While 2020 brought new challenges that we have not faced in our lifetimes, Extension did not falter in its mission. Here is a glance at some of the accomplishments for the previous calendar year.
Horticulture:
March-December: Horticulture Agents delivered 164 virtual programs engaging 7,544 total participants.
Master Gardener Mondays – Horticulture Team created a new virtual series called Master Gardener Mondays. Agents delivered one-hour advanced training topics on Monday afternoons for Master Gardener Volunteers that averaged nearly 100 participants per session.
Virtual Master Gardener Training: this is a new, statewide program in which local Master Gardener coordinators and others will deliver content to a statewide audience in live, synchronous sessions. It was developed in response to COVID-19 and is separate and different from our asynchronous Online Master Gardener Class. The program will begin on Wednesday, January 13, 2021, with 81 registered participants.
SC Certified Landscape Professional – This Clemson Online program is designed to teach landscapers basic horticultural skills launched (as scheduled) in Spring 2020. It has received great interest and participation and the timing was fortunate. 127 participants completed the 9-module, self-paced course and 114 completed the requirements to become Certified. Nearly 60 participants are registered for the upcoming Spring 2021 cohort.
Home and Garden Information Center:
HGIC website page views – 109.7% increase
2019: 2,835,949 page views
2020: 5,945,945 page views
HGIC phone calls – 58.2% increase
2019: 6,416 calls
2020: 10,151 calls
HGIC email – 99.4% increase
2019: 4,253 emails
2020: 8,479 emails
4-H Youth Development:
4-H @ Home – 4-H at Home – 4-H Agents in the Midlands combined efforts to release SC 4-H@Home as a supplemental opportunity for students. This program provided 2,500 participants with a free lesson via email each weekday. This program made its way into homes in all 46 counties in South Carolina, 46 states, one U.S. Territory, and eight countries across four different continents.
4-H Kits – i.e. Journey to Mars – Journey to Mars – South Carolina 4-H Youth Development is giving young people a chance to take their own “Journey to Mars” through a program aimed at enhancing computational thinking skills and promoting computer science literacy. Agents provided 700 kits statewide.
Pinckney Leadership program had more than 600 youth participants.
Agricultural Education:
Established a resource page on the Ag Ed website to assist teachers in virtual learning activities. While there are currently 153 Ag Teachers in SC, the site has had 535 hits.
Held twenty-eight virtual events for FFA members attended by 4,045 attendees, including a virtual FFA State Convention, attended by over 800 FFA members.
Held sixteen virtual Ag Teacher workshops with a total attendance of 753.
South Carolina Agriculture programs attended both the Virtual FFA National Convention and the Virtual National Young Farmer Education Association National Institute.
Creation of six new Agricultural Education Teaching positions.
Livestock and Forages
Over sixty-five virtual webinars were hosted.
Had more than 2,000 youth participants in the Youth Academy of Livestock Learning.
Facilitated the sales of 2,267 head of cattle and increased revenue across the state by over $630,000.
Agronomy:
Grower Diagnostic Support– As a means to provide plant/pest diagnostic support while limiting personal contact, agents have utilized mobile technologies (smartphone mapping, spatial analysis, GIS, Google Earth and Maps) that enable growers to highlight specific (geolocated) problem areas and conveys location information to the agent via smartphone.
Virtual Programs- 74, attendance of 225.
One-on-one farm visits- 3,811 (Field/Producer visits, phone consultations, etc).
Virtual Production Meetings – Clemson Extension Agents Jonathan Croft and Joe Varn will host a virtual Peanut Production Program via Zoom on February 18, 2021. Speakers include Dr. Dan Anco, Dr. Mike Marshall, Dr. Nathan Smith, and Dr. Kendal Kirk.
Agribusiness:
Virtual Agribusiness – Agribusiness Agents have hosted 75+ virtual programs/trainings reaching 4,400 participants including training across the Southern Region (14 states) for economic coronavirus relief programs and provided South Carolina producers with assistance for loan applications totaling over $5.3 million.
Water Resources:
Extension Water Resources Team offered 45 webinars to a total of 1,822 individual participants.
Offered numerous different multi-day in-depth trainings to more than 1,280 participants.
Food Systems:
Agents have hosted more than 20 virtual programs with more than 450 participants while converting a number of programs to virtual platforms including Home Canning Workshops and FSMA – Preventive Controls for Human Food and Preventive Controls for Animal Food.
More than 300 phone/email contacts.
More than 250 lab tests.
Assisted more than 90 food entrepreneurs.
Three videos with more than 7,000 views.
Rural Health and Nutrition:
Converted six traditional, face-to-face programs to virtual, online programs including the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Programs for both adults and youth.
WalkSC went virtual and brought in over 600 people.
Forestry and Natural Resources:
Women Owning Woodlands (four-part series in October and November).
Videos being created as part of the program:
Using a Consulting Forester.
Conducting a Timber Sale.
Cycle of Pine Forest.
Prescribed Fire.
Virtual Forestry Association Meetings:
Fall Wildlife Food Plots.
Privet Control.
Practices to Enhance Water Quality.
Our Forests and Forest Industry.
Conducted a Tractor and Equipment Safety Webinar.
Submitted by: Program Team Directors
