“There’s a lot of really good energy going on that the agricultural extension has helped generate,” said Buncombe County Chair David Gantt.
“Energy” is a word physicists and others tend to use when they don’t know what’s going on. When I think of the NC Cooperative Extension, I think of the newsletters sent out by the county telling us things like: Summer is a fun time to eat watermelon, but you must be careful not to cut yourself when using a big knife. The newsletters even share recipes. A few years back, the Ag Extension went to the public to ask what they wanted them to provide by way of programming. That set off alarms. The organization was collecting tax dollars, but it didn’t know what to do with them.
Now, the NCGA is considering slashing the organization’s funding by 30%. As usual, valued programs the organization provides are highlighted by the media to get us masses riled up and demand that we be taxed more. It would be nice to see an article on a proposed budget cut that highlights specific nonsense the program has perpetrated.
