The Galaxy II Conference was held last week in Salt Lake City, Utah. Over
3,000 people attended with 30+ Extension faculty from Arizona. You might
recall that this conference occurs about every 5 years and involves the
major professional associations of Extension. Sharon Hoelscher Day was
installed as National President of FCS. Lisa Lauxman lost by a close
margin of votes for NAE4-HA President-Elect. The Farm Foundation had an
excellent public policy meeting (they paid my way to go) and CYFAR
celebrated past success and 5 more years of new funding. Many faculty
received awards and these awards will be noted in a subsequent issues of
TMN. Congratulations to all!
On September 25 and 26, the second annual Southwest Issues in Ag Labor
workshops were held at MAC and the Yuma County extension office. The
workshops were a joint effort between the U of A, Western Growers
Association and a guest presenter from Tanimura and Antle, Inc. A variety
of topics were covered ranging from labor transportation, employee
retention, and communication to a lesson dealing with the supervisor's role
in a change to the current farm operations (e.g.,new machinery adoption and
the possible displacement of workers). The lesson draws from material in
the book Ag Help Wanted: Guidelines for Managing Agricultural Labor written
by Trent Teegerstrom, U of A Dept. of Ag and Resource Economics and six
other authors from around the western United States. During both the MAC
and Yuma meetings, the discussion was lively and plans were set in place to
continue the meetings next year. A request was also made as to the
possibility of holding another meeting this November in Yuma, but no
definitive plans have been made to date.
Some agents have been searching for livestock mortality insurance providers.
While the risk is not monumental, young FFA and 4-H members learn about the
risks of being in business when they choose to raise a livestock project for
county and state fairs or national shows. Tough decisions need to be made that
will result in breaking even, turning a profit or taking a loss. Young entrepreneurs
can help minimize the risk of loss by taking out 4-H and FFA project insurance
through Farm Bureau. The 4-H leader or FFA advisor is required to sign the application
along with the student certifying the general health of the animal at the time
the policy is written. For more information, please contact your local Farm
Bureau agent or Neil Schneider at (480) 635-3608 or neilschneider@azfb.org.
Bob Peterson, Pima 4-H agent, has researched further and found information on
two other providers: National Livestock Insurance and American Livestock Insurance.
Contact him for more information (peterson@ag.arizona.edu).
Arizona Saves held their official launch public launch ceremony on
September 15, 2003 at the State Capitol along with a "thank you luncheon"
for partners and volunteers. Bank One sponsored a Fundraising Dinner at
the Arizona Club on the evening of the launch and Governor Janet Napolitano
proclaimed September 15 to be Arizona Saves Day throughout the state. Linda
Block was named to the Arizona Saves Board of Directors for 2004 and was
recognized at the morning ceremony. Sharon Hoelscher Day and Janice
Shelton were also present at the launch which is being piloted in Maricopa
County and will go statewide in 2004. Arizona Saves is modeled after Money
2000 that was developed by Cooperative Extension in 1995. It focuses on
helping people set savings and debt reduction goals and supports those
goals through free fee banking accounts at participating financial
institutions. Motivational coachers are trained to recruit participants
and wealth coaches are trained to keep participants motivated with
follow-up telephone calls and quarterly personal financial
newsletters. There is no cost for participants to enroll.
WEBSITES:
"Western Vegetable Quality" is a new website that can be viewed at http://cals.arizona.edu/vegetables/.
It was designed by Kelly Block, edited by Jorge Fonseca and provides information
on all aspects of production, handling, and fresh-cut processing of vegetables.
REMINDERS:
CALS faculty, staff, and students can still order any clothing item from the
selection of College of Agriculture and Life Sciences apparel. Deadline is October
31st. We are accepting personal checks, credit cards or IDBs (P-Cards are not
allowed). Make checks payable to "The University of Arizona." Shirt styles,
sizes and colors can be viewed at the following website: http://cals.arizona.edu/extension/clothing.
Please see the order form for logo designs. If you have any questions, contact
Jennifer Stapp (621-7205, jenstapp@ag.arizona.edu).
The Globe office moved last week. Their new physical address will be 5515
S. Apache Avenue, Globe, AZ, 85501-4367 and their new mailing address will
be PO Box 167, Globe, AZ 85502-0167. Phone numbers remain the same.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
October 2- "Annual Crops Field Day," 8:30am to 2:00pm, Safford Agricultural
Center. Registration from 8:30-9:00am.
October 3 - "Celebrating Twenty Years of Project CENTRL" is the theme for
the Class XVI Graduation Banquet to be held at the Mesa Sheraton. CENTRL
Class I held their first seminar session on October 6, 1983. Over 400 rural
leaders have graduated from the two-year leadership program since that
time. CENTRL will celebrate the Graduation of Class XVI and highlights of
the past 20 years of rural leadership development in partnership with
Arizona Cooperative Extension. A welcome will also be given to Mike Hauser,
Ag/4-H Youth Development Agent from Apache County, and 29 other successful
candidates who have been selected into CENTRL Class XVII.
April 28, 2004 - University of Arizona Water Resources Research Center
Annual Conference and the Department of Agricultural Economics Annual
Agribusiness Forum are combining in 2004 to present a one day conference on
"The Future of Agricultural Water Use in Arizona", 8:00-5:00, Casa
Grande. More information will follow.