Louisa County ISU Extension holds centennial celebration – Muscatine Journal

WAPELLO As visitors worked their way through a handful of displays highlighting the various contributions of ISU Extension and Outreach to life in Louisa County on Thursday afternoon, they came across an unusual station: an empty room, painted in cheery mint-green and adorned with a sign.

It said dream a little.

In the coming year, that room will become the site of a business incubator, supporting and nurturing a small business.

Celebrating 100 years of service in Louisa County, staff at the ISU Extension office in Louisa County held the event to showcase their accomplishments and highlight their vision for the next 100 years.

In small counties like Louisa County, where agriculture is a major sector of the economy... extension can provide a lot for peoples homes, families and farms, said Kathy Vance, Louisa County program director. Were a big part of life in Louisa County and have been for 100 years.

And on Thursdays event, visitors learned from extension staff and volunteers about the services that the office provide, from science-centric camps that teach children to code to Master Gardner classes.

John Lawrence, interim vice president for extension and outreach, said the relationship between Louisa County and Iowa State University is a way of helping the county tackle not only the problems, but seize the opportunities.

Some of these opportunities, Vance said, include an emphasis on sustainability. Two months ago, they installed solar panels at the extension office, showcasing green energy and educating the public about it.

Solar energy, she said, can be a cost-effective way to decrease both reliance on fossil fuels and the expenses associated with consuming fossil fuels.

"Extensions job is to build a strong Iowa part of it is sustainability, Vance said.

Another priority for the extension office, she said, is tackling water quality.

Water quality is a huge issue in Iowa for agriculture and for people and in Louisa County not just clean water, but floodwater, she said. And Extension has worked extensively with Louisa County residents and the community through two huge floods in the last 100 years and we hope to never have to do it again.

Other priorities remain the same as they have since the extension office began its work, including agricultural education to help farmers increase their yields.

We still have hungry people and they need the livestock thats produced in Iowa, the crops thats produced in Iowa, so were here to help with that, she said.

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Louisa County ISU Extension holds centennial celebration - Muscatine Journal