Agri News, MN
05-23-06
ISU continues to maintain its ideal, says Grigg
By Ryan Wendland
SIBLEY, Iowa -- Iowa State University Extension has maintained its ideal of keeping an ag Extension office in each county.
Al Grigg pulls double duty as county Extension education director for two counties, Lyon County and Osceola County.
Grigg relishes the challenge, not only because the expanded area allows him to meet more people. It also means Grigg has a greater impact on a region he wants to see become agriculturally stronger and more populous.
Grigg sees the Extension office as an important tool to accomplish that.
"Iowa State recognizes the value of keeping people in the counties and wants to retain that value," Grigg said. "The university is committed to have an Extension office in every county and they have not backed away from that statement."
Osceola County's population has declined to about 6,700 residents during the past years, and Grigg said he is projecting additional decline. At the same time, livestock production has increased, which leads to the hope that more jobs will mean more people.
Lyon County's population has remained steady because it serves as a bedroom community for Sioux Falls, S.D. Livestock production in Lyon County has also been on the rise. The dairy industry has been a major cause of the livestock increases in both counties. Grigg said economic and environmental pressures on large dairies in California and Arizona has caused them to look to northwest Iowa for room to expand.
"There are quite a few dairies who are looking at coming to Iowa," Grigg said.
"They would be putting their cattle right where the feedstuffs are."
The increases in livestock production have some residents raising their own environmental concerns.
"I don't see it as a problem, I see it as a challenge to do the right thing," Grigg said. "By and large our livestock operations want to do the right thing."
Grigg said Extension is also committed to spurring economic development in the cities. It is a tough balance between creating jobs and attracting a work force that

can bolster communities.
"We know from various studies that the newest people in the work force, they look for a certain lifestyle, and there needs to be those amenities to draw younger people. The people are not going to come if the amenities are not there, nor if the jobs are not available. So they both go hand in hand," Grigg said.
Both counties have taken steps to stoke economic development. Lyon County cities have drawn up an agreement that would allow them to share an economic development specialist.
Osceola County has been looking at community needs and has been at the forefront of creating a foundation through which residents, at death, can leave a portion of their estates to the county.
When farms are sold and not passed to the next generation the revenues generated are dispersed out of the region.
The foundation provides a vehicle for people to leave something to the communities of which they have been a part.
"There is something that they can leave behind," Grigg said. "There is something there that they are known for."