For the past century, the University of Maryland has been reaching out to communities beyond its flagship campus in College Park to aid in the improvement of the state’s quality of life. On Tuesday, March 18 the Calvert County Commissioners received an update from the University of Maryland Extension at the Community Resources Building in Prince Frederick.
Among the programs of the extension service are Family Consumer Sciences, Agricultural Nutrient Management, 4-H, Sea Grant, Master Gardeners and Food Supplement Nutrition Education (FSNE).
According to family and consumer sciences educator Lorraine Harley, over 600 people participated in the 24 food safety training classes with 108 food safety certificates distributed and 12 participants receiving certification to help organizations remain in compliance with food safety regulations. Additionally, 85 Calvert County Family Daycare providers were trained in the nationwide “Let’s Move” initiative to help solve childhood obesity.
4-H educator Elaine Long Bailey reported Calvert youth involved in that organization’s programs have been earning statewide recognition, with two members serving as officers on the Maryland 4H Teen Council. She also reported a new 4H evaluation system is being implemented in Maryland this year.
Agriculture educator Herb Reed said the Master Gardener training program had 21 sessions with 72 participants in 2013. Calvert’s program has nearly 80 active volunteers who provided 3,166 volunteer hours last year. Reed stated the value of that volunteer work totals nearly $73,000.
Other successful gardening efforts by the extension include the public education series “Garden Smarter,” which a collaborative effort with the county’s public libraries and the Youth Gardening Project at Annmarie Garden. Additionally, the county’s Master Gardeners are active at the Calvert County Fair’s annual Youth Day, Children’s Day on the Farm at Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum plus work with Calvert County Public Schools.
Nutrient management is currently a big issue in the state, since nutrient management programs are mandatory for all farms. Reed reported the extension service participates in nutrient management voucher training. “We have a pretty strong group of young farmers and retired baby boomers who have money to invest in farming, especially wineries,” said Reed, who noted the extension service started a wine grape research program in Upper Marlboro in 2001 when there were no wineries in the Southern Maryland Region. Now Calvert County alone has six wineries.
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