It's no secret: Alabama Extension Week Oct. 23-28

Christy Bailey, The News Courier, Athens, Ala.
·3 min read

Oct. 24—Gov. Kay Ivey has proclaimed Oct. 23-28 as Alabama Extension Week, and last Monday, Oct. 16, the Limestone County Commission followed with a proclamation of its own, recognizing Limestone County's Alabama Extension Office.

The Alabama Cooperative Extension System is the primary outreach and engagement organization for the land-grant mission of Alabama A&M University and Auburn University in cooperation with Tuskegee University. Its mission is "Transforming lives through science-based information, practical solutions, and meaningful experiences." At the core of their mission are the five values they strive to uphold: service excellence, teamwork, inclusivity, accountability and integrity.

Chris Becker, Alabama Extension assistant director for field operations, NE Alabama, is hoping the week will help shine a light on what makes ACES a valuable resource for all of Alabama as well as their vision of serving communities to grow a better Alabama and a better world.

"We are using this as a time to really push the Alabama Cooperative Extension System: what we do and the impacts we make," Becker said. "We should not be labeled as Alabama's best kept secret after 100 years."

"We call ourselves the front door to both Auburn and Alabama A&M and, to an extent, Tuskegee University. We are kind of the front porch to our land-grant universities here in Alabama. We take research- or science-based information, recommendations and practical knowledge and take that to the stakeholders and clients in every county in our state," Becker said.

The extension network includes an office in all 67 counties in the state. Through those offices they offer a variety of programs including agriculture, forestry, wildlife, natural resources, home and commercial horticulture, animal sciences, food safety and preservation and many more.

"Of course, our 4-H program is probably more widely known than a lot of our other programs. We collaborate with a lot of other organizations across the state to magnify our reach," Becker said.

Becker encourages people to visit the ACES website, www.aces.edu, to learn more about the programs and multimedia platforms they offer.

"See what we can do for you. We offer science-based and research-based information and solutions to improve Alabamians' lives. For example, if you are a home gardener and you are having gardening issues, we are your go-to for non-biased, research based solutions. We are getting no money from companies to make these recommendations. These recommendations are based off a researchers work on campus or at one of the research stations. There's a lot of nonsense on the internet. When you go to ACES and you get an answer to one of your questions or you get a solution to one of your problems, you can trust that. You know that somebody has spent a considerable amount of time making sure that the information they gave you is truthful, can be used safely and will make a positive impact," Becker said.

This weekend, the Alabama Extension will be highlighted during this weekend's football activities at the Auburn/Mississippi State game and at the Magic City Classic between Alabama A&M and Alabama State.