{"id":52,"date":"2009-08-07T20:36:41","date_gmt":"2009-08-08T03:36:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/sonny\/?p=52"},"modified":"2009-11-03T10:37:50","modified_gmt":"2009-11-03T17:37:50","slug":"stahlbush-island-farms-august-7-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/sonny\/2009\/08\/07\/stahlbush-island-farms-august-7-2009\/","title":{"rendered":"Stahlbush Island Farms"},"content":{"rendered":"

August 7, 2009<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday, I had the privilege of spending the evening with Karla and Bill Chambers, owners\/operators of the Stahlbush Island Farms\u00a0(<\/a>http:\/\/www.stahlbush.com\/<\/a>), and their children.<\/span><\/p>\n

To me they epitomize the modern farm family running a large family-owned
\nbusiness, committed to Quality, Sustainability, Innovation, and People, as
\nit says in their Mission and Vision statement on their website.<\/p>\n

The conversation on their back deck, which ranged from alternative energy to
\nsustainability to education to research and Extension to Canadian geese as
\npests to taxes, and the wonderful wine -Elizabeth’s Reserve from Bill’s
\nmother’s winery – were equally refreshing and enjoyable.<\/p>\n

\"StahlbushBill offered to take me on a tour of their processing plant, which I gladly
\naccepted. The innovations they have incorporated in not only the production
\nof various vegetable crops using sustainable approaches, but also in the
\nprocessing and the use of the plant waste to generate Methane in a
\nbiogas digester to produce electricity, is very impressive.<\/p>\n

\"BiogasThe best part
\nis that they are able to follow sustainable practices in their production
\nand processing, while mitigating their ecological footprint and saving
\nmoney. In the classic definition of Extension, these are the Innovators and
\nEarly Adopters.<\/p>\n

Following the tour, we ate brats and potato salad. The conversation, which included their children, turned to our college, including the teaching, research, and Extension efforts.<\/p>\n

At one point, Karla made the observation that Extension was not really
\nneeded. I was surprised by that statement, but we engaged in a spirited
\ndiscussion of today’s Extension.<\/p>\n

I truly believe that Extension is even more relevant today because of the
\nincredible need we have to feed an ever burgeoning population, and to make
\nsure that the food is safe and secure. Additionally, whether it’s
\nproduction systems or meeting the food, feed, fuel, and fiber needs, it
\nis becoming ever more complicated and technically more demanding, requiring
\na more sophisticated and transformative Extension effort that relies on
\nreaching the end users via different touch points and modes of
\ncommunication.<\/p>\n

But when I went home and thought about Karla’s statement, it gave me pause.
\nHere’s a person who really is the proverbial ‘choir’ and she questioned the
\nrelevance of Extension. I think our work is cut out, and will require
\nserious thought. We truly have to become more relevant and bring value.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Ciao,<\/div>\n
Sonny<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

August 7, 2009 Yesterday, I had the privilege of spending the evening with Karla and Bill Chambers, owners\/operators of the Stahlbush Island Farms\u00a0(http:\/\/www.stahlbush.com\/), and their children. To me they epitomize the modern farm family running a large family-owned business, committed to Quality, Sustainability, Innovation, and People, as it says in their Mission and Vision statement… Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":271,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/sonny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/sonny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/sonny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/sonny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/271"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/sonny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/sonny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":152,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/sonny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52\/revisions\/152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/sonny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/sonny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/sonny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}