Source

CJ Holl of Wells, Minn., makes award-winning smoked nuts that he sells online and in stores throughout southern Minnesota. He’s also a city administrator there, and has worked with University of Minnesota Extension to help keep all businesses strong.

“We want the focus to be on the 235,000 people buried here and their families,” says Trevor Blake, assistant gardener at Fort Snelling National Cemetery. Blake took the Master Gardener core course taught by U of M Extension in order to better understand challenges facing the 436-acre resting place for U.S. military veterans.

Growing fruits and vegetables is how many new and younger farmers get started farming. But gaining the knowledge can be tough for growers of a crop like pumpkins, for which there have never been research trials in Minnesota. Until now.

Credits and contact information for Source magazine, Spring 2019 issue.

Cora Rost was one of 7,400 Minnesota youth who studied photography through 4-H last year.

2,400 Extension Master Gardeners volunteer across Minnesota, but like a caterpillar morphing into a butterfly, it’s a process to become one. Master Gardeners bring a lot of experience with them and are hungry for more.

More than 23,000 youth participate in University of Minnesota Extension’s 4-H creative and performing arts experiences across Minnesota each year. Performing arts programs in particular build confidence, leadership skills and friendships that last a lifetime.

University of Minnesota Extension helps Minnesota’s child care providers make meals and snack time yummy, nutritious and affordable.

When University of Minnesota Extension was founded in 1909, Extension educators were often immigrants or children of immigrants themselves. They shared farmed techniques that worked for Minnesota’s soil, climate and farm-family needs.

There is no reason to believe the next 50 years will be less dramatic for the dairy industry than the past 50 years. The pace of change is high in consumer demands, climate, genetics, robotics and other technology.