Colt Knight: 00:25

Welcome to the Maine Farmcast. I am one of your hosts today, Dr. Colt Knight, associate extension professor and state livestock specialist for the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, joined by fellow co-host

Glenda Pereira: 00:38

Glenda Pereira. Yes, Colt. Thank you for introducing me. You’re getting so much better at that. In the beginning, you would just be like, I’m your host and now you’re doing co-host.

Glenda Pereira: 00:48

So thank you. I really appreciate that. We’ve evolved.

Colt Knight: 00:51

It’s natural progression of things, I suppose.

Glenda Pereira: 00:54

One year. So it’s our we did our one year podcast anniversary last week. So it was, I think, May 8. So two episodes ago. And, yeah, we’ve learned so much in the last year.

Colt Knight: 01:10

So awesome. And today, we have the boss.

Glenda Pereira: 01:14

We do have our boss, which is intimidating when you have your boss because, you know, your boss comes in, they’re evaluating your work. Are we doing a good job or not? And I’d say the learning aspect of this means we’re we’re doing a good job.

Colt Knight: 01:28

See, I was more worried about dropping cuss words than than all that stuff.

Glenda Pereira: 01:33

So who do we have, in the podcast studio today, Colt?

Colt Knight: 01:37

Dean Hannah Carter. And I think she has other titles too, but I didn’t bother to look them up.

Hannah Carter: 01:45

I think Hannah’s fine for for the sake of this podcast. And and, I mean, I I’m still am I really your boss? I mean, I guess so. Yes. Are

Colt Knight: 01:56

the dean of the College of Extension. So I would

Hannah Carter: 01:58

say that definitely makes sense. Yes. No, I am. But it’s just I feel like right now, I’m just a fan and I’m just in awe of sitting here and thinking about you guys have been doing this for a year, which is hard to believe. So congratulations on your one year anniversary.

Colt Knight: 02:13

Thank you.

Glenda Pereira: 02:14

Yeah. Thanks. It’s it’s been fantastic. I actually just did a podcast episode in Portugal last week. So I’m editing that so we can publish it too.

Glenda Pereira: 02:22

So this podcasting experience and program has definitely brought a new experience to us here. And it’s helped us share a lot more information that we probably wouldn’t have been able to if we hadn’t done a program like this. So it’s so much fun. And we’re so happy to have you here. This was really timely because we’re getting into the summer season.

Glenda Pereira: 02:48

There’s so much programming happening. So we wanted to release this as a lot of exciting things are happening with an extension. But I do want you to introduce folks to your titles because like Colt mentioned, you have quite a couple. So who are you, Dean Carter?

Hannah Carter: 03:02

I think the most important title I have and I often introduce myself in this way, especially within the role of the university is I’m a four H I’m a four H alum. I mean, at the end of the day, you know, when we talk about Cooperative Extension, and we talk about experiences, and we talk about the summer starting and whatnot, yes, I am the Dean of Cooperative Extension. I have an additional title here at the University of Maine, in that I’m the Associate Provost for Online and Continuing Education, which actually fits a lot with Extension and when we think about all the education that happens outside of this main campus. But at the end of the day, I’m a former 4-H kid, who thinks it’s pretty cool that I still get to work with four h and work within agriculture, and work with Extension.

Colt Knight: 03:51

I have a question. What does provost mean? I was in the academic system for probably twelve years before I I looked it up the first time. So I’m sure the folks listening have no idea what provost actually means.

Hannah Carter: 04:05

It’s a it’s a really good question. I look at it if we’re looking at organization, chief academic officer. So we have the president who I feel like is is the CEO of the university, and, the provost is really the chief academic officer. All things academic run through that office.

Glenda Pereira: 04:25

Cool. See, always learning on this podcast.

Hannah Carter: 04:28

And that wasn’t a question I was prepared for. Yeah. But I feel like, alright. I think I know what that is.

Glenda Pereira: 04:33

So yeah. Colt is our

Hannah Carter: 04:37

Wildcard.

Glenda Pereira: 04:38

I don’t wanna call you the wildcard. It’s like But you’re right. I’m the safe option. I’m always prepared. People know what’s coming.

Hannah Carter: 04:46

Appreciate it. I know. But

Glenda Pereira: 04:48

yes, Colt is our wildcard. But so Hannah, you mentioned you’re a 4-Her. And so I think that gives us a good starting point, to your tie to Maine and to Maine agriculture and the passion that led you into this role today, with, as the dean of extension here in the state of Maine. So tell us a little bit more about yourself.

Hannah Carter: 05:08

I absolutely am happy to do so. I don’t know if you’ve had, the geography lesson here in this podcast yet about the great state of Maine, but I’m originally from Rooster County, also known as the county. If you are if you are born and raised in Maine, you’ll understand what that means. If you’re not, it just means that Aroostook County is the largest county East Of The Mississippi. And it’s a large potato producing county.

Hannah Carter: 05:33

And a lot of people, breaks my heart, don’t know that Maine, actually grows a significant, amount of potatoes. And I grew up on a potato farm in Aroostook County. And so I feel like that I mean, I didn’t know anything different. I was surrounded by agriculture. My dad grew seed potatoes.

Hannah Carter: 05:52

He also raised registered Hereford cattle. And my mom was a horse horsewoman. And so we always had horses in the backyard.

Glenda Pereira: 06:01

Oh, another horse person here. I mean Colt, you know, do you know this about Colt? Colt’s a horse person.

Hannah Carter: 06:08

I do know this. We had this discussion. Yeah.

Glenda Pereira: 06:11

Yeah. He’s a horse person even though he shies away.

Hannah Carter: 06:14

I can understand. But it so I was I grew up with again, I I didn’t understand that not everybody grew didn’t grow up looking at potato fields. I mean, are where I rode horses all my life is potato field roads. It’s where I learned to drive, all of those things. And my grandfather who started the farm, also when he retired from farming, of course, had like a couple acres of gardens and whatnot.

Hannah Carter: 06:39

So it was just what I knew and what I loved. Loved being outside, loved the idea of grow like, I worked on the farm. When I was growing up, we still all school kids in Aroostook County got out for potato harvest. Not a lot of people understand that. But we went to school back to school early, and then got three weeks off to work the harvest and that was our school money for school clothes and things like that.

Hannah Carter: 07:04

So just always grew up around it. Thought I was gonna be a large animal vet. That was my dream.

Glenda Pereira: 07:08

Join the club. Yep. There we go. So now we have something.

Hannah Carter: 07:11

Yeah. I thought I was really gonna be a large animal vet. I was gonna work with horses and it was gonna be awesome. And I came to the University of Maine actually, took animal sciences classes right here where I’m sitting doing this podcast and started fainting in my animal science labs without much blood, but just the thought of it.

Colt Knight: 07:33

When when I was an undergraduate, I worked at the swine unit at the University of Kentucky. And so when the intro to animal science class came through every semester, my job was to stand in the back of the class. And as the instructor was, like, castrating piglets or ear notching

Hannah Carter: 07:51

Yeah.

Colt Knight: 07:51

He could see the folks getting blue in the hills, and he would point. And then my job was to go catch them so they didn’t fall and bust their head open on the concrete.

Hannah Carter: 07:58

That’s a yeah, nobody did that here. So fast forward, decided maybe that career was not for me and ended up, transferring back up to our smaller University of Maine campus up in Presque Isle with an environmental studies, degree because I felt like plants don’t bleed. And again, it got me back into, okay, I really love agriculture. And during that time, I actually, because of the fact that I was a former 4-H kid and knew everybody and whatnot, I feel like I got a little preferential treatment and was hired as an IPM, Integrated Pest Management, Field Scout by a couple of the faculty here on campus because I feel like the dean at the time told them to. I don’t know how that worked.

Hannah Carter: 08:46

But anyway, worked summers as an IPM Scout up in the Presque Isle Extension office. And then after I graduated, got a job there, which I thought was awesome. And again, I mentioned the faculty that were in that office were amazing. And I think it’s, again, it speaks to Extension and the quality of people that we hire in Extension. They were great mentors, and they really encouraged me to go to grad school, which was never on my radar screen.

Hannah Carter: 09:12

I was never gonna leave Aroostook County. Graduate school was just never, never thought possible. But then with their encouragement, ended up going to get a master’s degree in extension education and then a PhD in agricultural leadership and, worked in Florida where I obtained my degrees for about fourteen years in Florida agriculture, learned a ton and then was able to come back.

Glenda Pereira: 09:37

Wow. Like many of the folks we’ve had on this podcast, it’s funny that we have that, you know, one dream become a large a lot of folks that we’ve had on our podcast, large animal veterinarians, and I think only one, Dana.

Colt Knight: 09:52

Yeah. Dana is the only one that successfully

Glenda Pereira: 09:54

She and she knew. She’s like, I’m gonna be a vet and that’s that. And she actually successfully completed that, but our trajectories have changed so much. Yeah. But we are so thankful because that led you to have us you know, we got to keep you today as our dean of extension and potentially your role would have been different.

Glenda Pereira: 10:11

So we’re we’re always thankful of everybody’s journey and how they lead us to where you are today. So with that, what does a day in in the life of the a

Colt Knight: 10:21

Before she gets into that, I’ve got a question. Because you you’ve lived here

Glenda Pereira: 10:25

Mhmm.

Colt Knight: 10:25

And in Florida for a long time. Right. Who had the worst bugs? Because the black flies came out this week, and I’m really not enjoying those.

Glenda Pereira: 10:34

Have you ever been to a swamp in Florida?

Hannah Carter: 10:37

Right.

Colt Knight: 10:37

I lived in Florida for almost two years in Wachula.

Hannah Carter: 10:41

Oh. I will have to say Florida, hands down.

Glenda Pereira: 10:45

Oh, my god. It’s awful. Yeah.

Hannah Carter: 10:47

It’s Yeah. No. Worst. I mean Both

Glenda Pereira: 10:50

No if, ands or buts.

Hannah Carter: 10:51

Yes. I mean, the way they say a palmetto bug is just a ginormous cockroach. I mean and the bugs that will kill you, I feel like are way more prevalent in Florida.

Colt Knight: 11:01

I got bit by a spider right here on my chest, and it swelled up about four sizes too big. And I remember when that cyst broke, it was it was like popping a cyst on a cow.

Hannah Carter: 11:13

Yep. Not good. Not good.

Colt Knight: 11:15

So yeah. That’s actually why I went back to grad school and quit working in mines was that spider bite was like the final straw, I guess.

Hannah Carter: 11:22

But it’s like Glenda just said, it’s so interesting to hear people’s journeys, like, again, or the fork in the road or the spider bite or whatever that really changes like, here I am. And and again, I wouldn’t there’s no place I’d rather be. And but it is amazing how we get here.

Glenda Pereira: 11:39

Yeah. Alright. So sorry. We took a little tangent to our entomology question. But what does a day in the life of an extension dean look like for you, Hannah?

Hannah Carter: 11:54

I’m gonna say what my preferred day in the life looks like. Yeah. Like And then what my actual day in the life looks like. The best days being an extension dean are when I get to go out and watch or see like the folks within extension do their thing. Give me a field day, give me a tour, give me an ability to like watch, you know, your your colleagues across extension, like do what they love is the best day for me.

Hannah Carter: 12:23

And that’s one thing I love about summer is because it really does get you out of the office more and to be able to participate. And I try to participate in as many field days, open houses, you know, whatever whatever I can just because it’s a good reminder of of the, I guess, the typical day. And it’s interesting because I actually just spoke at new employee orientation this morning. So it’s interesting to be able to like bookend the day with this. And I feel like the typical day for me is just putting out fires and trying to remove barriers.

Hannah Carter: 12:59

So the great people within extension can do the work that they do. And certainly, there are a lot of barriers and a lot of fires, a lot of emails, never ending emails to answer, and a lot of meetings. And I think that they’ve only gotten there’s only more of them just to address a lot of the issues and the challenges that we’re facing. So no day is the same. And I feel like that’s across extension.

Hannah Carter: 13:27

Yeah. No matter who you are and what you do with an extension, no day is the same. And I think that’s certainly true, for me as well. But again, the better days are when I get out to see people do what they love to do. Yeah.

Colt Knight: 13:40

And we all hate meetings. I did four today before you got here. We did one on a North Carolina State barbecue camp. That was kind of fun. Not gonna lie.

Colt Knight: 13:52

National Ag Issues Committee with extension. I had to meet with Glenda to go over a biosecurity video. We did

Glenda Pereira: 14:00

another one on grant application. Yeah.

Colt Knight: 14:04

They just never end.

Hannah Carter: 14:05

They never end. Never end.

Glenda Pereira: 14:07

But they’re necessary. I know some meetings are not are unnecessary and could be an email. I agree. But they help us, you know, make progress. And I think sometimes they’re needed.

Glenda Pereira: 14:18

But we’re thankful that you get to do a lot of the heavy lifting. So then we get to do podcasts and programs and and be out doing the work. So we’re really thankful for you with an extension and all of the work that you put out. And I mentioned this to you when I actually was interviewing. You do a lot of videos and work with our staff here.

Glenda Pereira: 14:44

And I really appreciate that because really feel connected to you and you take time to be with the staff, which I think has, you know, sort of an impact on us feeling like a community. And here at UMaine, we really do feel like a community. So thank you for that. I know.

Colt Knight: 14:58

Think Glenda wants a raise.

Glenda Pereira: 15:00

No. No. That’s not it’s I really do truly think, it means something. And, you know, you you have office hours now, and I think that being more accessible to folks, has really helped, people. And so I’m just thanking you because I know the meetings and everything else sometimes is that dull moment in your life, but we appreciate you.

Hannah Carter: 15:22

Well, I appreciate you saying that very much, Glenda. And I’m not laughing. you know, I think at the end of the day, I’m a people person and I and I just derive a great deal of like, that’s where I get my energy from is is having those interactions. And and I do feel like we are even though we’re spread out across the state within extension, I do feel like we are a pretty tight knit organization. And I appreciate that.

Hannah Carter: 15:47

And it certainly it certainly comes in handy when we’re we are in, you know, some times that are uncertain and whatnot that we can lean on each other and and have that open communication. I also just feel like, come on, like, we’re here doing the good work. It doesn’t need to be like I I don’t feel like we need all the formality that we do and I appreciate the informal and I hope people understand that. Like, let’s have a conversation or if my door is open, come in and tell me good things or tell me what problems you’re having and let’s try to figure out, how to fix those.

Glenda Pereira: 16:23

Yeah. So, the next question that we did prepare you for, is I think folks may not be as familiar with extension, and sort of kind of the history of extension and how it all started. So, I I wanted to just touch, base on this. So what is extension? And can we talk some about how extension extension began here in The United States?

Glenda Pereira: 16:48

Because I was just in Portugal, again, referencing back to to my trip, and they don’t have extension, but they wish that they did. Yeah. Because I tell them about all the great services we provide and they’re like, that would be amazing to have the service. So it’s it’s a great, program that we have here in United States.

Hannah Carter: 17:05

It is. And it’s, I always and I love a land grant institution and I feel like you can’t talk about Extension without the land grant conversation. And sometimes my sister calls me a land grant nerd and I’m okay with that. But I think about it. So land grant universities were established universities were established at the end of the Civil War in the late 1800s.

Hannah Carter: 17:26

I think it was 1862. Somebody may have to fact check me on that. I should know.

Colt Knight: 17:30

Morrill Act.

Hannah Carter: 17:31

Yes. And, and again, it was after the Civil War, the country was in

Colt Knight: 17:37

That was about halfway through the civil war, actually.

Hannah Carter: 17:40

Okay. Moral of the story is country was in a little bit of turmoil. And I feel like there are certain aspects that were, you know, what’s happening now. And again, President Lincoln at the time having the foresight to think about, okay, how are we going to provide the youth of rural communities across the country the opportunity for higher education? And again, we’re having these conversations now about the value of higher education.

Hannah Carter: 18:12

And is it for the elites? Is it you know, what what does it do for our communities across the country? And I want to be like, Cooperative Extension, that’s what, you know, that’s what it does. And that’s why land grants were established is to provide that higher educational opportunity for rural youth across the country. So land grants were established in here in Maine.

Hannah Carter: 18:35

Our land grant is the University of Maine here in Orono. UMaine was established in 1865, again, really focused on agriculture and engineering in the military at the time. But I think about the University of Maine today, which is still focused, if we look at the size of the colleges, on agriculture and engineering. And I think one of the things that I really love about the University of Maine is it it is to me, the the right size land grant. We haven’t lost sight of our land grant mission.

Hannah Carter: 19:06

We haven’t gotten so big that we still don’t want to be of service to the people of the state of Maine. And again, so land grants were established. And from that establishment came several other pieces of legislation. Following the establishment of the land grant, the Hatch Act came first, and that was establishing our ag experiment stations, which here in Maine, we have five Maine Agriculture and Forest Experiment Stations, otherwise known as MAFIS. And then the Smith Lever Act in 1914 established Cooperative Extension.

Hannah Carter: 19:39

And it was really that idea of, again, how do you get the great research and education that is being produced on these campuses out to the people who need it? And so Smith Lever Act in 1914, we still work under the Smith Lever Act and Smith Lever funding within extension. We apply for Smith Lever capacity funding every year, and it is a portion of our extension budget. And so it’s cooperative extension still exists across the country in all 50 states. But they vary in all 50 states across the country of what the extension organization looks like.

Glenda Pereira: 20:17

And I think something you mentioned. So here in Maine, we have, you know, strong emphasis on agriculture and engineering for colleges. But within each state, and I think where extension really thrives is we really provide programs and services to what the community needs.

Hannah Carter: 20:33

And Yes.

Glenda Pereira: 20:34

So every state looks different because every state has different needs. Right? Like you’re mentioning, we have potatoes here. Florida potentially doesn’t have potatoes. They have watermelons, whatever.

Glenda Pereira: 20:43

So the programming with an extension changes based on the needs of the community. And I really think that’s important to mention because we’re responding to the needs of the community, not the other way around. You know, we have a strong emphasis on the college here. We’re really doing it so that we we are meeting the needs of our community. And so with that, I think I want to talk about some of the upcoming programs that you want to mention and maybe even a specific example of a program that really had a significant impact on a local community here in the state of Maine.

Glenda Pereira: 21:16

And I won’t be, you know, sad if you only talk about potatoes. You know, I eat potatoes almost all every day. So, yeah, if you if you wanna share an example of how extensions really helped with a program within a specific community, that’d be great.

Hannah Carter: 21:33

I you know, and Glenda, I’m not just saying this, but it’s it’s I think about the dairy industry here in the state of Maine and the fact that that we have you and we have several other of others of our extension faculty who work, you know, who help support the dairy industry, but that’s your your focus. Right. Is dairy. And and again, it’s interesting because there was just the task force dairy report that the state of Maine and the Department of Ag Conservation and Forestry just released. And again, it really it actually outlined the importance of extension to support the dairy which which is in, you know, like many of our ag industries is really at a point in time where we were losing some dairy farms and how do we how do we hopefully increase our support for the dairy folks that are farming and who I mean, I would love to see all ag industry grow in the state.

Hannah Carter: 22:30

And that’s so I do want to point out the dairy industry because I feel like it is critical to the state of Maine and critical to our communities across the state of Maine, not only the farms themselves, but then all the supporting units around those farms and whatnot. I think it’s interesting because I was trying to think about this and it’s hard to think about the one example because I think we have so many, especially in regards to agriculture. And again, looking at you and looking at coal and what you all do to support our animal agriculture. And then I think about our wild blueberry, the support that we have for the wild blueberry industry. And certainly, that industry is also undergoing some changes.

Hannah Carter: 23:10

And again, I think you hit the nail on the head is addressing the needs of the industry. And I think, you know, Lily Calderwood, who’s our wild blueberry specialist does a great job of, you know, serving her clientele group. Okay, what are the needs? How do we look at value added processing? And how do we look at other opportunities within the blueberry industry?

Hannah Carter: 23:31

One of the other things is we can’t lose sight and certainly, you know, potato industry, dairy industry, you know, these long standing as I kind of laugh about it because coming from Florida, they would talk about big ag. And usually, they were talking about the sugarcane industry or citrus industry or whatnot. And so they they asked me what’s big ag

Glenda Pereira: 23:52

in Maine?

Hannah Carter: 23:53

And I’m like, well, we I mean, probably potatoes and wild blueberries and dairy and maybe apples and whatnot. But then I think about how are we looking at the future of Maine? And so I think the work that we’re doing in grains and some of those alternative, you know, areas of agriculture. Certainly, there’s always been grain grown, usually as a rotation crop. But now, it’s it’s become a focal point because of, you know, different industries to support here in the state.

Hannah Carter: 24:23

So it’s hard to pinpoint just one because I think, again, in looking at the different expertise that we have in Extension, I think every one of those, again, whether it’s faculty members or staff members who have that expertise area, they’re really making a difference in whatever industry they’re working in. Yeah. And plus you’re asking me to choose and that’s hard. I don’t think

Glenda Pereira: 24:46

I can do that. No favorite children.

Hannah Carter: 24:47

No favorite children. No. No.

Colt Knight: 24:50

I mean, I’m a little upset that I was not mentioned. My programs weren’t, but you

Hannah Carter: 24:54

know I think I did mention. It’s, again, it is because You

Glenda Pereira: 25:00

can’t be the favorite all the time.

Hannah Carter: 25:02

All

Glenda Pereira: 25:02

right? I mean I’m just kidding.

Hannah Carter: 25:05

It is hard to but then I also think about, you know, we think about production agriculture, which absolutely. But as I was thinking about this and preparing, you know, I also think about I love this is a shout out, you know, how we cross program. And I, you know, I love that our four H staff has said, hey, what do we do about the next generation of youth working in agriculture? And we have a lot of youth that we serve who have no connection to agriculture. And so the fact that we have, you know, a four H Ag Ambassador program now to take high school, you know, youth who

Colt Knight: 25:41

And visited the podcast.

Glenda Pereira: 25:42

So cool. Had a podcast.

Colt Knight: 25:44

I know.

Hannah Carter: 25:46

I love that. Like that’s gonna make a difference. You know, it may be a few years down the road but we have no idea what one of those young people will do or, you know, will they get involved. And I think that’s gonna make a huge hopefully, impact as Absolutely.

Glenda Pereira: 26:00

Yeah. Yeah. Colt had him on the podcast, I wanna say maybe like 20 or so episodes ago potentially. And they talked I talked to one of them and they were like, yeah, I was on your podcast. So cool.

Glenda Pereira: 26:13

So I think it’ll be a great experience for them. And we we are always working with four h. They were on campus two or three weeks ago and we did a program. They had a lot of fun out at the farm. So yeah, we’re always

Colt Knight: 26:23

I’m doing a judging clinic this weekend.

Hannah Carter: 26:26

Right. Awesome. Yeah. Thank you for that. Because it again, I think those skills and and, you know, if we can spark a kid who never thought about a career in agriculture, I mean, that’s we’ve won.

Hannah Carter: 26:38

Yeah. That’s that’s outstanding.

Glenda Pereira: 26:40

Yeah. Yeah. No. Absolutely. I mean and Colt’s just, you know, we we banter back and forth, but he can’t be the favorite all the time.

Glenda Pereira: 26:47

So I think you you touched on some of this because you talked about the future. And, you know, anytime I talk to a farmer, I’m always asking them, hey. How can because at the end of the day, I’m I’m also thinking about the future. And when we’re planning for programs, we’re like, okay. What are farmers gonna need that’s just right around the corner so that I can be prepared, you know, myself to to be able to help with with their issues and their challenges that are forthcoming.

Glenda Pereira: 27:15

So how do you think Cooperative Extension and potentially University of Maine is adapting to new technologies and all these new trends in agriculture? We’ve had a few folks on the podcast that have talked about some of this, but I was wondering if you could provide some of your perspectives.

Hannah Carter: 27:33

I love this question because I used to feel like I was with it in regards to technology. Like, I knew how to do things. I knew like, I felt like I had I was listening to podcasts, I mean, twenty years ago, maybe. I don’t know. But I always felt like I was pretty with it.

Hannah Carter: 27:49

And then I realized I have now gotten to the other side where it takes me two days to figure out how to anyway, I have an issue. Anyway, so technology is an interesting, this is an interesting conversation to have because let’s just talk about AI because I feel like that’s on everybody’s

Colt Knight: 28:06

Artificial insemination.

Hannah Carter: 28:07

Yes. That’s how I always seriously, Colt, when people started talking about it, that’s what first came to mind. Always. And so I’m talking about the artificial intelligence in this regard. And the conversation about is AI the enemy of extension?

Hannah Carter: 28:24

Because why do people need to reach out to extension if they can Google it, if they can, you know, they can get it at their fingertips and not have to like actually talk to somebody or whatnot? My contention with that is we need to embrace AI and use it to our advantage because with shrinking budgets and we do not have the capacity that we once did in Extension, even in the six years that I’ve been in here, we’ve lost faculty, we’ve lost capacity in some areas. Could we harness technology to help give us some time back? And so I think that’s the conversation that we’re having internally within Extension is AI is here, technology is here, how do we embrace it and use it to our advantage? And and again, I don’t think it is gonna be the, you know, I don’t think it’s gonna be the end of extension because at the end of the day, people come to us because we’re the trusted source of information.

Hannah Carter: 29:21

Right. And because they want that human connection. Yeah. They wanna have that conversation. They want you all to come to a farm and see something in person.

Hannah Carter: 29:29

And I don’t feel like we’re gonna have the Glenda and Colt like avatar or robots yet. Maybe that’ll come in virtual reality at some point in time.

Glenda Pereira: 29:38

Colt’s ready.

Hannah Carter: 29:39

Yeah. I’m sure Colt is ready for that. But but how do we again, how do we utilize it to our advantage? And so those are the conversations that we’re having. I think too, it’s Maine is unique in a lot of ways and the fact that we are small scale agriculture.

Hannah Carter: 29:54

We are not going to we don’t have the, you know, hundred acre fields that you can send the tractor that doesn’t have anybody driving it because it’s straight and you can just program the computer and the tractor goes. We’re not there yet from a technology standpoint, but there are opportunities for us to engage in in with small scale producers, which I’m sure you all are doing, and to think about what technology is available. And I think one of the great things about Extension is a lot of times we can trial it first, or we can trial it at one of our research farms. We can test out that technology. Does it work?

Hannah Carter: 30:28

Is it something that then you could recommend to somebody that you work with to say, hey, yeah, we’ve got that. Do you wanna come look at it? Do you wanna you know, that’s one of the best things about extension, and I feel like that’s still a service that we can provide.

Glenda Pereira: 30:42

Yeah. I absolutely agree. I was having this conversation with the farmer in Portugal about how we trial things.

Colt Knight: 30:48

Mhmm.

Glenda Pereira: 30:49

And we’re able to kind of take on the cost of, you know, does this work in this environment? And like you were mentioning, Maine has a different environment than the Midwest than Florida than anywhere else. And so not everything is a one size fits all, and that’s where there’s benefit from us being able to troubleshoot some of that. Not only that, I so it’s funny today. I got a question from a producer saying, well, I really wanna be aggressive with my grazing plan this summer.

Glenda Pereira: 31:17

How do I do that? And you can’t ask any AI anything about that because they’re never gonna give you the answer. Because to formulate that, you need to take three different sources to really, you know, find the answer to the question. And so that’s what I sent to the producer was those three sources that I know will help them, to reach their solution.

Colt Knight: 31:39

Grazing equation. Everyone always wants you to, like, pull a number from somewhere. You cannot do that because it is completely forage dependent Yeah. And weather dependent Yeah. Which is different from every single pasture.

Hannah Carter: 31:52

Yep. Yep.

Glenda Pereira: 31:54

Three sources is what I sent them. But I sent them sort of the connecting pieces like enter your data here, then enter it into here, and you’ll be able to make sure you’re meeting the needs of your animals. But anyway, so I really liked that answer because AI to me is artificial intelligence is really a tool just like precision technologies Right. In the field are tool. Right?

Glenda Pereira: 32:15

Even if we use a drone to apply whatever or take pictures or scout fields, we’re still needing to take that data and utilize it to make a decision. So, yeah, I agree with you. It’s just a tool in our pocket. And I think we’ll potentially in extension be helping troubleshoot how to potentially better optimize and be more efficient with the use of those tools, which, you know, is the reason why we have experts, here within extension. Right.

Hannah Carter: 32:42

And it’s really just to add to that because we we often still get asked, why do we have why do we have people like answer the phones at our local county extension offices or or here in our, you know, department offices or whatnot? Like, you could have an automated, you know, automated phone kind of push one for this, push 2 for that. And now with AI, I mean, you can actually have somebody answer the phone who you’re who actually is a robot but you don’t know it because they sound but what we find, and again, we get this over and over again, is the people who call extension, extension, they want they want a real person, they want real answers, they want that conversation. And so, again, we’re not to the point where I feel like we it’s all about the human connection and how do we ensure that people are still getting that. But is are there ways that we could, again, embrace AI to make some of our jobs, like to take away some of the monotony in our jobs so that would free, you know, free you up to have more time to do actually what you love to do too.

Hannah Carter: 33:48

So Yeah.

Colt Knight: 33:49

Yeah. How many more questions do we have on your list?

Glenda Pereira: 33:52

Oh, boy. Cole’s ready to wrap

Hannah Carter: 33:54

this My

Glenda Pereira: 33:56

my last question, and I kind of want to ask this one because time does allow us, you know, we have a little bit of of time. What would you say to someone who’s looking to get involved with extension, whether, you know, they’re wanting to learn about a program, they wanna volunteer, they wanna get a job with an extension, what what is the advice that you would give to them?

Hannah Carter: 34:22

It sounds corny and I’m I almost cringed when I when I was thinking about this question. But it is it’s true. It’s the following your passion. I feel like our our folks within Extension, I they’re phenomenal. Again, yourselves included in this.

Hannah Carter: 34:40

It’s but you’re doing what you love to do and it’s clear. Like, it is absolutely clear. Nobody loves the emails or all the endless meetings or whatnot. But when you get to do, you know, working within your fields and whatnot, So I really feel like to do a job and to do a job well, you really have to love it. And I feel like that’s the same thing with volunteering.

Hannah Carter: 35:00

As I look at across our Extension organization, we wouldn’t be what we are without volunteers across all programmatic areas. And again, people are volunteering because they love it. It’s they’re passionate about whether it’s Master Gardening or four H or whatever it is. So I think that’s the key is are you passionate about it? I think with certainly within Extension, and again, from an employee or volunteer standpoint, it’s kind of the choose your own adventure.

Hannah Carter: 35:29

One of the things I think is great about Extension is, yes, we have guidelines and policies like any organization. But it really is, okay, I love this particular subject area. And you can really, again, as an employee or as a volunteer, make that your own. What does that look like? How am I gonna how am I gonna serve people, you know, programmatic areas, that types of thing.

Hannah Carter: 35:56

And I think that I think people are drawn to that. And the other thing is you have to have a heart of service. That is why Extension is so special and the people that work within Extension and our volunteers have that heart of service. And I feel like we know and it’s funny as I sit here on a campus, It’s so interesting because you I mean, our extension folks stand out in a lot of ways, but it’s that willingness to go above and beyond. Willingness I mean, I look at you two.

Hannah Carter: 36:26

How many nights and weekends, you know, do you work? Holt’s already mentioned about the judging, you know, this weekend. It’s that if you want an eight to five existence, extension might not be for you. Right. Because that’s not who we are.

Hannah Carter: 36:42

And so again, I think about that heart of service, but but within your passion area. And I also think it’s really important to say this because we are an over 100 year old organization, is that that I see a bright and vibrant future for Extension. It’s not one of those old, old things that is dying. Not at all. And I feel like I can say that with a lot of confidence because of of the new generation of extension folks that we have within the organization now.

Hannah Carter: 37:13

And again, how we are evolving and changing to meet the needs of the people in the industries across the state. So I feel like we are vibrant and and it’s just it’s just a really cool place to be.

Glenda Pereira: 37:24

Couldn’t agree more.

Colt Knight: 37:26

I like that. So I have questions now.

Glenda Pereira: 37:28

Okay. So

Colt Knight: 37:31

first, we want to know if you listen to the podcast.

Hannah Carter: 37:34

I listened to the first couple episodes when you did it because I was like, this is so cool. And then, I’m not gonna lie, my my job and my, lack of available headspace, I have not listened to So now I need to come back and catch

Glenda Pereira: 37:53

up on We can’t be honest. Yeah. I appreciate it.

Hannah Carter: 37:55

No. I’m like, people are like, I haven’t read my book club books. I’m like

Glenda Pereira: 38:01

No. We get it.

Colt Knight: 38:02

There will be no quiz this time.

Hannah Carter: 38:04

Yeah. No. It’s time. But I’m now I’ve I now I wanna go back and listen to the episodes. It’s gotten so bad.

Hannah Carter: 38:10

Like, I used to have favorite podcasts and I just haven’t and I think it’s just my brain is full.

Glenda Pereira: 38:15

If you do wanna listen to a few, people have said that the episode about me and my journey and Cole and his journey are people’s favorite Okay. So far. That’s awesome. So if you had to listen

Colt Knight: 38:25

some We only asked two people.

Hannah Carter: 38:27

Well, that’s alright.

Colt Knight: 38:28

I mean, Quintas like No. Acting like people on the street

Glenda Pereira: 38:31

are No. No. No. No.

Colt Knight: 38:32

It’s just been like

Glenda Pereira: 38:33

We was funny because Colt’s like, who listens to this podcast? My stepdad actually listens all the time. Shout out to my stepdad again. And he really enjoys it. But more not just to two people.

Glenda Pereira: 38:42

Other people have mentioned that there that was their favorite podcast. So That’s awesome. Just saying. We need to do more of those. But go ahead.

Colt Knight: 38:49

The other question, since you are a Maine native and you get to travel a lot, we always have visitors and guests that want to come to Maine. What attractions do you recommend folks go and see while they are here?

Hannah Carter: 39:07

Well, obviously, Aroostook County. And I say this because nobody goes to Aroostook County hardly at all. They believe the state of Maine and now I’m going to, you know, get twitchy, but people sometimes believe the state of Maine ends here in Penobscot County. Like there’s nothing else north of here. Yep.

Hannah Carter: 39:29

There which is true. There’s a lot of trees. I get that. Baxter

Colt Knight: 39:34

State Park.

Hannah Carter: 39:34

Right. Moosehead Lake. You can stop on your way.

Colt Knight: 39:37

What’s that big mountain that’s up there?

Hannah Carter: 39:39

Mountain. Yep. Yep. But I really feel like no trip to Maine. And this is why I say people have to make multiple trips to Maine.

Hannah Carter: 39:47

So come to Maine, do the coast, do Acadia, do all of the tourist things that people do. But when you come back, go to Rooster County and go either two times of the year. My favorite time is to go when the leaves are changing in the fall. Fall is my favorite season. And you get on some of the hills in Aroostook County and look out at the colors and the fields.

Hannah Carter: 40:11

It’s just amazing. But then also, July is potato blossom season, and we do have the Maine Potato Blossom Festival, which I am putting a plug in for. But to be able to go through 60,000 acres of potatoes that are on blossom is a pretty pretty amazing thing to see as well. So everybody needs to

Colt Knight: 40:29

head started with extension, I was invited to give a talk in January in a rustic county.

Hannah Carter: 40:35

Not a good time.

Colt Knight: 40:37

And so this is the first time that I drove through 16 feet of snow.

Hannah Carter: 40:42

Right.

Colt Knight: 40:43

There was between Halton and Presque Isle that road. I appreciate what the

Hannah Carter: 40:46

name is. US Route 1.

Colt Knight: 40:47

There was a, like, a 16 foot where they just carved out with a big big loader. And then I remember after I gave my talk, said, well, I’m gonna go home because I don’t wanna drive in minus 30 degree weather. But I remember I had a piece of pizza and a cup of Coke. And I walked outside and the wind blew so hard, it upended both my pizza and my Coke. And I remember the Coke froze before it hit the ground.

Colt Knight: 41:11

And then as soon as I pick up the pizza, it was hard. I just

Hannah Carter: 41:14

So go in either July or the fall.

Colt Knight: 41:18

To this date, no one has ever asked me to come and give educational talk in Aroostook County in a nice weather month.

Hannah Carter: 41:25

Okay.

Colt Knight: 41:25

It’s always been

Hannah Carter: 41:26

We need to

Colt Knight: 41:27

Like, February.

Hannah Carter: 41:27

We need to remedy that. Yeah. We need to do a field trip maybe.

Glenda Pereira: 41:31

I see. I I lived in Minnesota and so I consider the winters in Maine here actually a summer. Just saying.

Hannah Carter: 41:37

It it’s true. They’re not as bad as they

Glenda Pereira: 41:39

used to be. Yep. So Yeah. But I we’re actually gonna do some programs up in Presque Isle. So we’ll be but that’s in the summer.

Glenda Pereira: 41:48

So we’ll be back up there. Awesome. Summer weather to enjoy that. Yes.

Colt Knight: 41:52

Yeah. Looking forward to it.

Glenda Pereira: 41:54

Yeah. Any more questions, Cole?

Colt Knight: 41:57

No. We gotta be respectful of Dean Carter’s time.

Glenda Pereira: 42:00

Yeah.

Hannah Carter: 42:00

I really appreciate the opportunity to be here. But more so, I appreciate, again, the creativity and innovation that you all are showing and having this. Like, this is our first extension podcast. It had been talked about for years and you all made it happen. And so congratulations on a year again.

Hannah Carter: 42:20

And again, I I really appreciate being a part of this. So thank you.

Colt Knight: 42:23

We started off with a portable USB mic sitting on top of a suitcase at a hotel.

Hannah Carter: 42:30

I mean, that’s how all good ideas, I mean, have an origin story. So I think that’s perfect. And here you are. I mean, I’m in this beautiful podcast studio. So head and

Colt Knight: 42:41

Gary Don’t look behind the curtains.

Hannah Carter: 42:43

Yeah. No. No.

Colt Knight: 42:44

No. The lead based paint still peeling back there.

Glenda Pereira: 42:46

That’s And we had Gary on a couple weeks ago and he’s like, this used to be our milk quality lab. And now it’s this awesome podcast studio. We’re all being based on needs.

Hannah Carter: 42:56

Yeah. There

Colt Knight: 42:56

is. May still be some clostridium here in the corner. I’m not a 100%

Glenda Pereira: 43:00

sure.

Hannah Carter: 43:00

Again, it just shows how innovative extension is. And and again, get where people are at. And this is this is where people are at. And so I commend you both. So thank you again.

Colt Knight: 43:12

Well, you. And thanks to our listeners for joining in. If you have questions, comments, and concerns, you can send us a message at

Glenda Pereira: 43:23

Extension dot farmcastmain dot edu. Thanks again, Dean Carter for being on the podcast, and we look forward to a future episode. Tada.

Colt Knight: 43:35

At the end of every episode, everyone just stares at me.

Hannah Carter: 43:39

Does does anybody reach out with comments, questions, or concerns? Have you gotten any of that?

Glenda Pereira: 43:43

Person. Yeah.

Colt Knight: 43:44

We had one person.

Glenda Pereira: 43:45

We still haven’t been able to fill that need and we’ve What

Colt Knight: 43:48

if we can try? It’s not true. We felt half the need. They wanted to learn about insurance and sheep. Oh.

Colt Knight: 43:54

But none of the insurance folks that we have invited show up.