Meeting the Educational Needs of Professional Crop Advisers Using Extended Workshops

The International Certified Crop Adviser program has created a demand for continuing agronomic education for professional practitioners. An annual short course at Mississippi State University provides quality instruction in quantities sufficient for CCA registrants to maintain their professional registration. Faculty from the universities, industry, government, and concerned stakeholder entities provide diverse, up-to-the minute instruction for participants. Participants in the workshops indicate they appreciate the content, coordination, diversity, and logistics of the programming. This and similar workshops are becoming more widespread as the CCA program matures and local Extension Services refine their relationship with it

Professional Meetings: Planning and Performing Multiple Location Tours for Maximum Benefit and Impact

State, regional, national, and international meetings in agricultural and natural resource professions often include educational tours in or near the host city. Education improves if the tours are well-planned and executed. Contingency planning is integral to the process; plan for bad things to occur. Evaluation planning, implementation, and communication are tools for improving future professional meeting tours

Understanding the Different Phosphorus Indices in Nutrient Management Planning

Terminology in soil fertility and nutrient management Extension programming has evolved with increasing society emphasis on agriculture and environment interactions. Management of nutrient phosphorus (P) is important to agricultural environmental stewardship. Primarily, the term Phosphorus Index has two different meanings in nutrient management planning: the traditional use describes categories of plant response in soil test recommendations; the newer use describes a method of ascribing P movement risk in the landscape. Occasionally the term is used differently in soil science than these two examples. Extension personnel, agronomists, and technical personnel should use the appropriate terms to avoid confusing clientele