Making It in Michigan award winners, you’ll get an idea of just how important the counselor-client relationship is. Watch as winners talk about the help and guidance they received from the Product Center. Agriculture and Natural Resources Communications television producer/director Kraig Ehm and Matt Birbeck of the Product Center produced the videos.

Click on the embedded links in the award title to watch:

Director’s Award: Mary Safie, president and CEO, Safie’s Specialty Foods

Barrier Buster: Joseph Oginsky, baker and business manager, Town-to-Town Gourmet Pastries

Value-Added Agricultural: Bonnie Steinman, public relations, Hop Head Farms

Entrepreneur of the Year: Brian Rudolph, co-founder, Banza

Start-Up to Watch: Jill Bommarito, president and founder, Ethel’s Edibles

 

Extension specialist receives national honor from American Association of Agricultural Education

Earlier this month, Matt Raven, Michigan State University Extension specialist, was honored as a senior fellow in the American Association of Agricultural Education (AAAE) during their national conference May 19-22 in San Antonio, Texas. The purpose of the Senior Fellow award is to recognize those members of the association who have made exceptional and sustained contributions to the profession and who have more than 20 years of active service at the university level. With about 27 years of involvement, his experience more than fit the bill!

The AAAE, the main professional association for people involved with agriculture education, is dedicated to studying, applying, and promoting the teaching and learning processes in agriculture. Matt has been extensively involved in promoting agriculture education through his work as a leader in MSU Extension’s agriculture, food and natural resources program as well as maintaining a teaching schedule as a professor in the Department of Community Sustainability and acting as the faculty coordinator for the Upper Peninsula Research and Extension Center.

No more than three senior fellows may be elected in a calendar year. Matt was nominated by former colleagues Michael Newman and Jacquelyn Deeds at Mississippi State University, where he served as a faculty member from 1994 to 2009.

“It’s a huge honor because when you look back at the people who’ve received it before me, my mentors are on there. Some of the biggest names and scholars of our profession are on that list,” said Matt. “To be in the company of people I’ve looked up to for three decades is a huge honor.”

Matt is joining the ranks of leaders in agricultural education. See the full list of previous awardees on the AAAE website. Congratulations, Matt!

Stats you can use to show our impact

Last week, I wrote about the testimonies we have been making to encourage our state legislators to understand the value of Michigan State University Extension. While the administration may be taking on the more overarching conversations on the state level, the strategic communications that you all have on a day-to-day basis across the state are truly essential and can help us all make an even bigger impact. One of the tools that can help prepare you for those conversations is the 2013-2014 Legislative Report.

To prepare this annual report, our colleagues in Agriculture and Natural Resources Communications, the communications staff in AgBioResearch, with help from Jean Schueller, Mary Weinzweig, Bruce Haas, Steve Miller and Brenda Reau, pull our data from the Michigan Planning and Reporting System (MI PRS). It is then transformed into impact stories, data factoids as well as funding information presented with pie charts and infographics. The joint report from Michigan State University Extension and MSU AgBioResearch is then shared with our partners and also posted online.

This report can help facilitate some of the conversations you have with potential partners and current contacts alike. If you aren’t sure what is happening outside of your work team, you can read simple descriptions of programming and their impacts. If you need some support materials to describe your own programming, you will find it in easily digestible statements that you can share with the people you interact with.

Furthermore, the graphics describing our impacts in the beginning of the report can be useful to illustrate the impacts with more than just numbers, and the colorful presentation makes it friendlier to a broad range of audiences.

You can download a PDF of this and previous year’s reports on our website.

Representing MSU Extension and AgBioResearch to the state Senate

Last week, members of Michigan State University (MSU) Extension and AgBioResearch administration had the opportunity to testify before the Michigan Senate Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee and the Michigan House of Representatives Agriculture Committee. We were lucky to be able to state our case to both committees, highlighting MSU Extension programming and our impacts on the state.

The reason we testify in front of the Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee every year after the governor’s budget proposal comes out is to ensure that the state Congress will understand our impact when they consider voting for or against the proposal. This year’s budget proposal recommended that we receive a 2 percent increase in funding – this is great news, and a whole tenth of a percent higher than the rest of higher education. This year, we also testified before the Agriculture Committee, and a big thank you to Mike Kovacic for opening that door for us with that committee.

George Smith, associate director of AgBioResearch, and I testified before the Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee at Central Michigan University. I was part of the team that testified for the House Agriculture Committee in Lansing; others included Mike Kovacic, director of stakeholder relations; Doug Buhler, director of AgBioResearch; and John Baker, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine; with an assist from Kelly Millenbah, associate dean of the MSU College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Our testimonies to the committees were very well received – they were very interested in hearing about the very great work that you are all doing. In this case, I’m just the messenger, whereas you are all out there doing the work, and thank you all for having such great stories to tell. There will be another opportunity to testify in front of the Michigan House of Representatives Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee next month. We anticipate that it will be just as successful.

Making It in Michigan Conference welcomes Kroger and Garden Fresh Gourmet

The seventh annual Making It in Michigan conference and Premier Specialty Food Marketplace Trade Show will take place Nov. 12 at the Lansing Center in downtown Lansing, Michigan. This year’s conference theme is “Fresh Thinking for Success – New Ideas for Building an Iconic Brand and Instilling Brand Engagement With Retailers and Customers.”

The Michigan State University Product Center Food-Ag-Bio designed this conference for those who are involved in the food industry as well as those who are looking to make their food business idea a reality.

The MSU Product Center website says that, “Conference attendees will be equipped with the practical knowledge and industry resources needed to move an idea from the concept stage to a finished and marketable product. Attendees will be able to evaluate and refine business ideas, connecting with industry experts that offer insights making their businesses more efficient and profitable.”

This year, the MSU Product Center is pleased to announce Garden Fresh Gourmet founder Jack Aronson and co-CEO John J. Latella as members on the keynote panel. Garden Fresh Gourmet is a Michigan business that started out as part of a restaurant venture, but has grown to earn more than 450 major national and international awards for its products, and to become the single largest producer of fresh salsa in North America. Both business leaders will share the company story and field questions from the gathering of entrepreneurs and small businesses.

Kroger is also a welcome addition as a featured partner for the event. Kroger and the MSU Product Center have collaborated over the past years in creating an in-store marketplace for Michigan-grown and Michigan-made products. Their support of Making It in Michigan is an excellent way to continue the partnership.

“We highly value Kroger’s initiative to create a dedicated Michigan section promoting Michigan companies and showcasing the diversity and assortment of great local food,” says Matt Birbeck, MSU Product Center’s High Impact Venture Action Team project manager.

It’s not too late to register! Conference registration includes breakfast, lunch, educational sessions, digital access to the educational sessions and reference materials, and admission to the Marketplace Trade Show. Early conference registration is $79. After Nov. 1, conference registration is $99. Vendor registration is $185. Register on the Product Center website.

The MSU Product Center was established in 2003 with funds from AgBioResearch and Michigan State University Extension to improve economic opportunities in the Michigan agriculture, food and natural resource sectors.

Local cherries and beer: The impact of the Northwest Michigan Horticultural Research Station

Nikki Rothwell, coordinator of the Northwest Michigan Horticultural Research Station and a Michigan State University Extension specialist, was recently highlighted on Greening of the Great Lakes, hosted by Kirk Heinze. She was also written about in the MLive article “Michigan State University Research and Michigan Agriculture Are Making a Global Impact.”

The coverage went into detail about how the station assists commercial fruit growers in the “fruit belt” of Northwest Michigan.

When describing the impact of the station on the area, Nikki said, “It’s the hub of activity, research and information for the Michigan grower community.”

One of the major areas of research is hops production.

According to Nikki in her interview, “The major market for local hops is microbreweries. Locality is something consumers really embrace and there’s something about knowing that the hops used to make your beer were grown by a local farmer.”

With the help of the Northwest Michigan Horticultural Research Station, local growers are selling to local microbreweries, which keeps the entire production cycle local. The microbrewery market is growing as well, because many Michiganders appreciate the nature of supporting the local producer.

Hops are not the only crops being researched by the station – Rothwell spoke about the station’s contribution to the growth of the market for Michigan cherries across the country: specifically the Hungarian Balaton cherry.

“There are markets in New York City and Chicago with people from Eastern European descent that really miss their cherries from their homeland. There’s a company that trucks our Balaton cherries from northern Michigan all the way back to those markets and they get sold like hot cakes,” she said.

To see the full article and hear the interview, visit “Michigan State University Research and Michigan Agriculture Are Making a Global Impact” on MLive.

N:15 ‒ ANR Communication creates news in 15 seconds

In today’s fast-paced and constantly connected world of smartphones, social media and more, we have to stay competitive if we want to attract people to our material as they scroll over multiple news items a day. Michigan State University Extension is well known throughout the state in the agriculture community and among people in the older population, who are more likely to rely on traditional news delivery. But how can we make sure that we’re catching the eye of the younger generation who want information now?

Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR) Communications is working to create 15-second videos that will offer a quick-pitch delivery of relevant news. These videos could work either as an introduction, to entice viewers to watch a longer video or to read an article, or as a full explanation of a concept, such as in “How to Convert Grams of Sugar into Teaspoons.

Kraig Ehm and Katie Gervasi, who lead the project, have created a few short videos based on content they already have. They’ve found that they can film an entire recipe in 15 seconds, as they did on this video:

The possibilities are endless!

Check out the ANR N:15 YouTube Channel to see the videos created so far, and stay tuned for more to come!