The Oneida 4-H Kids Club will host this year’s Madison County 4-H Foundation Rockathon at North Broad Street School from 10 AM – 1 PM.  A totally ROCK theme will be planned for an awesome time with rock crafts, games, music, and a rock concert. 

All 4-H members are encouraged to participate in the concert. 

The purpose for the Rockathon is to raise money for the Madison County 4-H Foundation.  This organization provides funding for the 4-H Youth Fair, trips, and educational opportunities for our members. Members are encouraged to acquire sponsors who will donate $1 - $5 per half hour of participation in this event. Members should bring their sponsor forms (See 4-H Forms – Rockathon) and money (cash only) on the day of the event

Parents are invited to come and watch the concert.

• Sponsor Forms [pdf]

Job Description: Agricultural Economic Development Program Assistant
Madison County’s Agricultural Economic Development Program
Part of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Madison County

POSITION SUMMARY:

This position provides administrative assistance to the Agricultural Economic Development Specialist, as well as general assistance with program management. 

Administrative assistance will include: invoicing, answering/responding to phone/email; photo copying, faxing; coordinating/setting up meetings; assisting the AED specialist in writing and sending out press releases and the AED Annual report, website update and maintenance (including updating farm listings, farm guide, and agri-business guide), and supervising interns and Americorps service members; and other duties that may be assigned by the AED specialist.

Programmatic management assistance will include: spearheading Madison County’s Buy Local Week; writing and sending out the weekly Agricultural E-Newsletter (including database management); expanding the farmers’ market promotion and EBT/credit card program (including invoicing); occasional presentations to various community groups/partners; assistance with grant reporting (and possibly grant writing); administration of Madison County’s agricultural revolving loan fund; secretary for the AED Committee; evaluation of various programming (including surveying); and, other duties that may be assigned by the AED specialist.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS: required minimum equivalency for education, experience, skills, information systems knowledge, etc.

Bachelor’s degree; excellent oral and written communication skills; superb organizational skills; facility with Microsoft applications, including Access, Excel, Word, and Powerpoint; Interest in/familiarity with the local food movement and/or agriculture

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS: preferred specialized education, field and/or certifications.

Experience in marketing, graphic design, and/or event planning; familiarity with website updating and maintenance as well as using various social networking mediums (facebook, twitter, etc.); knowledge of grant writing and reporting

The position will start at 20 hours per week with a salary of $16,640.  The position includes a full New York State benefits package – health/dental insurance, retirement, and vacation.  There may be the opportunity for full-time employment.  The position is based at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Madison County in Morrisville, NY and requires some night and weekend work.

To apply, please send resume and cover letter to: contact@madisoncountyagriculture.com

For more information, please visit: www.madisoncountyagriculture.com

Applications will be accepted until noon on 02/01/2010

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Recent Field Crops Articles:

Late blight is a potentially very destructive disease that fortunately occurs very sporadically in most areas of the northeastern US most growing seasons.

• Late Blight Occurrence and Management in Potatoes and Tomatoes in the Northeastern United States
• Managing late blight in organically produced tomato

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Cooperative Extension is a nationwide system of educational programs that are jointly funded by federal, state and county governments. The U. S. Department of Agriculture is the federal partner while land grant universities are state partners. The passage of two laws by the U. S. Congress made this nationwide system possible. The Morrill Act passed in 1862 established the land grant universities and the Smith-Lever Act in 1914 funded the federal portion of Cooperative Extension.

The name Cornell Cooperative Extension reflects this history and partnership:

• Cornell - the land-grant university for New York State
• Cooperative - cooperation among the land-grant institutions, USDA and New York county governments.
• Extension - the extending of Land-Grant university resources into communities, enabling all citizens to put research-based knowledge to work in their daily lives.

County governments throughout New York State provide substantial funding for Cornell Cooperative Extension programs conducted within their boundaries. County Cooperative Extension Associations, governed by elected Boards of Directors, provide local input to the program development process and monitor expenditures to ensure that these funds are used to effectively meet the needs of county residents. The county name is added to the Cornell Cooperative Extension title to identify these local Associations.

Empowered by this unique organizational structure, Cornell Cooperative Extension engages citizens and community leaders in processes that identify the educational needs of local people, design programs that support lifelong learning and initiate actions that improve communities. This process of linking research-based knowledge with local citizen participation is summarized in the CCE mission statement.