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Our Evolving Audience and their Needs: The Agent's Perspective

S. W. Fultz^* and D. M. Schwartz

^* Maryland Cooperative Extension, University of Maryland, Frederick County Office, Frederick 21701
Maryland Cooperative, Extension University of Maryland, Washington County Office, Boonsboro 21713

ABSTRACT

Today's extension agent has three major audience groups —producer clientele, the university community, and politicians. Phone calls, farm visits, applied research, newspaper articles, newsletters, committee meetings are all competing for limited time. How agents manage that time will dictate their effectiveness as educators. A decrease in dairy extension workers has resulted in less local programming and less oneon- one contact. Extension's strength through the years has been built on the one-on-one contact with producers. The agent's role has historically been one of technology transfer, largely driven by the research community. Equally important to the county-based faculty is the need to address the issues that concern the local producers. The challenge then becomes one of balancing reactive- and issues-based programming while maintaining the visibility necessary to gain the respect of our clientele. Twenty-one states have tenured field faculty, including Maryland. This adds a new dimension to the audience base of the agent. In these states, the performance expectations for field faculty by review committees are the same as for campus-based faculty. On paper, field faculty have 100% extension appointments, but in reality, that appointment is split between teaching and research. Budget cuts and increased fiscal accountability have resulted in a new audience class, the taxpayer, and politician. Extension faculty must recognize the importance of keeping elected officials and community leaders informed of their efforts and accomplishments. This includes providing economic impact data whenever possible.

Corresponding author: S. W. Fultz; e-mail: sf28{at}umail.umd.edu.