By Sara StrongRock County could lose its Extension Office and staff after the state reworks the program … yet again.It appears it will be up to the county to pay for educators and staff if the state doesn’t set up one of about 20 regional offices in Rock County.If a regional office isn’t located here, and, if the county doesn’t decide to absorb the extra costs of staffing one itself, county residents will still have access to Extension services.County officials won’t know until mid-July where the regional Extension offices will be located, but they will be completely state and federally funded.Pipestone and Rock County Extension Director Holli Arp said, "I do think there’s some real value in the plan."This latest change was announced last week. The University of Minnesota Extension Office is discontinuing employment of county educators. Instead, regional offices will house all the educators where programs and services will be headquartered.Local programs and services can be contracted through Extension. Counties, agencies and non-profits can choose to contract for the programs they most want and can afford.Arp said counties have told Extension they would like to customize what their county offices offer in programs, and that’s what this new system is supposed to do. The county currently pays $110,544 in salaries, benefits and rent to keep Extension in the county.The county pays 60 percent of the 4-H Coordinator’s salary, compared with 40 percent of educators’ salaries. In the future, Rock County will more clearly know exactly what the educators are bringing to the county and the county will pay accordingly. Some services will probably still be free, however.The days of seeking advice from an Extension Office farming expert or home economist are almost a thing of the past, even before the latest cuts. Fewer people use Extension in the way they used to, with more experts available from places such as seed companies, for example.Dr. Charles Casey, Extension dean and director said, "Our county partners have told us that if they are going to meet their budget constraints and be able to provide some Extension programs for their counties, they need the flexibility to choose which Extension programs, services and positions they pay for."The new Extension model will allow counties to focus its efforts on local priorities.In Rock County, the 4-H program has been a particular area of concern. Arp said that 4-H will have a program in the county through Extension, even with this new model. Counties will likely have to invest in 4-H, at least to the extent it does now in order to keep the program strong.In Rock County, 190 participate in the various 4-H clubs. Statewide, Extension says that 800,000 Minnesotans benefit from Extension, including 4-H, agriculture production education, Master Gardeners, nutrition education programs and leadership development training.Casey said, "These changes are certainly not the most timely. But as many state leaders have said over the past months, none of us can afford to keep doing business as usual."
