Saluting 100 Years Of Cooperative Extension Service [Opinion]
May 6, 2014 
This month marks the 100th anniversary of the Cooperative Extension Service, a national system linking land-grant universities with the communities they serve. The people who work in Cooperative Extension have helped a lot of farmers over the past century, including many of you fruit growers.
They’ve also been a big help to me personally, so I thought I would salute the 100-plus Extension folks who have helped me produce American/Western Fruit Grower through the years. Before I thank them, a few notes on this list:
It doesn’t include all the many people I have known who work in Extension but who work in areas not specifically related to fruits and nuts, such as vegetable crops, nutrition, etc.
It also doesn’t include the many researchers who have helped me with fruit and nut stories, such as those with the USDA-Agricultural Research Service or those who work for universities but aren’t under the Extension umbrella. Though a few probably snuck through.
I wasn’t initially going to include retirees or others who no longer work for Extension for one reason or another, but then I figured, heck, some were a big help and they deserve my thanks. But because I only thought of that partway through my compilation — necessarily hasty in my deadline-driven business — I’m sure I left a few of those former Extension folks off. Sorry about that.
Sorry, too, to those I just forgot. What bothers me is that I just know a few of these people are among my favorites. Funny how life can be like that. I can only take solace in the fact that a number of people on this list won’t remember me.
This list is heavily weighted to the West, especially California, because that’s where most of the fruit is grown, that’s where I live, and I used to focus on the West. Because of that, I’d appreciate it a great deal if any of you growers in the East or Midwest would shoot me an email about how your Extension person helped you, or why he or she is just a cool individual. I wouldn’t mind adding a few more names to this list.
- University of Massachusetts: Duane Greene, Jon Clements.
- Cornell University: Arthur M. Agnello, Betsy Bihn, David Kain, David Rosenberger, Hans Walter-Peterson, Mario Miranda Sazo, Steve Hoying, Terence Robinson
- Rutgers University: Win Cowgill
- Pennsylvania State University: George Greene, Tara Baugher
- North Carolina State University: Hannah Burrack, Wayne Mitchem
- University of Florida: James Olmstead
- Ohio State University: Dave Ferree
- Michigan State University: Greg Lang, John Wise, Mark Longstroth, Phil Schwallier
- University of Illinois: Mosbah Kushad
- University of Idaho: Essie Fallahi
- University of California: Abhaya Dandekar, Allan Fulton, Beth Grafton-Cardwell, Bill Coates, Bill Olson, Bill Peacock, Blake Sanden, Bob Bugg, Brad Hanson, Brent Holtz, Carlos Crisosto, Carole Meredith, Carolyn DeBuse, Carolyn Pickel, Chuck Ingels, Craig Kallsen, David Doll, David Goldhamer, David Haviland, Deborah Golino, Ed Weber, Elizabeth Mitcham, Eric Mussen, Frank Zalom, Gregory Billikopf, Gurreet Brar, Janet Caprile, Janine Hasey, Jennifer Hashim, Jim Adaskaveg, Jim Thompson, Jim Wolpert, John Edstrom, John Roncoroni, Joseph Connell, Kathleen Kelley Anderson, Kevin Day, Lucia Varela, Mario Moratorio, Mario Viveros, Mark Battany, Mark Bolda, Matthew Fidelibus, Maxwell Norton, Michael McKenry, Monica Cooper, Philip Martin Rhonda Smith, Richard Buchner, Roberta Cook, Roger Baldwin, Roger Duncan, Ted DeJong, Themis Michailides, Trevor Suslow, Walt Bentley, Walter Leal, Wilbur Reil
- Oregon State University: Brian Tuck, Clark Seavert, Jim Sloan, Clive Kaiser, Lynn Ketchum, Lynn Long, Vaughn Walton, Wei Yang
- Washington State University: Allan Felsot, Desmond Layne, Don Elfving, Douglas Walsh, Eugene Kupferman, Fran Pierce, Gerrit Hoogenboom, Gwen Hoheisel, Jianguang Zhang, Jim McFerson, John Dunley, Karen Lewis, Kate Evans, Ken Eastwell, Lynell K. Tanigoshi, Matthew Whiting, Michael Bush, Mike Doerr, Nnadozie Oraguzie, Tim Smith, Tom Auvil, Tom Schotzko.
With the deep cuts in funding at land-grant universities, Extension is going through something of a metamorphosis right now. May it emerge like a butterfly, fast and agile, and able to adapt to changing times.
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