Blt-Lancastar Farming, Saturday, May IS, 1987
ALBANY, N.Y. - The county
agent system founded three
quarters of a century ago to im
prove the lot of farm families
should devote its attention in the
21st century to water pollution,
urban youth, housing and public
health issues, including AIDS, a
new report says.
The need to reach an in
creasingly urbanized population is
a key finding of the Commission on
the Future of Cornell Cooperative
Extension, which recently made
public its report following a nine
month study.
The 15-member commission was
headed by Robben W. Fleming,
president emeritus of the
University of Michigan, and in
cluded representatives of industry,
agriculture, education, and state
and local governments. It was
appointed by President Frank H.T.
Rhodes of Cornell University, New
York’s land grant university which
is responsible for the state’s
cooperative extension system.
With agriculture still the state’s
largest industry, and with a strong
commitment to Cornell
Cooperative Extension among
farm families, the report suggests
the need to help make farms more
profitable through better
management, but also to find part
time work and even alternative
means of livelihood for the 7,200
New York State farmers who are
likely to go out of business by 1990.
The report asks Cornell and the
county Cooperative Extension
associations to apply research
based knowledge to contribute to
economic development in both
urban and rural areas. “Working
relationships can be established
and expanded between business
firms and college researchers
which will increase business in
vestment and private-sector jobs,’ ’
it says.
Toward the goal of enhancing the
environment, the commission says
that “additional programs are
needed to deal with water quality
and all the pollutants by which it is
degraded,” as well as with solid
waste. It also calls for “better
management of natural resour
ces,” including forests and
fisheries.
Looking at demographic trends,
the report calls for extension
Commission Urges Extension To Resell Urban Communities
programs targeted at the ever
growing elderly population and at
the rapidly increasing number of
minorities. “Cornell research and
extension programs have an op
portunity to assist youth in the
metropolitan centers to develop a
productive future for themselves
... with appropriate educational
opportunities,” the commission
writes.
“Nutrition and health cry out for
educational intervention,” the
report says, urging research and
education on problems of
premature birth and high infant
mortality, as well as “the
staggering AIDS problem.”
Because many of the problems to
be targeted are urban and because
40 percent of the state’s population
lives in the five boroughs of its
biggest city, the commission
asserts that “it is important that
New York City and state funding
expand the current Cooperative
Extension presence in New York
City to the levels of commitment
and program found upstate.”
In order to involve more
academic disciplines in the
university’s diverse outreach
commitment, the report suggests
that Cornell’s provost, who is the
chief academic officer, bring all
campus outreach programs within
his area of responsibility.
The series of recommendations
“will allow Cooperative Extension
to be far more flexible, and to
design its programs county by
county to meet local needs,” said
Edwin L. Crawford, executive
director of the New York State
Association of Counties and a
member of the commission.
“Local administrators \yill be
given great flexibility in adapting
programs suitable to their needs,
with appropriate support from the
university, whether it’s a basically
rural county, of which we still have
many in New York, or Westchester
County, which has a very active
program,” Crawford said.
The report refers to “the
remarkable success of the
Cooperative Extension System in
New York State” and lauds Cor
nell’s long-standing commitment
to it.
In a message to New Yorkers
involved in Cooperative Extension
programs, Cornell President
Frank H.T. Rhodes spoke of his
desire to “strengthen a program
that’s already strong.
“Cooperative Extension has
touched the lives of many people in
the state over its 75 years of
existence,” he said. “Our hope is,
that in the years ahead, it can
touch an even larger segment of
the total population enhancing
human potential, increasing ef
fectiveness in agriculture and
economic development, stabilizing
and strengthening family and
community structure.”
“I was very pleased with the
Farm Museum Offers Egg Scratching Workshop
LANCASTER Egg scratching,
an exquisite art authentic to the
Pennsylvania Germans, and the
traditional technique of wax resist
egg decoration will be demon
strated at the Pennsylvania Farm
Museum of Landis Valley from 9
a.m. to 5 p.m. May 23 and and from
noon to 5 p.m. May 24. ,
Another feature of the weekend
will be the slide show “The Roots
of Pennsylvania Germans in
Palatinate Germany.” Shown at 11
a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday, and at 3
p.m. Sunday, the show will be
presented by a native German
expert on traditional Palatinate
culture. Twenty-two museum
buildings will be open, some with
guides or demonstrating craft
smen. Visitor services include a
gift and book shop as well as eating
facilities.
Evelyn Althouse, a native of
Lancaster County, will demon
strate egg scratching. Mrs.
Althouse says an egg with symbols
of life scratched on it was found in
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thoughtful report. It gives us a
blueprint we can develop for the
future,” said Lucinda A. Noble,
director of Cornell Cooperative
Extension.
“The commission has
challenged us to take a serious look
at program priorities, staffing and
funding,” she noted. “Doing that
successfully will really make a
difference if we are to reorient
ourselves as a modern land grant
university, providing the fruits of
our research to the citizens of New
York and the nation. ”
Noble said she was heartened
a 1,300-year-old grave of a woman
in Eastern Europe. In America,
she noted, Pennsylvania Germans
practiced both the wax resist and
scratching methods to decorate
eggs at Easter. Scratched eggs
were usually presentation pieces
and were sometimes dated.
Two good friends of Mrs.
Althouse from Germany will join
her to create this special weekend.
The expert in the wax reserve
(batik) method is Brigitte Raab,
who owns one of Germany’s
largest collections of decorated
eggs. She noted that only a few
areas of Germany still practice
this early technique of decorating
eggs.
Elke Schwang will produce and
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that the report acknowledged
Cornell’s commitment to the land
grant principle “because New
York State has a real partnership
with its people through cooperative
extension.”
The report’s recommendations
parallel those of a committee that
studied the nationwide cooperative
extension system three years ago
and said “it must be prepared to
modify its organization, its focus
and its use of resources” to reflect
new technologies and changing
demographics. Noble was a
member of that committee.
present the slide show. She
researches both her native
Palatinate culture and its strong
ties with that of the Pennsylvania
Germans. She works at a
Palatinate history and folk culture
museum in Germany creating
exhibits and organizing events.
The Pennsylvania Farm
Museum of Landis Valley is
located 4 miles north of Lancaster
on Route 272 (Oregon Pike), a
marked exit off Route 30. It is
operated by the Pennsylvania
Historical and Museum Com
mission with support from the
volunteer group, the Landis Valley
Associations.
Call 717-569-0401 for more in-'
formation.
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