New Year Brings New Name To Extension
Brian Triplett
How quickly time flies.
This past year was better for agriculture in Smith County than 2006, mainly because of the abundant spring moisture. However, increasing input costs and a glut in the local hay market wound up affecting the bottom line of livestock and forage producers.
Here's hoping the new year brings new opportunities and prosperous times for everyone. Speaking of new opportunities, this week I wanted to share with you ways in which you can access information from the Smith County Extension office to help you resolve your agriculture and natural resources related questions, and how we are changing to fit your needs.
First, when our office doors open on Tuesday, we are going to be answering the phone with a new name, Texas AgriLife Extension Service, and a new goal, "Improving Lives. Improving Texas." As in the past, we plan to offer you high-quality, relevant educational opportunities and are here to serve you and your needs. You will begin to see our new logo and brand on educational materials after the first of the year.
Even though we have a new name, our office hours and phone number will stay the same. Our office phone number remains 903-590-2980, and we are still located at 1517 W. Front Street, Suite 116, in Tyler. Give us a call, or drop by our office between the hours of 8 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, if you would like to see us in person.
You can access our information in many different formats through many different channels.
A great way to receive information on a weekly basis is to read this column every Sunday. I strive for a mix of current topics and updates on educational opportunities related to agriculture and natural resources in the Tyler-Smith County area.
If you prefer to search out information on your own or at odd hours of the day or night, my e-mail is b-triplett@tamu.edu, and I usually respond to e-mails within 48 hours of their receipt. We have a nice Web site, http://smith-tx.tamu.edu, which contains a calendar of events section that we keep updated regularly. The Web site also contains many agriculture-related publications as well as links to other Web sites that are of interest to area agriculture producers.
If you want information sent to you as it becomes available, you have two options.
First, you can e-mail me and I will add you to my electronic newsletter distribution list. I send out a no-frills "Extension Quick Updates" newsletter about upcoming events and topics of interest about 10 times a year to people on the subscription list.
Second, if you want to try a newer type of technology for receiving information, you might want to consider subscribing to my Agriculture & Natural Resources Web log, "Blogging with Brian." Web logs, or "blogs," utilize a technology called Really Simple Syndication to deliver information to your computer.
To receive the blog, you visit the blog and subscribe to its "feed." Once subscribed, your Web browser automatically checks the blog site for new content and downloads it to your computer as it becomes available. I started my blog in June and have been loading content on there pretty regularly. I plan to utilize this technology even more in the future, and have already found that as many as 1,800 people a month have been reading it as well. My blog can be found at http://tceblogs.tamu.edu/mt/smith/.
One of my more recent entries to the blog is about the Master Naturalist training course, which begins in mid-January and how you can register for the course or find out more information about the volunteer development program.
Finally, our office plans to offer in 2008 many of the traditional agriculture related programs that you have come to expect during the year, as well as something new. Next month in one of my columns I will share information about some new educational opportunities that our agency will be offering online for the first time.
Brian Triplett is the Smith County Extension agent for agriculture and natural resources. He can be reached at 903-590-2980 or via e-mail at b-triplett@tamu.edu .
This past year was better for agriculture in Smith County than 2006, mainly because of the abundant spring moisture. However, increasing input costs and a glut in the local hay market wound up affecting the bottom line of livestock and forage producers.
Here's hoping the new year brings new opportunities and prosperous times for everyone. Speaking of new opportunities, this week I wanted to share with you ways in which you can access information from the Smith County Extension office to help you resolve your agriculture and natural resources related questions, and how we are changing to fit your needs.
First, when our office doors open on Tuesday, we are going to be answering the phone with a new name, Texas AgriLife Extension Service, and a new goal, "Improving Lives. Improving Texas." As in the past, we plan to offer you high-quality, relevant educational opportunities and are here to serve you and your needs. You will begin to see our new logo and brand on educational materials after the first of the year.
Even though we have a new name, our office hours and phone number will stay the same. Our office phone number remains 903-590-2980, and we are still located at 1517 W. Front Street, Suite 116, in Tyler. Give us a call, or drop by our office between the hours of 8 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, if you would like to see us in person.
You can access our information in many different formats through many different channels.
A great way to receive information on a weekly basis is to read this column every Sunday. I strive for a mix of current topics and updates on educational opportunities related to agriculture and natural resources in the Tyler-Smith County area.
If you prefer to search out information on your own or at odd hours of the day or night, my e-mail is b-triplett@tamu.edu, and I usually respond to e-mails within 48 hours of their receipt. We have a nice Web site, http://smith-tx.tamu.edu, which contains a calendar of events section that we keep updated regularly. The Web site also contains many agriculture-related publications as well as links to other Web sites that are of interest to area agriculture producers.
If you want information sent to you as it becomes available, you have two options.
First, you can e-mail me and I will add you to my electronic newsletter distribution list. I send out a no-frills "Extension Quick Updates" newsletter about upcoming events and topics of interest about 10 times a year to people on the subscription list.
Second, if you want to try a newer type of technology for receiving information, you might want to consider subscribing to my Agriculture & Natural Resources Web log, "Blogging with Brian." Web logs, or "blogs," utilize a technology called Really Simple Syndication to deliver information to your computer.
To receive the blog, you visit the blog and subscribe to its "feed." Once subscribed, your Web browser automatically checks the blog site for new content and downloads it to your computer as it becomes available. I started my blog in June and have been loading content on there pretty regularly. I plan to utilize this technology even more in the future, and have already found that as many as 1,800 people a month have been reading it as well. My blog can be found at http://tceblogs.tamu.edu/mt/smith/.
One of my more recent entries to the blog is about the Master Naturalist training course, which begins in mid-January and how you can register for the course or find out more information about the volunteer development program.
Finally, our office plans to offer in 2008 many of the traditional agriculture related programs that you have come to expect during the year, as well as something new. Next month in one of my columns I will share information about some new educational opportunities that our agency will be offering online for the first time.
Brian Triplett is the Smith County Extension agent for agriculture and natural resources. He can be reached at 903-590-2980 or via e-mail at b-triplett@tamu.edu .
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