North Carolina Cooperative Extension
delivering the university based research
for economic prosperity
a sound environment and a better quality of
life for all North Carolina's citizens.
North Carolina Cooperative Extension - we
put the power of knowledge to work.
At the heart of the North Carolina Cooperative Extension lives a deep-rooted belief
that helping people put knowledge to work
will improve the quality of their lives.
This mission is the driving force behind nearly
one hundred years of cooperative extension
work in North Carolina.
By delivering research-based knowledge from
the state's two land grant universities,
North Carolina State University
and North Carolina A&T State University, extension
has helped the state address the challenges
of the times through wars, depression, and prosperity.
In 1914, the Smith-Lever Act formally
established the Agricultural Extension Service
known today as Cooperative Extension.
The state's 4-H Youth Development program
took root around that time
as youth corn and canning clubs flourished.
During World War I, Extension helped control
the boll weevil,
one of the state deadliest threats to cotton
production.
With World War II came victory gardens and
scrap metal drives.  And in the decades following the war,
Extension expanded into urban areas to address 
new social and environmental issues.  
 To broaden the resources available to counties, 
Extension recently launched the gateway county initiative
which engages universities and communities
in two-way exchanges
that address high priority local needs.
Today, North Carolina Cooperative Extension
comprises a vast network of people and programs
throughout all 100 North Carolina counties
and the Cherokee Reservation.
This includes a thirty one member State
Advisory Council
and nearly twenty thousand advisory leaders
statewide who access local needs and recommend
programming to address those needs.
Driven by a mission that's stronger than ever,
Extension continues to meet the needs of changing
times, working hard to strengthen the economy,
protect the environment and improve the quality
of life for all North Carolinians.
When hurricanes Fran, Floyd, and Isabel spread
destruction across North Carolina,
assistance flowed to the state 
from around the country,
so when Katrina and Rita devastated the gulf 
coast in September of 2005,
North Carolina 4-H'ers decided to
return the favor.
Helpful Hands, Healing Hearts has been called
the largest 4-H project since World War II.
Youth across the state, demonstrated their compassion
by raising money and collecting supplies for
for 4-H'ers and their families in 
Mississippi and Louisiana.
Youth collected hygiene supplies for essential kits
and school supplies and small toys for children's
clover kits.  In October, nearly eight thousand
of these kits were delivered by tractor trailer
to the gulf region.
More than twenty one thousand dollars was
also raised and donated
to assist 4-H and Cooperative Extension
families who lost so much to the storms.
This is an extraordinary moment in NC State's
history because it is the greatest
utilization of and mobilization of 
our network we've ever had.
I don't want that to get lost in a lot of what we say
today because you are a part of something that 
is historic - something that I believe will have
not only impact today but for many years
to come as we think about
how we help others.
As you know, Cooperative Extension's mission
is to help (and philosophy) is to help
people put knowledge to work.
I must say that this project had not only put
knowledge to work
but it also epitomizes the 4-H motto 
of making the best better.
But that's what America's all about
and you are showing folks that North Carolina
really cares, but more importantly, you're 
saying that 4-H'ers really do care.
And it's all about helping one another.
The truth is that Helpful Hands, Healing Hearts
is a great slogan, but
that's what 4-H has always been about.
From orange fleshed watermelons to extra 
sweet tomatoes, unique new crops are 
sprouting up all over North Carolina
thanks to the North Carolina Specialty
Crops Program.
The specialty crops program is a unique partnership
between North Carolina State University,
the extension service, and the North Carolina 
Department of Agriculture and 
Consumer Services and it's a
joint effort
they were doing to develop new crops and develop
the marketing systems to go with those new crops.
So how do you items like white fleshed peaches
make it onto grocery store shelves?
The specialty crops program solicits proposals
from county agents,
researchers and industry on probable new
crops then evaluates each crop's chances for success.
Once a new crop is under development, marketing
specialists conduct in store sampling
and consult with buyers to determine consumer
demand.
When we've gone through all the process of
looking at a product and its market potential
and packaging the information and
production practices, I take it out to the growers
and we actually
produce the crop.  We start out on a limited scale
and we learn from feedback from doing
it out on the farm,  we have actually have feedback
from the farm
and we go forward with the marketing.
And that's what we're looking for North Carolina,
the speciality things that make our farmers more
money.
Cooperative Extension has a long history of
providing education
to help families understand how good nutrition
and physical activity
can help adults and children avoid preventable
conditions like diabetes
and heart disease.
Several recent Extension initiatives are designed
to help young and old alike lead healthier
lifestyles.
Color me Healthy is a nutrition education
program that targets four and five year olds
in child care settings.
Cooperative Extension trains child care workers
in a curriculum to use colorful posters,
photographs, and music to teach children the
benefits of good nutrition and physical activity.
Learning these lessons while they're young
may help children carry healthy lifestyles
into adulthood.
Cooperative Extension is a partner in two efforts
to improve nutrition and physical activity
among school children as well.
Extension, along with the state division of
public health,
and the department of public instruction
develop nutrition and physical activity standards
for schools.
The standards give schools target goals to
improve what students eat 
and how active they are in school.
Extension's nutrition programs also target
adults
at the popular grilling and chilling event
held in western North Carolina,
adults learn to create healthy dishes from
commodities produced locally.
This year's event included demonstrations
on grilled beef dishes as well as fresh fruit
and vegetables dishes.  It was very good.  
I enjoyed all of it.
Controlling insect populations where they aren't
welcome has long challenged researchers.
In recent years, entomologists at North Carolina's
land-grant universities
have focused on ways to curb insect intrusion
with no harm to humans and the environment.
It's called IPM or integrated pest management.
North Carolina Cooperative Extension has launched
an IPM information campaign
among state school leaders.
Extension specialists explain how IPM
can help control insect infestation in school
properties while limiting the use of pesticides.
IPM is especially important to schools because
active children can easily come in contact
with pesticide residue on floors and walls.
A goal of IPM is to uncover the reasons
that cause a pest problem
and solve the root problem before taking further
action.
In 2004, Dr. Godfrey Nalyanya,
an extension associate for urban IPM, presented
a series of workshops on integrated pest management.
He convinced several school districts to adopt
the IPM approach.   He says that more attention to
school safety
and fewer chemicals
are attractive to teachers, students, and parents.
North Carolina's Department of Public
Instruction agrees.
Ben Matthews, director of school support says
anything we can do to reduce the use of chemicals
it's good for the state.
If NC State researchers and extension specialists
have their way,
you add southern flounder to the list of
barnyard animals.
Researchers at the university's fish barn facility
in Raleigh
are perfecting indoor flounder production,
adding another product to the state's growing
aquaculture industry.
Cooperative Extension has been instrumental
in building the state's production
from a handful of trout ponds and a few acres
of catfish ponds
to the fifty four million dollar business
it is today.
North Carolina now supports more than
two thousand acres of catfish ponds
and seven hundred sixty acres of hybrid striped
bass ponds.
The state is the second leading producer of
trout in the nation.
Add that to nine commercial indoor fish barns,
with three more on the way,
and you see the growth potential ahead.
Researchers and extension professionals are
busy working to improve the productivity of
aquaculture operations.
Agents, like Mike Finsko,
are helping growers exploring new aquaculture species
like fresh water prawns,
large shrimp raised in outdoor ponds.
They're also helping to seek funding for
more a new enterprises
as well as building better markets for the
state's seafood producers.
North Carolina Cooperative Extension
through our network of campus specialists,
county field faculty, volunteers and advisers,
we help families businesses and communities
achieve prosperity today
and meet the challenges of tomorrow.
North Carolina Cooperative Extension -
Knowledge is Power.
