Marshall and Hutchinson Regional Office Blog

Good Afternoon: I hope everyone has a chance to enjoy the great weather. Extension Climatologist Mark Seeley says it will change in time for Thanksgiving. A few things to share this week:

Revised EEO Statements: A reminder that the required statements that must appear on University of Minnesota print and on-line publications have been revised. Details are available at https://myextension.umn.edu/cpr/productiontools/requiredstatements/index.htm

University and County Holiday schedules: In the past I have discussed holiday schedules in this weekly message. Let me re-visit that discussion in this week's message.

As part of our employment we are entitled to a number of paid holidays. For University employees , (including Program Coordinators, NEA's and Local Educators), there are 11 paid Holidays, (New Years Day, MLK day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, the Friday after Thanksgiving, Christmas day, plus two designated floating and one undesignated floating Holiday. The designated floaters this year are Thursday, December 24, 2009 and March 19, 2010.

County employees, (including County Extension Support staff), may have a holiday schedule that differs from the University holiday schedule. This difference also affects office open hours. For example, some counties in our region include Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Presidents Day and Good Friday as Holidays. Some counties do not have the Friday after Thanksgiving as a holiday and may not have designated or undesignated floating Holidays.

Several questions arise when staff in the same county office have different paid holiday benefits. These questions can be resolved with good communication in the office and with the involvement of the appropriate supervisor. Several options are possible. One option is that assuming supervisor approval, the PC or NEA may be following the University Holiday schedule. This could result in the University employee working on a day when the county office is closed. Some supervisors may advise against this practice for safety and accountability reasons. Another option is for the University employees to follow the County schedule. In this case, the total number of paid holidays observed cannot exceed 11 and also means that the PC and NEA may be working on a day that is an observed University Holiday such as one of the designated holidays.

Another complication is when a County and / or University holiday fall on a non work day for those offices and staff that are less than full time. For example, this year the day following Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Day all fall on a day that some of our offices are closed, (Friday). In this situation, staff takes their holiday on a different day. My expectation is that staff in the County office communicate among themselves to coordinate the holiday switch so all the staff do not take their holiday on a day when the County, University and our public expects the local office to be open. I would ask that the support staff take the lead on these coordination conversations and communicate with me any conflicts that result in an office closure. If the office is closed on a normal business day, Support Staff need to let me know well in advance.

27th Pay Periods in 2010. The University and some counties follow a 26 pay period year. Since there is actually 365.24 days in a calendar year, once every 11 years there is an "extra" pay period. That will happen in 2010. Instead of just giving us and extra pay check, the employers will pro rate our yearly salary over 27 pay periods. The total for the year will remain the same. Please refer to the https://myextension.umn.edu/hr/Payroll_and_Timekeeping/EXT_CONTENT_144695.html for more details.

Have a good weekend,

Bob

Posted by byrne007 at 7:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Good Afternoon: This week's blog message comes a few days earlier than normal. A few things to share this week:

Minnesota Farm Assistance Network: Ag Business Management Extension Educator has requested the following information be shared with you:

In today's issue of AgriNews there is an article announcing the availability of MFANS or the MN Farmers Assistance Network. It is a cooperative effort between Extension and the MN Dept. of Ag. Volunteers have been solicited and will be trained to assist farm families who are experiencing financial difficulties as well as determining if additional resources are needed for such things as counseling, personal issues, etc.

The phone number for MFANS is 1-877-898-6326 outstate and 651-201-6326 in the Twin City area. The phone will be answered 8AM to 4:30PM Monday thru Friday (not yet clear about weekends or holidays). There is an e-mail address as well: mfan.mda@state.mn.us.

I send this to all of you thinking it might be a good idea to inform everyone in your office in the event a farm family calls. Any help you can give will be much appreciated.

Handling Consumer Horticulture calls:
From Julie Weisenhorn Master Gardener Blog:

ALERT: UMN Yard & Garden Phone Line to be Discontinued
The Yard & Garden Phone Line (UMN - NOT the Arboretum line) will be discontinued as of Dec. 1, 2009. Use of this system has dwindled as we re-direct people to the Arboretum phone line, the web, eXtension's Ask A Master Gardener, and Master Gardener hotlines and events. It is also old technology / software and the company that supported it has long been out of business. We have been limping it along until we felt we had an option for people, especially those without Master Gardener hotlines. That option is the Arboretum phone line: 952-443-1426. Callers to the old UMN Yard & Garden line will be re-directed to the Arboretum line, eXtension Ask A Master Gardener, and Gardening Information where they can click on "County Y&G Lines" and find a phone number for their specific county, if available

Julie also shared the following resources used by staff at the Univeristy of Minnesota Arboretum when responding to consumer calls. These resources may be useful to you in the County and Regional Offices as our public use our offices to access University reources.
New Email Message at the Arboretum
The staff at the Arboretum receive emails with horticulture questions throughout the year. In the past, the staff sent standard email response that was OK, but we thought it could be better. I wanted to share it with you because YOU might actually find this information helpful!This is the new standard email response from the Arboretum staff for horticulture questions:
Thank you for contacting the MN Landscape Arboretum. To serve you better, a number of online resources are available for immediate assistance:
• A one-stop shop for all your gardening questions, go to UMN Extension Gardening Information at http://www.extension.umn.edu/gardeninfo
• Sources for seeds and plants, go to MN Landscape Arboretum Plant Information Online at http://www.plantinfo.umn.edu
• For expert assistance from University of Minnesota Master Gardeners:
• - in person: Saturdays and Sundays, 11 a.m.- 3 p.m. at the Arboretum
• - by email, visit http://www.extension.org/ask
• - by phone, call the Arboretum Yard & Garden Help Desk at 952-443-1426

Have a good rest of the week,

Bob

Posted by byrne007 at 7:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Good Afternoon: I hope you have all had a good week.

Extension Committee meetings: Next week, (the week of Nov 9th), Kandiyohi, Chippewa, Lincoln and Yellow Medicine Extension Committees meet. The Redwood Extension Committee meeting scheduled for last night, (November 5) was postponed due to nice weather. A number of the Committee members needed to be in the field.

County Budgets. This is the time of year that we should project the close out of the budget year. I would ask that you look at your current budget, plug in the anticipated expenses, (such as salaries, telecommunications, MOA billing, etc), and project the year end remaining budget balance. With that information, we can have the discussion of any purchases are new expenditures prior to the budget cut off.

Holiday: Many County Offices are closed Wednesday, November 11 in observance of Veterans Day. November 11 is not a Holiday for University employees of offices, so the Regional Extension offices are open, Wednesday, November 11.

Enjoy the nice weather

Bob

Posted by byrne007 at 8:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Good Morning: I hope you have had a good week. I think we can all agree that it can stop raining anytime. This morning I was visiting with Extension Climatologist Mark Seeley. Mark indicates that the month of October will go into the records for many communities in our region, including Marshall, Redwood Falls, Montevideo and Willmar where six or seven or more inches of rain fell in the month. Mark indicates that historical records show that you would need to go back to 1915 or 1919 to find a similar year. On a more positive note, Mark is predicting a string of dry and warm days beginning on Tuesday of next week.

A few other things to share this week:

Budgets: All of our counties have now acted on their preliminary 2010 budgets. These budgets will now go through the public hearing process before final adoption in December. It is possible that the budgets could change prior to the final budget adoption. As we all know this is a difficult budget year for counties as they deal with the unallottment, recalculation of County Program aid and try to limit property tax increases. The 2009 budgets for the eight counties in our region totaled 922,037 dollars. The 2010 preliminary budgets for the eight counties totals $915,630 which represents a seven tenths of one percent reduction. Where reductions were made, the reductions were consistent with the discussion and direction given at the County Extension Committee meetings. If you have individual county budget questions, please give me a call.

My Schedule: My schedule has changed a bit in the last week as my son had a setback, which required me to use another day of family medical leave. I would expect that I may have more changes in the next few weeks. My Outlook calendar is current, so feel free to view and schedule as needed.

Happy Halloween.

Bob

Posted by byrne007 at 4:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Good Afternoon: I hope you have all had a good week. This week I am getting this blog message back on schedule. As you know, this blog message goes to the County and Regional Support staff. Feel free to share this message with others in your office. And as always, feel free to add your comments or input to this blog.

Extension Committee meetings: In my last message I listed the upcoming Extension Committee meeting dates. Because of changes in my personal schedule I needed to change a couple of dates. This change affects Lyon and Redwood Counties. The current Extension Committee meeting schedule in November is November 5: Redwood; November 9: Kandiyohi, Chippewa and Lincoln; November 12, Yellow Medicine; November 17, Lac qui Parle; November 30, Renville; December 3, Lyon. Please send out the meeting notices from your office a week or so prior to your county's meeting.

Extension Committee agenda topics: On the agenda will be committee performance input for the PC"s, NEA's, Local EE's and RD. Performance input forms have been sent to the Committee Chair.

Extension Committee agendas: Please be sure that the program reports for m your local staff and the budget reports are sent to Mary Jo at the Marshall Regional Office prior to the meeting for inclusion in the agenda packet.

On a Personal note, here is an update on our family situation. Our son Brian was released from Hennepin County Medical Center yesterday afternoon. He will be home with us in Marshall for continued rehabilitation and therapy. He is expected to fully recover from his brain injury, but just as with injury, the recovery takes time. My Mother-in-law has moved in with us to help with the supervision.
We are very fortunate that Brian's accident occurred just blocks away from one of the best trauma hospitals in the state. We appreciate all the prayers and words of support over the past three weeks.

Posted by byrne007 at 7:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Good Afternoon: This week's message is a few days late or a few days early depending on what week you are on. My weeks have been a bit jumbled lately. I'll try to give a brief update in this message.

My Schedule: I returned to work today and am in the Marshall Office. Tomorrow, (Wednesday) I will be in the Redwood, Renville, Kandiyohi and Hutchinson offices. Thursday I will be at a Regional Director meeting in Mankato. On Friday, and perhaps some or much of next week I will be off attending to my son's medical condition.

Brian's hospitalization: My family appreciates the prayers and words of support for our son Brian. Brian remains hospitalized at Hennepin County Medical Center. Late this week we hope to learn how much longer his hospitalization will continue as well as what level of treatment and support he will need when he returns home. I won't go into any more details in this message as those details can be found on his caring bridge website

Extension Committee meetings: All of our counties in the region have Extension Committee meetings in November. Mary Jo will be assembling the agenda packets. Please send her the current budget updates, program reports from the 4H PC, NEA's and Local EE's for inclusion in the packet. Also, please send the meeting notices from your office a week or two prior to the meeting. The meeting schedules are as follows: November 9: Kandiyohi, Chippewa and Lincoln; November 12: Yellow Medicine; November 17: Lac qui Parle; November 19: Redwood and Lyon; November 30: Renville.

My schedule continued: I keep my calendar current, so feel free to view, schedule meetings etc as needed.

University gifts: Each of you have a gift from the University. Over the next week or so I will try to have the gifts delivered to your offices.

Bob

Posted by byrne007 at 8:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Good Day: I hope you have had a good week. A few things to share this week:

Redwood Move: As I said in my last blog, the Redwood Extension Office will relocate next Friday, October 9 to the new Redwood County Government Center. The physical address is 403 Mill Street in Redwood Falls. The postal mailing address of Box 130 remains unchanged.

Ag Resources: A revised Farm Resource Card has been produced. The card is a quick reference for you and others on those frequently asked questions like how do I contact the Farm Information Line? What are the current Custom Rates for harvesting or fall tillage? Where can I access the latest Farm Management information and who are the Extension resources in this region to contact? I encourage you to print cards for your and the public use. Please discard previous versions of the card.

Your feedback please: One of the features of a blog is the comments option. I encourage you to use this function on the blog if you have comments questions, or information to share with this blog subscriber list.

Fall Program Conference: Next week, October 5 - 7, I along with the Regional Educators will be attending the Extension Fall Program Conference in Saint Paul.

Have a good weekend.

Bob

Posted by byrne007 at 3:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Good Morning: I hope you have all had a good week. Today's welcome rain will prevent September from being one of the driest on record. Extension Climatologist Mark Seeley predicts that the first half of October will be wet and temperatures will be mild into December due to the El Niño onset. So much for the weather; a few other items to share this week:

Budgets: I am pleased to report that budgets in all of our counties have been accepted as recommended by the County Extension Committees. This is significant in this difficult budget year, and reflects the value that our Counties place on the excellent Extension Programming that happens in the counties.

The Land Magazine: An example of great programming was featured in the most recent issue of the Land Magazine. You can read the cover page article.

Redwood County relocation: The long awaited relocation of the Redwood County Extesnion office is now scheduled for October 9. Redwood County has constructed a Government Service Center. Many of the departments currently located in the County Courthouse will relocate to the new Government Center. In addition, a Boardroom and an additional conference room have also been constructed. This project has not gone without challenges. However, for Extension, the office space and location will be a welcome improvement.

Enjoy the weekend.

Bob

Posted by byrne007 at 4:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Good Morning: I hope you have had a good week. A couple things to share this week:

NEP Data Base Training: Previously information was sent about the upcoming training for NEA's and County Based support staff training. Training dates and locations have been established for counties in this region as October 12 at the Stearns County Government Center in Saint Cloud; October 13 at the Southwest Service Coop in Marshall; October 15 at the High School in Morris. Attend the location that corresponds with your NEP Program Manager and / or REE-FN. Mileage expenses for this training will be reimbursed by NEP, (not by the County).

Farm Management calls: This is the time of year that calls come in on basic farm management questions. Several good referrals for these questions include the Farm Information line (800-232-9077), the Extension Farm Business Management website, and the current custom rate sheet.

Have a great weekend.

Bob

Posted by byrne007 at 4:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Good Morning: I hope all of you have had a good week. All of our offices are closed Monday in observance of Labor Day. Enjoy the weekend.

The influenza outbreak at the State Fair this week reminds all of us of responsibility we all have for our own health, the health of our work place and the health and safety of our program participants. In addition to the information coming from the University and Local Public Health experts, I would call your attention to the Extension policy on work and program in the event of public health emergencies. The policy statement is located on the Extension Employee website under the Deans section: https://myextension.umn.edu/dean/Policies/EXT_ARTICLE_115296.html

Posted by byrne007 at 2:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by byrne007 at 9:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Good Morning: I hope you have all had a good week. A few things to share this week:

Extension County Websites: If you have not returned your input on County Websites that I discussed in last week's blog, please do so as soon as possible. Send your response to the questions posed last week to Mary Jo at the Marshall Regional Office.

Learning Circle Lessons: Several of you have inquired about the lessons available for Learning Circle groups this year. The following message comes from Kay Stanek who leads the Learning Circle team:

On behalf of the Learning Circles team, I would to share the Learning Circles topics that may possibly be ready to use during the 2009- 2010 year. This year we have had some commitments from teams but so far no recording has happened. There may be one or two teams recording in September, but we will need to wait to see how things move along.
Below is a list of topics that are in the hopper:
Preserving Food Safely - Carol Ann Burtness and Deb Botzek-Linn
Bird Watching Basics - How to Do It, Where to Find Them - John Loegering
Backyard Naturalist - John Loegering
Living Resourcefully in Challenging Times - Phyllis Onstad and Kay Lovett
Exploring Tribal Government, Sovereignty and Culture - Susan Beaulieu, Jennifer Garbow and Dawn Newman
Hot Dish Casseroles - Connie Burns
Transferring Forest Property - Jo Musich
Some additional topics may also be coming. We will let you know as soon as we hear more.
In addition, the following lessons from past years are available:
TRANS FATS
OPERATION MILITARY KIDS: Supporting Military Families in MN
WHOLE GRAINS
WATER-WISE LAWN CARE
SOCIAL CAPITAL: THE GLUE THAT HOLDS COMMUNITIES TOGETHER
GRANDPARENTING IN A CHANGING WORLD - 5 Segments
USING MYPYRAMID IN YOUR LIFE
ONGUARD: PROTECTING AMERICA'S FOOD SYSTEM
ATTRACTING BIRDS TO YOUR BACKYARD
ORGANIZING IMPORTANT PAPERS
RECYCLING USED WATER: Understanding Septic Systems
STAYING RESILIENT IN TIMES OF CHANGE
PLANT BEAUTY IN CONVENIENT PACKAGES: Container Gardening
RAIN GARDENS
FOOD ALLERGENS
CREDIT SCORE: One Part of a Credit Report
LOCAL FOODS: What Has Changed in 150 Years
Questions? Contact Pat Persoon at the Marshall Regional Office.

Farmland Rental Survey: As discussed in last week's message the Farm Business Management team will start the Farm Land rental survey next week. The Minnesota Land Rental Survey input form is available for use for individuals that do not have access to the internet, and may come to your office for assistance. You can have the individuals complete the forms, and then enter the information in Survey Monkey.

University Office Changes: In the next few months and longer we will likely see some changes in several University offices. Here are details of office changes that either have been finalized, or are under discussion:
Regional Office - Albert Lee will close September 30. Staff has been reassigned to Mankato and Rochester Regional Offices and other.

Regional Office - Mora will close December 31. Staff will relocate to Saint Cloud, Andover etc.

Worthington Regional Office - Discussions underway for relocation to new regional education facility in bioscience park in Worthington. Discussion partners are Minnwest Community and Technical College, Mankato State, AURI Workforce Center etc.

UROC - Hennepin County: Planning underway for Center in North Minneapolis. Extension presence to include NEP, Master Gardeners etc.

University presence in MinnWest campus in Willmar. Plans are being discussed for build out of building for University of Minnesota presence. Building space is proposed to be provided by the project partners. This is a Public Private Partnership with partners including Economic Development in Willmar and Kandiyohi County, the technology subsidiary of Willmar Poultry and State Bonding allocation through DEED. Staffing plans have not been determined.

As always, let me know if there are any questions. Have a great weekend.

Bob

Posted by byrne007 at 2:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Good Morning: This week's blog message is a bit longer than usual. I encourage you to read the entire blog, and reply to the items requested. I would also encourage you to have discussion on any of the items using the comment feature on this blog. As always, if you have any questions, give me a call.

Farm rent Survey: As I discussed a few weeks ago, the Extension Farm Business management Educators will be conducting a farm land Rental Survey for a three week period in September. The survey will be conducted through Survey Monkey, with a simple six step entry per parcel procedure. Renters or landlords can enter up to 10 parcels and the URL for the entry will work only one time, (to prevent multiple entries that would invalidate the data).
Renters and Land owners who do not have access to the internet will be invited to go to their County or Regional Extension office to have their data entered, and I would ask for your assistance if you get these requests. County and Regional Offices will receive a separate URL that will allow multiple entries. The information that renters or land owners will need to provide include whether they are an operator, landlord or both; what county and township the land parcel is located; tillable acres rented; 2009 rent per tillable acre; estimated 2010 cash rent per acre.
You will receive the URL prior to August 31. If you have questions about the rental survey contact Rob Holcomb at the Marshall Regional Office.

Extension County Websites: The Extension Communications team is working to keep the County website format useable and providing the information needed by our audiences. To assist with this, the Communications team is requesting your input on the following questions:

1. What locally-specific Extension information do regional or county staff need to make available on the Internet?
a. Local News
b. Event promotions
c. Community Vitality
d. Natural Resources
e. Agriculture
f. Family Development
g. Gardening (Master Gardeners now have local blogs in some counties)
h. 4-H
i. Other (please describe)
2. What are the reasons why regional and county staff use the existing Extension county sites?
a. For use by county/regional staff\
b. To forward the public to local information
c. County staff information
d. Event information
e. Other (please describe)
3. Are counties posting information on county government sites?
a. If so, what?
b. Why? (because the county wants an Extension page, because the Extension county site doesn't serve their needs, etc.)
c. Is info on county government sites being kept up to date? By whom? How often?
4. Who are county or regional staff who post on either the Extension or county government sites?
Please provide your input on each of these questions to Mary Jo in the Marshall Regional Office, foxxx055@umn.edu by Friday, August 21.

County Budget Challenges: As we all know Counties are faced with serious budget challenges this year. These challenges are impacted by several factors including the desire to limit any tax levy increase, the State Unallottment received by counties in June and the recent recalculation of County Program Aid received by counties. County Program Aid is changing due to the formula influence of property valuation changes in different classes of property. Specifically residential and commercial property in the state is decreasing in value and agricultural property is increasing. This impacts the County Program aid formula by increasing shifting aid from agricultural property dependent counties to counties more dependent on commercial and residential property. The following chart shows how the unallotmement and change in county program aid affects counties in our region. The chart is in order of lowest to highest per capita loss. Lincoln County is the highest per capita loss not only in our region, but also in the state.

My point in sharing this with you is to help all of us understand the difficult budget decisions faced by our County Administration and Boards. If you have any questions on the following information, Please let me know.

Parents Forever: If you have not done so already, check out the following article from the West Central Tribune in Willmar: http://www.wctrib.com/event/article/id/55928/
Kim Johnson at the Kandiyohi County coordinates the Parents Forever program in addition to her support staff role at the Extension Office. The article highlights the value of the program as well as the nice work Kim does with coordinating this program.

Master Gardeners: Master Gardeners in the Region have been invited to a September 10 meeting at the Marshall Regional Office. This will be a working meeting to determine how to move forward in supporting, strengthening and growing the Master Gardener program in this region of the state. In keeping within the parameters of state program guidelines outlined in July, each current county group had the task to discuss their preferences for moving forward - build the current county program, form a multi-county/regional program structure, or no longer host a local Master Gardener program. There was consensus that a regional approach would be most likely to succeed in strengthening support and connections between and among Master Gardeners and the Extension Master Gardener Program. We hope that you will participate in this meeting and help shape how the future program is structured and functions. Several Counties in the region are not involved in this Regional Master Gardener Organizational re-design. For example, Chippewa Master Gardeners have decided to either stay as a County group or join counties in the Morris region. Renville County has enough numbers and volunteer organization to continue to support them as a County group. Kandiyohi is supported by an Extension Educator in the County. The remaining counties either do not have enough Master Gardeners or do not have County support to function independently. Please contact me or State Master Gardener Coordinator David Moen if you have questions.

Have a great weekend.

Posted by byrne007 at 3:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Good Afternoon: I hope you have all had a good week. A few items to share with you this week.

County Fairs: Thanks to all for you extra efforts in making the County Fairs a positive experience for the program participants and a great program show case for Extension. Your extra efforts are appreciated. Six fairs in our region are now "in the books'. Renville and Lac qui Parle are upcoming.

Farmfest / Farm Family Recognition. This year's Farmfest is also history. Attendance at this year's Farm fest was up each of the three days by 7 % for a total attendance of 43,978 people. The University tent was also well attended and focused on renewable energy, emerald ash borer, current agronomic climactic and farm economic concerns and general University promotion. Seventy two Counties participated in the Farm Family Recognition event and 60 families attended the recognition program. Farm family recognition information, including photos and family descriptions are available at the Farm Family website: http://mnfarmfamilies.cfans.umn.edu/Photos.html

Upcoming NEP Database training. Just a reminder that the NEP Database training is scheduled for October of County based Support Staff and NEA's. Invitations to the training were sent previously. Travel expense for this training will be covered by the State program.

MS TRAM update: I'm happy to report that I survived the MS TRAM, (290 mile bike ride across the state). More Importantly, over $850,000 was raised that week to support Multiple Sclerosis research and support programs for people living with MS.

Have a great weekend, (I will be off on Monday, August 17, but will return on Tuesday).

Bob

Posted by byrne007 at 9:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Good Morning: I hope all of you have had a good week. A few things to share this week:

County Fairs: Yellow Medicine County fair concludes this weekend and the Redwood and Lincoln Fairs are next week. I know all of you are very busy making sure that all of the fairs are a positive experience for the 4H participants and a great representation of Extension programming. Thanks for all you are doing.

Farmer Lender Mediation: Due to the current economic issues on may farms, there is an increase in the number of creditors that are sending Farmer - Lender mediation notices and farmers that are requesting mediations services. Requests for Farmer Lender Mediation go to the Statewide Mediation Coordinator Mary Nell Preisler. If farmers or lenders have questions about mediation they can contact Mary Nell at 218 935 5785. The publications "About Farmer-Lender Mediation" and "Seeking Solutions in Difficult Times" can be helpful resources for people coming to your office with Mediation questions.

Farm Rent Survey: Later this summer the Extension Farm Business Management team will be conducting a farm rent survey. The survey will be done on-line using Survey Monkey. Renters or land owners who do not have access to internet may be coming to their local County Extension Office for assistance in entering their rental information.

My Schedule: I will be on vacation July 27 - 31 riding bicycle in the 2009 MS TRAM. MS TRAM is a 275 mile ride across Minnesota to benefit Multiple Sclerosis Research. If you need to get in touch with me next week, I will have my cell phone with me and will check e-mail late each day. The following week, I will be working at Farmfest Monday through Thursday, August 3-6. I will not have a blog message next week.

Have a great weekend.

Bob

Posted by byrne007 at 4:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)