Download a PDF of the Communities of Practice and descriptions

A, B, C's of Omega-3's

This proposed CoP is intent on sharing information about omega-3 fatty acids (n-3s). N-3s, and in particular fish and fish oils, have been frequently highlighted in the news in the last few years. A myriad of health benefits associated with increased intake of this nutrient have been suggested or implied. However, while some of the health claims made have substantial scientific support, other claims are still questionable due to limited scientific testing. Additionally, differences in types, forms, and amounts of n-3s needed for health must be discerned. Much of this information is not readily available to the public in terms they are able to use and understand. This CoP, which is largely comprised of scientists from a multi-state project that has been supported by USDA for more than 30 years, will take existing and newly emerging research-based, peer-reviewed information about n-3 fatty acids and compile it into a centralized, consumer-centered, and trustworthy source of information in the eXtension educational environment.

Agricultural Law

This Community of Practice deals with legal issues surrounding agriculture production, food system participation, natural resources conservation and land ownership.

All About Blueberries

The primary goal of this CoP is to develop a “one-stop shop” for everything about blueberries. The Community of Interest is defined as producers (both backyard and commercial) and consumers of blueberries, in addition to allied support industries related to blueberry production. More specifically, we will initially target material for commercial and backyard blueberry growers from farm-to-market, and also consumers of blueberries. We propose to develop new content and also modify existing content that has been developed by the Cooperative Extension Service. Backyard production of blueberries has recently increased in popularity in the southeastern US, due in part to the successful marketing of blueberries as an easy-to-grow, eye-appealing plant that also produces a fruit with superior nutritional quality and antioxidant properties. We will also develop information for consumers of blueberries, thus showing the connection between blueberry production and consumption.

Apples

The Apples CoP goal is to provide region-specific apple variety and rootstock descriptions and recommendations to the Community of Interest (CoI) which includes commercial producers, nursery professionals, extension educators, master gardeners, home gardeners and consumers. Producers will have access to valuable information that will increase production efficiency and profitability over the long-term and contribute to the sustainability of their operations and the industry as a whole.

Bee Health

Our goal is to facilitate knowledge transfer of sustainable strategies for managed bee health in order to secure continued pollination of our natural and agricultural plant communities. This knowledge will come from experts involved in the USDA-ARS Area wide Program for Improving Honey Bee Health, the CSREES, NRI Coordinated Agricultural Project (CAP) for Sustainable Solutions to Problems Affecting Health of Managed Bees, and many other individual bee experts and programs that have experienced, tested strategies and new research to share with the public.

Beef Cattle Industry

The Beef Cattle Industry Clearinghouse is composed of nationally known beef experts that engage with clientele using the Internet. Beef production systems vary tremendously across the United States due to the wide variety of resources available. Therefore, it is imperative for the success of this website that a large number of faculty contribute to the Beef Cattle Clearinghouse database.

eXtension Alliance for Better Child Care 

The Better Kid Care Community of Practice (CoP) is a team of early childhood educators and professionals who are passionate about young children. We are committed to improving and supporting quality childcare nationwide. The Vision of Better Kid Care America is to ensure that all young children receive high-quality, developmentally appropriate early care and education experiences that provide a foundation for success in school, work, and social relationships. The Mission of Better Kid Care America is to actively engage and educate childcare providers, parents, and community leaders with high quality, web-based early childhood resources and learning experiences.

Climate, Forest and Woodlands

The Forest Climate Change CoP will be centered on the conservation and management of forest topic areas. As background this will include the identification of basic climate patterns that influence climate change both globally and regionally (including the full suite of temporal scales from seasonal to annual to decadal to centennial), impacts that are or are projected to occur to forests, management strategies to help sustain these forests, projected changes in parameters critical to forest resource management, projected changes in ecosystem type and vegetation species distribution, economic impacts from affected forests on markets and forest impact effects on wildlife, water, recreation and robust adaptation strategies, adaptive management implementation success stories, invasive species, forest fire, insect and disease, watershed hydrology and erosion, phenology, climate extremes, ecosystem thresholds, dealing with uncertainty, carbon sequestration, carbon and nitrogen enrichment, climate and ecosystem monitoring, pests and diseases, riparian forests, and biodiversity.

Creating Healthy Communities

This community will offer concrete opportunities for learning, sharing evidence-based community health education models that have been proven effective, and generating new ideas for research and practice via technology-mediated conversation and teaching.

Community Planning and Zoning

The Community Planning and Zoning CoP will help focus the land grant college system on delivery of land use education and information across the country. Our services would include creating the leading web site for trustworthy, individualized free resources; enhancing and facilitating social networking among land use advocates; providing value-added learning products; partnering with national associations to distribute information to their constituents; knowing and serving individual customer needs as they move through customer support services; and building and enhancing the professional development of eXtension educators.

Companion Animals

An online resource for companion animal owners and enthusiasts - from dogs and cats to rabbits and guinea pigs – providing unbiased research-based information and tools.

Consumer Horticulture

The Consumer Horticulture Community of Practice (CHCoP) is comprised of extension faculty in consumer horticulture, faculty with programs related to consumer horticulture such as integrated pest management, and extension faculty coordinating the volunteer Extension Master Gardener program. The CHCoP is nation-wide in scope and seeks representation from the more than 100 Land Grant programs including 1862, 1890, and 1994 institutions. The CHCoP will include Extension specialists, County Extension Educators/Agents, and Extension Master Gardener volunteers who will often act as first responders to incoming questions in the FAQ system. A national steering committee (the USDA Consumer Horticulture National Committee) has been assembled to coordinate activities of the CHCoP and potentially other groups who are developing and maintaining Extension consumer horticulture and Master Gardener programs and content.

Cooperatives

The purpose of the Cooperatives Community of Practice is to maximize public outreach by utilizing the powerful eXtension forum to communicate to their users about cooperative principles and functions, and to share decision tools, case studies and other research based information to the appropriate to their users.

Corn and Soybean Production

The Corn and Soybean Production Community of Practice (CoP) is made up of state extension agronomists with responsibilities for corn and soybean production. These Extension agronomists are from both major and minor production states. The national team represents the major corn and soybean production areas in the Midwest, and the minor production areas in the MidSouth, Northeast, Southeast and Southwest. Extension agronomists have been centers of multidisciplinary research and education activities supporting crop production. This historical placement within states and institutions allows team members to develop the most appropriate and comprehensive interdisciplinary structure. Currently, 17 Extension agronomists representing 13 land grant institutions are part of this CoP and began developing the content. This group represents some of the states with the largest corn and soybean acreage (i.e., Iowa and Illinois) and states with very few corn and soybean acres (i.e., Georgia and Virginia). Members of the CoP represent resource-rich states where one person is responsible for a single crop and resource-poor states where one person is responsible for many crops.

Cotton

The Cotton Community of Practice will serve as a multi-state, coordinated team to focus on high priority needs of the cotton industry, will facilitate technology transfer to cotton producers, and will be a central source of information dealing with current issues across all US cotton producing areas.

DAIReXNET

DAIReXNET will meet the educational and decision-making needs of dairy producers, allied industry partners, extension employees, and consumers by providing science-based information and learning opportunities through the Internet-based eXtension initiative. DAIReXNET will reach new audiences and support the extension efforts of colleagues, state programs and other CoPs, and will enhance the productivity and effectiveness of Cooperative Extension.

Diabetes

The Diabetes CoP will focus on type 2 diabetes and pre-diabetes for adults who are at risk for type 2 diabetes. The Diabetes CoP will bridge the existing information gap and provide user friendly, practical resources to assist lay audiences, Extension staff, and community health professional with the skills thjey need to better support people with diabetes and Pre-diabetes.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Our CoP will operate as a virtual community committed to developing educational institutions and agencies that are inclusive in make up and practice by sharing innovative ideas, valuable resources, and practical solutions while building synergistic collaboratives. Our vision is to serve as the preeminent virtual community in the field of diversity that fosters intellectual thinking, discourse, and engagement through cutting edge information, and educational resources.

Drinking Water Issues

The Drinking Water Issues Community of Practice (CoP) provides an opportunity to engage Extension professionals and their clients in creating a national resource about drinking and complements and strengthens National Water Program activities.

Entrepreneurs and Their Communities

The “Entrepreneurs and Their Communities” team is comprised of Extension faculty from across the nation having strong backgrounds and extensive Extension-related responsibilities in the areas of community and economic development. It is a multidisciplinary team comprised of agricultural economists, rural sociologists, community development educators, and human scientists working in tandem to produce and incorporate the best information and educational resources available on a the subject of entrepreneurship. As a result of their close working partnership with the Regional Rural Development Centers, this CoP has effectively drawn Extension educators from the four regions of the U.S. to be part of this exciting initiative.

eOrganic

The eOrganic CoP of people representing diverse organic production regions and content areas. They include campus and county extension faculty and research and teaching faculty recognized for their expertise in organic and sustainable agriculture. In addition, the CoP includes experienced organic farmers, staff from NGOs involved in providing information on organic and sustainable agriculture, and agricultural professionals.

Extension Disaster Education Network

The ongoing collaborative work of EDEN's Disaster Issues Community of Practice provides the best of Extension's research-based, interdisciplinary, educational resources to help people prepare for or recover from natural or man-made disasters affecting their communities, families, farms, or businesses.

Extension Wildfire Information Network

This Community encompasses Extension specialists in forestry, natural resources, building materials, range management, and fire education. Content will be provided to a diverse audience consisting of the general public, home and landowners; fire prevention agencies and organizations; Cooperative Extension and University faculty and staff; forest and range managers and consultants; land use planners; local, state and federal government;, decision makers; emergency planning groups; non-governmental organizations including environmental groups; the business community (landscapers, arborists, insurance, engineering, design firms, etc.); community residents; volunteers (CERT, FEMA, Red Cross, etc.); and the media.

Families, Food and Fitness

Overweight and obesity have dominated the news as a public health epidemic in our nation. Over 60% of adults and 30% of children are overweight or obese. Lifestyle choices underlie obesity and many chronic diseases. Poor nutrition and lack of physical activity are increasing Americans’ risk for developing major chronic diseases including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and some forms of cancer. Lasting changes in eating and physical activity behaviors require education for the individual and family as well as changes to the physical environment and social system to support positive lifestyle habits. Eighty-five percent of Americans believe that obesity is now at epidemic proportions. Consumer demand for user-friendly information they can trust on healthy eating and physical activity for themselves and their family is at an all time high. The multi-state, multidisciplinary eXtension CoP will utilize the collaboration will be organized around the three goals of this “Families, Food and Fitness; Preventing Obesity” CoP, which are for the participants of the CoI to (1) Improve diets; (2) Increase physical activity; and (3) Maintain body weight in a healthy range and avoid excess weight gain. The Families, Food and Fitness CoP is led by a leadership team of individuals each taking on leadership for a content group or specific tasks required by the CoP.

Family Caregiving

Family caregiving is emerging as a major social and economic issue in the United States. Increasingly, there is a growing demand for family strengthening programs that support caregivers and delay instiutionalization of the aged and infirm. The multi-state, multidisciplinary eXtension Family Caregiving: Caring for Aged and/or Disabled Adults Community of Practice (Family Caregiving CoP) is an innovative and strategic collaboration whose mission is to assist people attempting to address caregiving needs at the individual, family and community level. The Family Caregiving CoP is led by a steering committee of individuals each taking on leadership for a content group or specific tasks required by the CoP.

Financial Crisis

This is a virtual Community of Practice formed from individuals in other Communities that had content relevant and timely for the financial crisis that was facing our nation. This community provided access to broad spectrum of subject areas relating to managing money in tough times.

Farm Energy

The Farm Energy Community of Practice will provide objective information about agricultural energy production and use which promotes the stewardship of natural resources, the economic viability of farm operations, and enhances the quality of life for farmers and society as a whole.

Financial Security for All

The Financial Security for All Community of Practice, a virtual community lead by eight Extension professionals from across the country, has 170 members from Land Grant Universities in 44 states and one territory. Members collaborate to address education needs of three major Communities of Interest (CoIs) - Financial Security in Later Life, Financial Literacy for Youth, and Financial Stability. They develop learning lessons, resources, provide peer-reviewed Frequently Asked Questions and Featured Resources, and answer Ask the Expert questions. Financial security, the ability to meet day-to-day expenses while saving and investing for tomorrow, is a lifelong goal for most individuals and families. The national Financial Security for All team began collaborative work to provide consumers a source of reliable and up-to-date financial and consumer information through a knowledge base of commonly asked questions that have science-based, peer-reviewed answers.

Food Safety

The Food Safety CoP is an open community for professionals seeking to promote general safe food handling practices for consumers. As the CoP evolves it may include individuals assisting restaurant managers and small food businesses with their food safety challenges.

For Youth, For Life

The For Youth, For Life CoP has transitioned from the previous name of Youth S.E.T. for Life and a focus on science, engineering, and technology for youth to a broader approach for content.  Following general themes of science, health, responsible living, and service, the FYFL CoP can accommodate essentially any topic for its youth audience.  Further, tag lines of Get Science, Be Healthy, Live Responsibly, and Go Serve are considerations for use in the live pages and for content teams to follow as they prepare content.  The four tag lines also relate to the Head, Heart, Hands, and Health of 4-H and are accommodating of the USDA Mission Mandates for youth programming.  Accordingly, the CoP has organized itself to accommodate multiple content teams beginning with the content areas for youth listed below and expanding to many others as the CoP and content teams continue to evolve.

Forest Farming

 

  

Freshwater Aquaculture

This CoP is composed of experts from 1890 and 1862 institutions that will provide content on freshwater aquaculture topics. Major Freshwater culture species include catfish, trout, crawfish, hybrid striped bass, tilapia, various sport fish and a multitude of ornamental fish species.

Goat

What are the best management practices to minimize ingestion of internal parasites in Boer goats? How do I synchronize estrus in goats? How do I make soap using goat milk? Answers to those and other questions can be found on the goat industry CoP which provides a comprehensive source of scientifically based information on all aspects of meat and dairy goat production and marketing.

Grapes

The rationale behind this proposed eXtension project is to capitalize on emerging technologies by forming a Grape CoP (GCoP)that will develop an interactive national science-based repository of grape production information as well as interaction with professionals with expertise in all areas of grape production through the Ask the Expert function as well as other resources not available elsewhere. These options would be readily available to the community of interest (COI) with the objective of increasing short term success and improving long term productivity and profitability for producers. The GCoP will be a source of information that can impact growers and wine makers at all levels of development such that costly errors can be avoided with appropriate and available research-based information.

Home Energy

The Home Energy community of practice will bring together Cooperative Extension and Research professionals to develop, enhance and maintain a world-wide-web presence on energy, sustainability and housing.

HorseQuest

The Horse CoP brings together extension horse specialists, teaching and research faculty, veterinarians, professional extension staff, and industry professionals to develop relevant equine material for today's consumer.

Imported Fire Ants

Consumers and agricultural producers have a new ally in battling this stinging pest. They can find a wealth of research based university information at eXtension’s Imported Fire Ants Web site. This tool should be the first source for anyone needing information on imported fire ants and how to control them. The eXtension Imported Fire Ants site has been developed through the collaboration of Cooperative Extension Service professionals with expertise in entomology and pest control.

Invasive Species

This community plans to increase the capacity of the Master Gardener programs and Master Gardeners to address invasive species issues.

Just In Time Parenting

Just in Time Parenting (JITP) brings quality, research-based information to families at the time it can be most useful and make the biggest difference in their lives. Over the past 30 years, Cooperative Extension faculty in land-grant universities have developed and evaluated an unusually parent-friendly series. Capitalizing on the "teachable moment," monthly newsletters are delivered "just in time" - keyed to the age of each parent's child. The JITP Community of Practice is a collaborative effort that draws on specialists and educators from over 35 land-grant universities who are transforming these research-based age-paced newsletters into a national interactive Internet resource on parenting.

Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Centers

A group focused on environmental issues related to livestock and poultry production, especially manure management issues.

Map@Syst

Map@Syst is a community of practice devoted to the outreach and education for geospatial technologies and their application to today's world. The Map@Syst community provides information on using geospatial technologies and how geospatial technologies are making a difference in peoples’ lives.

Military Family

This Community of Practice will support the educational and informational needs of the military community with a focus on family and youth programming. The Department of Defense (DoD) and NIFA have developed a cooperative agreement to develop and support the partnership with eXtension and it's member institutions (land grant universities) to develop online information and educational programs. The Military Families CoP will work to:

1. Increase availability of educational resources targeting military youth, families, and communities;
2. Provide resources to current Communities of Practice (CoPs) to create new content addressing priority issues of military and non-military communities;
3. Create new Communities of Practice that meet the immediate and emerging needs of military and non-military communities;
4. Create and expand professional development opportunities focused on using Web 2.0 tools and strategies in the teaching and learning environment; and
5. Increase opportunities for communities, organizations, etc., to engage with eXtension to strengthen community capacity in support of military families.

Niche Meat Processor Assistance Network

The Niche Meat Processor Assistance Network seeks to strengthen and expand slaughter and processing capacity, nationwide, for niche meats—such as locally grown, certified organic, grass-fed, no antibiotics/added hormones, and certified humane. The Network provides an online catalog of easy to use resources for small meat processors looking to expand, upgrade, or build new facilities. These resources provide help with meat processing regulations, small business development, financial assistance, workforce management, and other subjects. The network has State Affiliates in most states offering hands-on assistance. Also available on this site is the opportunity to ask experts in the field specific questions, and examine case studies of niche meat processor around the country. For university extension staff and others working to support small meat processors, the Network provides a forum for answering questions, sharing ideas, and discussing current industry issues. We hold topic-specific conference calls on a regular basis.

Oil Spill

Pesticide Environmental Stewardship

This CoP will develop critical thinking and decision-making skills regarding pesticide and non-pesticide options and potential impacts, through appropriate information resources, educational modules, and self-assessment tools.

Plant Breeding and Genomics

Currently, many plant-breeding programs lack access to technology, and they often lack experience with genomics tools and analysis techniques. Our proposed CoP is developing content to serve the needs of professionals through the "Professional Outreach" group. Extension content for eXtension will consist of general modules consisting of multiple specific modules. Practical modules will be supported by reviews of the relevant scientific literature developed as “mini-reviews” for a professional audience. Simply stated, our goal is to put research into practice.

Precision Agriculture

Precision Agriculture CoP will work in the areas of 1) using remote sensing products to develop field management zones; 2) using free GIS software to develop fertilizer and seed application maps; 3) GIS map projection issues relevant to various farm GIS software and in-cab controllers; 4) comparing crop yield data to field management zones.

Pork Information

This CoP currently includes representations from extension (47), teaching (9), and research (17) faculty from 1862 (72) and 1890 (1) institutions that are both campus (69) and field (4) based. CoP representation also includes instructors from community colleges (5), commodity organizations (6), producer associations (2), private industry (6), USDA-ARS (3), USDA-CSREES (1), High School Vo-Ag (1), and the producer community (3). This CoP has partnered with the National Pork Board, Pork Industry Handbook, National Swine Improvement Federation, the Midwest Plan Service and the American Society of Swine Practitioners on content aggregation and development.

Rangelands

Developing content to assist in better management of rangelands. We are part of the Western Rangelands Partnership with rangeland specialist and librarian members interested in rangeland ecology and management.

Small and Backyard Flocks

 

Sustainable Marine Fisheries

The starting Community of Practice (CoP) consists of fisheries extension programs from 7 states collaborating as part of the National Sea Grant College Program network, many with shared appointments with Cooperative Extension. These states include Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Maryland, Virginia, South Carolina and Alaska. The mission of Sea Grant is to support research and provide science-based information and outreach to fishery stakeholders so that they may make informed decisions that sustain marine resources and strengthen the economic viability of the fishing industry and coastal industries. This will enhance the CoP’s ability to provide fishery technology, sustainable fisheries, seafood safety, marketing and educational expertise to CoP content.

Teen Leadership

The Teen Leadsership CoP will focus on improving leadership and self‐ esteem, promoting wellness, enhancing cultural awareness, team building, social and life skills, and civic engagement.

Urban Integrated Pest Management

Urban IPM was so named to define the discipline as being separate from agricultural IPM, but not limited to pest management in metropolitan areas alone. Urban IPM impacts anyone living or working in and around structures. Areas of impact include youth, businesses and community, home and family, natural resources and environment, lawn and gardens.

Water Conservation for Lawn and Landscape

Develop a coordinated and effective national response to the need for landscape water conservation information to support the sustainable use of water resources

Wildlife Damage Management

Wildlife damage management is a diverse and exciting area and the site reflects that diversity. Wildlife damage management requires one to be able to identify the damage, select appropriate mitigation techniques, and suggest ways to prevent future damage. Additionally, the wildlife damage professional must also consider human needs and concerns in addition to issues related to animal welfare and the environment. The Wildlife Damage Management Community mission is to assist individuals with the complex decision process required to mitigate human and wildlife concerns. CoP members include nationally recognized wildlife biologists, nuisance wildlife control operators, educators and people interested in the field of human-wildlife relations. The CoP goal is to help people live in harmony with wildlife and minimize and prevent the conflicts that may occur in human-wildlife relations.

Wood Energy

The Wood Energy community of practice provides objective information about woody biomass energy production and use which promotes the stewardship of natural resources, the economic viability of operations, and enhances the quality of life for individuals and society as a whole.

Youth SET for Life

The Youth Set for Life CoP changed their name in 2011 to "For Youth, For Life."

Professional Development CoPs

Evaluation

This community is interested in evaluation of Extension educational programs from throughout the United States.

Public Deliberation

This community is interested in helping Extension Professionals gain the set of skills, competencies, and experiences needed to effectively employ citizen-centered approaches as a core part of their Extension engagement activities.

Brand Value

This community is interested in meeting the knowledge needs of faculty and staff related to marketing and branding, continuing the work if the ECOP Marketing and Communications Task Force through creation, implementation, and evaluation phases, and being careful stewards of the research already completed.