Tuesday Morning Notes

June 6th, 2000

Rob Grumbles and I met with faculty and administrators in several Utah counties last week in St. George, to discuss and plan multistate efforts. We also met with Nevada Cooperative Extension. We need to work out a common reporting mechanism for multistate efforts consistent with the accountability requirements for federal funds as required by the recent Farm Bill. My thanks to Rob for setting up these meetings.

* Cooperative Extension was represented at the National Nutrition Summit in Washington, D.C. by Lucy Bradley, Extension Agent, Maricopa County and Leslie Honaker, Program Coordinator. Two thousand nutrition experts from all over the country as well as plenty of dignitaries were on hand to celebrate the new dietary guidelines and develop a national plan of action for combating obesity and hunger. Alice Trujillo, principal of Lowell Elementary School, Leslie Honaker, and Lucy Bradley went to promote school gardening and Cooperative Extension as effective tools for developing lifelong healthy nutrition and physical activity patterns. They showcased the Lowell School Gardening program in central Phoenix. Hundreds of strategies were proposed; school gardening made it through the two part elimination process to be included in the final short list of effective strategies to move the national nutrition campaign forward. A summary of the points raised, challenges issued, and the resulting plan of action can soon be found on the conference website.
http://summit.iqsolutions.com

* The Agriculture in the Classroom project has just launched a new listserv - agclassroom - for those interested in agricultural literacy efforts. All are welcome to join by subscribing to agclassroom@reeusda.gov.
- Send an e-mail message to majordomo@reeusda.gov. - Type the command: subscribe agclassroom@reeusda.gov . For more information, contact Dorothy Jackson (phone: 202-720-7925; e-mail djackson@reeusda.gov) in Science and Education Resources Development, Higher Education Programs (SERD/HEP).

* Veterinary Science Candidate S. Peder Cuneo, will present his seminar entitled "Beef Cattle Health Problems in Drought," on Thursday, June 8, 9:30 AM at the Maricopa County Cooperative Extension office, Ocotillo Room. On Friday, June 9, a different seminar entitled "Trace Mineral Deficiency Impact on Arizona Producers" will be presented by Dr. Cuneo at 11:00 AM in the Marley Auditorium. - Dawn Capucille will present her seminar entitled "Protecting the Safety of Our Beef Supply," on Thursday, June 15, 9:30 AM at the Maricopa County Cooperative Extension office, Palo Verde Room. On Friday June 16, her next seminar entitled "Assessing the Risk of Salmonella Spread by Feeding a Contaminated By-Product: A Pre-Harvest Food Safety Issue" will take place at 11:00 AM in the Marley Auditorium. Please mark your calendars and plan to attend.

* Cotton Pest Management and Crop Monitoring Workshop, Thursday, June 15, 2000 at the Elk's Lodge in Buckeye. Please contact Jeff Silvertooth for more information.