When I was growing up, we had a County Agent named Ray Reitz. Mr. Reitz gave advice to farmers, ran the 4-H program, and wrote a weekly newspaper column giving farm advice. He was one of the wisest men I knew, and farmers and 4-H’ers respected and admired him. He was called an “extension” agent because he was part of Penn State’s service “extended” to the farmers.
Now I read in Lancaster Farming that Carbon County will no longer have its own County Agent. Instead Carbon will be lumped in with Wayne, Pike, and Monroe. On the other hand, we are promised more “video conferencing” and “webinars.”
The change stems largely from cuts imposed by the Corbett administration, which resulted in 42 job cuts in ag research and the Extension system. We will now have 19 “district directors” for the whole state. The article by Chris Torres says even more jobs will be cut. In addition, the main funding for the extension program will be diverted from the general fund to the Horse Race Development Fund.
The Marcellus Shale extraction tax, by the way, will not be changed.
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