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Meetings To Focus
On Future Direction Of Agriculture
AUBURN, Jan. 6,
2004 —
Alabama residents will have the opportunity to offer their input on
the future direction of the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, the
Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station and six regional agricultural
research and extension centers located across the state during an
upcoming series of public meetings.
Dr. Paul Mask,
assistant director for agriculture, forestry and natural resources
with the Extension System, says the meetings will allow leaders from
both organizations to hear the concerns and needs of their
constituents.
“These meetings
offer all Alabamians, but especially farmers and others in
agribusiness, an opportunity to tell us what they need in terms of
Extension outreach programs as well as research,” said Mask.
Each of the six
meetings will last two hours and each will begin at 6 p.m.
·
Jan.
26 Wiregrass Research and Extension Center, Headland
·
Jan.
27 Gulf Coast Research and Extension Center, Fairhope
·
Jan.
28 Tennessee Valley Research and Extension Center, Belle Mina
·
Jan.
29 Bevill Enrichment Center in Rainsville, regarding the Sand
Mountain Research and
Extension
Center
in Crossville
·
Feb.
3 Alabama Power Company in Clanton, regarding the
Chilton Area Research and
Extension
Center
·
Feb.
4 Black Belt Research and
Extension
Center,
Marion Junction
The AAES is
developing a long-range strategic plan that includes establishing
research priorities for these six centers. Interim AAES Director John
Jensen said the regional public meetings are critical to that process.
“Our goal is to
make these centers most relevant to the regions they serve, and
stakeholder input on current and future issues and on opportunities
that exist in their areas of the state is essential if we are to
achieve that goal,” Jensen said.
Draft proposals
call for future AAES research and Extension education activities at
the centers to focus on the following:
-
economic growth
through agriculture in west
Alabama
(Black Belt center)
-
emerging
agricultural enterprises in the rural-urban interface (Gulf Coast
center)
-
adaptation of
Wiregrass agriculture to a new peanut program (Wiregrass center)
-
sustainable
production and marketing of family farm foods (Chilton area center)
-
environmental
and nutrient management systems (Sand Mountain center)
-
enhancement of
production with precision agriculture and other new technologies
(Tennessee Valley center)
The regional
meetings will give AAES and Extension stakeholders and the general
public the opportunity to offer insight and input on these proposed
initiatives as well as on other matters.
For more
information about the regional sessions, contact Jim Bannon at (334)
844-5611 or
bannojs@auburn.edu.
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