Improving Field Crop Extension outreach through enhanced growing season outreach

Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) educators are Cornell University’s front line in helping New York field crop producer clientele with crop production and pest management issues. Keeping CCE personnel informed on the latest information and developments helps us meet Cornell’s high standards for extension outreach and provides clientele with quality, pertinent, timely and user-friendly programs and resources that maximize our educational impacts. Enhancing communication opportunities between CCE county and campus personnel helps strengthen the outreach network, and is an important component of CCE’s professional development. 2011 marked the fourth year for this project. A series of thirteen conference calls were held weekly to improve campus and field staff communication regarding field crop pest and crop management issues during the growing season. Each call averaged approximately 8 - 10 participants and lasted forty-five minutes. Conference call participants were better equipped to conduct their outreach efforts and meet the field crop pest management needs of their stakeholder. Summaries of pest observations and follow up articles were included in the NYS IPM Program On-line newsletter the Weekly Pest Report. Articles from this newsletter were used in many CCE county and regional newsletters reaching an estimated 27,000 subscribers