Agriculture & Extension Education Committee

DATE: May 18, 2005

Members present: Borleske, Cassity, Wiese, Zowin UWEX Staff present: Dietmann, Erickson, Olson

Advisory members present: Jaquish

Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 9:07 AM by Chair Wiese.

Certification of the Open Meeting Notice

Requirements of the open meeting law were met.

Approval of Agenda

Motion by Borleske, second by Cassity to approve the agenda. Motion approved.

Approval of Minutes from the Last Meeting

Motion by Cassity, second by Borleske to approve the minutes from the April 21, 2005, regular meeting of the Ag & Extension Committee. Motion approved.

Lester noted that there was a resolution at the County Board meeting on May 17 to approve the purchase of the digital copier and was wondering why since he knew we already had the copier delivered and were using it. Paul explained that even though the money had been approved in the budget to purchase a copier and the Ag & Extension Committee approved it, a resolution still needed to be taken to the full County Board for any purchase over $10,000. Kerry Beghin caught the oversight and the resolution on May 17 was a formality.

Correspondence

Paul received a written response back from Todd Liebman regarding the wording on the Community Garden agreement between the Village of Prairie du Sac and the UW Extension department. Todd had no legal objection or comment on the agreement, but did note the typographical error in the document.

Paul also received a letter from Norma Clavadatscher which she requested to be presented to the Ag & Extension Committee for her Advisory Committee report. Copies were in everyone's meeting folder.

Bills and Financial Report

The first half of agents' contracts in the amount of $46,990 were presented for payment. The other large invoices were for payment of pesticide applicator training registrations to the Department of Ag and printing of the Events brochures to Minuteman Press. Motion by Cassity, second by Zowin to approve the April bills in the amount of $50,604.16. Motion unanimously approved.

The financial report shows that the department has received 40% of anticipated non-property tax revenues and has spent approximately 42% of budgeted expenditures.

Discussion and Possible Action on Alice in Dairyland Scholarship(s)

The Alice in Dairyland scholarship selection committee met after the Ag & Extension Committee meeting on April 21st to review the three applications that had been received. All three applicants were from River Valley High School.

After reviewing the applications, it was determined that two out of the three applicants were not going into an ag related field and disqualified them from selection. The committee recommended to the Ag & Extension Committee to award one $300 scholarship to Derek Brander. Motion by Zowin, second by Borleske to approve giving Derek Brander a $300 Alice in Dairyland scholarship. Motion unanimously approved. Derek will be asked to attend the June session of the Sauk County Board to receive his scholarship.

Agent Presentation

Jenny talked about the demonstration Rain Garden project in Baraboo at the library and at the First United Methodist Church. She has been working with Ed Gieck, Baraboo City Administrator, on this project since it is a part of the permit requirement for the city's storm water certification. She explained to the committee the basics of how a rain garden works and mentioned that anyone willing to help plant the gardens is welcome to do so on July 6th and 7th.

The suggestion was made by members of the committee to get high school AV classes out to make a film of the rain gardens and to contact the Madison TV stations for extra exposure and to expand the education of the public regarding rain gardens.

Paul talked more about the Wisconsin Home Harvest program. He encouraged Jay Salinas to apply for a UW Extension Emerging Ag Markets (EAM) Team grant and they were recently awarded $10,000 for program seed money.

Paul and Jay have met with chefs at Sundara and House of Embers last week and both were interested in the program. They are advertising the program as "home grown" rather than "organic", which appeals to restaurant owners. Paul gave thanks to Kathy Zowin for getting contacts set up and doing the initial legwork for himself and Jay.

Advisory Committee and Citizen Comments

Bill Jaquish:

• Planting is winding down.
• Getting ready to make hay.
• Getting ready to spray - has been too cold and windy until now.
• The Dairy Breakfast is on June 11th at Dennis & Lynette Reuter's farm.

Norma Clavadatscher:

• Norma sent in a written report. Paul noted an item of interest on Norma's report regarding the Friend of Extension award that she received several years ago and mentioned that this is something that the committee might want to think about resurrecting.

Department Update

• We had a staff meeting on May 18th and recognized Phyllis for her one year anniversary with the department. The Ag & Extension Committee praised Phyllis again for her knowledge and enthusiasm and stated how much they enjoyed her weekly columns.
• 4-H fair entries were due this week.
• The Sauk County Master Gardeners had their by-laws approved and have become the 42nd member of the Wisconsin Master Gardener Association.
• The Sauk Prairie Community Garden is progressing. The gardens are probably going to be a mess this first year, but at this time we have ten users in the gardens.
• Comments were made by the committee regarding the fact that Jenny seems to be on the right track with her programming, that she is focused and that she is out there making contacts.

Date for Next Regular Meeting

The next regular meeting of the Ag & Extension Committee will be held Thursday, June 30, 2005, in the ETN Classroom at 9:00 AM. Bob Cassity also stated that it would help him out if the minutes of the previous meeting could be mailed with the meeting notice.

Adjournment

Motion by Cassity, second by Borleske to adjourn the meeting. Meeting adjourned at 10.30 AM.

Respectfully submitted: Paul Dietmann