Steve Brown retired as interim director of the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension earlier this year, after a 33-year career in the organization primarily as an agronomic entomologist and then in administrative positions. In a conversation with Southeast Farm Press March 19, he talks about Extension’s role in modern agriculture and its challenge to stay relevant in the future.

Southeast Farm Press: What are the opportunities you see and concerns you have for the farmer-Extension relationship now?

Steve Brown: The farmer-Extension relationship still exists in some places but is under a great deal of pressure. But in some states, Extension no longer enjoys being the go-to place for information, or it’s remembered as a once-important organization but now unnecessary. The Internet changed how we find and use information, and agriculture is no exception. But I think a grower who relies totally on the Internet for information would soon go broke.

Cooperative Extension’s 100-year history is unique for a government agency, one intentionally affiliated with land grant universities rather than the federal, state or local governments that provide funding. Extension developed an unusually close relationship with its clientele because of this.

Extension is no different from any organization whose main resource is human beings -- some are up to the challenges and some are not. During its golden years in the 1950s through 1980s, the relationship with growers was generally good, and Extension helped growers survive some very tough times. That flow of unbiased, researched information became the envy of the world.

But issues are so much more complicated now than they were when Extension made its mark decades ago.  Agriculture is more diverse, and to be an good generalist in a big agricultural county, for example, you have to have a lot of quality people backing you up.

Seven years ago, Extension in Georgia, like in other Southern states, got hit with what you call a “Perfect Storm.” What do you mean by that?

Brown: Even before the Great Recession, Extension was feeling budgetary pressure. In Georgia, the budget cuts that began in 2009 accelerated what we feared was in the future.  We also had a demographic problem. We had a bubble of older agents moving quickly to retirement, and they were the backbone of our ability to function in local communities.

To return the required amount of money at the time to the legislature, we had to offer early retirements and watch a lot of agents go out the door without backfilling their positions. Those positions were permanently wiped from the budget. It’s now up to the legislature to restore them.

Now we have a void of agents who would have been hired between ’09 and 2013. Some very good mid-career agents were questioning their career choice and no new talent was coming into our workforce.  The timing of the recession couldn’t have been worse and that is what resulted in a “Perfect Storm” for us.

How do things look after that storm?

Brown: Fewer people appreciate unbiased, researched information, and that has led to stagnant federal funding for years. In the last few federal budgets, it’s been touch-and-go whether Cooperative Extension would even be funded. It’s unlikely we’ll see significant increases. We’ve been lucky to remain at the same funding level as 25 years ago.

In Georgia, we enjoy strong support from Atlanta, but that doesn’t always translate to the support really needed. Extension originally engaged only in agricultural. It now is the home to extremely important 4-H and Family and Consumer Science programs. Lawmakers don’t always understand the diversity of what Cooperative Extension does and the funding that does come our way for specific programs tends to be diluted.

Commodity groups have helped us make a case to fill critical vacancies; much appreciated and critical to keeping Extension relevant. Still, Extension has become extremely thin in support positions. While new specialists and new agents are sorely needed, we also need staff. We also are critically low on travel and supply money and our salaries are becoming less and less competitive. We are the only state agency that doesn’t get formula based increases in utility funds, so in order to pay ever-increasing utility costs, we use money that would have gone to programs.

I understand the (Georgia) General Assembly might restore some agent positions we lost. New positions are great, but in my opinion, we will never get back to where we once were without a significant increase in operating funds.

When Extension competes with private industry

Talk about the competition for talented people between Extension and the private sector.

Brown: During the difficult times in government funding, the agriculture economy was actually very strong. Even before 2009, we were experiencing retention issues. We would hire talented young men and women, give them excellent training, and just as they were becoming proficient in their jobs, they would get offers from private industry. Unable to match it, we lost many of our good people.

Even when we recruit good people, no one comes out of college ready to become an effective Extension agent or specialist.  To become a trusted source on complicated subjects takes a lot of training and experience. UGA Extension invests a great deal of money on agent training, and that’s likely the single biggest reason why we are still one of the best Extension services in the country.  But it’s very disheartening to invest that money and see your best people “cherry picked” by private industry that can double their pay and give them a truck to ride around in.

If we are going to survive, we simply must be more competitive in salary and benefits.  I don’t think we will ever be able to match industry salaries, but we have to give a young employee the means to raise a family.  Most of our employees truly love what they do, but they have to always look out for their families’ best interests.

What does Cooperative Extension need to do to stay relevant in the 21^st century?

Brown: Extension is needed today more than ever.  No one believes in the power of research more than me, but a single scientist in a lab, no matter how brilliant, can’t fix the complex problems agriculture faces today.  It takes research and Extension, and it takes government and the private sector working hand-in-hand. To be relevant to agriculture, we must change with agriculture, and agriculture has changed at a phenomenal rate.

We’ve been there for new pest problems, new crop varieties, new farm bills, for GMOs and environmental and food safety issues.  In some ways, Extension and university academics is a strange mix, but that link is what makes it all work.  University presidents often don’t realize what incredible capacity they have through Extension.  Agriculture should always be ready to remind them.

Even though we’ve been relevant by being responsive to changes, it was despite the handicap of an organizational structure that seems to refuse to change.  Extension makes a weak effort at programmatic organization, but our internal operations still tend to rely on a geographic organization.

County offices reporting to district offices is still the norm across the country. We must do a better job of program planning, program training, program delivery and program reporting and accountability. It’s all about efficiency in programmatic areas and geographical management often gets in the way.

What friendly advice would you give a young Extension agent or specialist?

Brown: It takes a special person to be an Extension employee, a person who gets a kick out of helping people and improving lives. Not everyone is cut out for the long hours and a pay level. But having spent 33 years in Cooperative Extension, I can say I wouldn’t have traded for any other career.

Giving out good, unbiased information when very biased people are watching is hard enough, but being the driver for lasting, positive change is what Extension is all about. Identify the issues holding agriculture back in the community or the commodity you work and make a five or 10-year plan to fix it.  Document what you do, so you can tell your story when it’s finished.

(Brown is now the new executive director of the Peanut Foundation, an arm of the American Peanut Council, and a position formally held by Howard Valentine. He is also a consultant for Southeastern Fumigants, which fumigates warehouses, grain bins and export containers at the Port of Savannah.)