Today’s children have not always had the opportunities needed to make wise choices. 4-H Youth programs provide opportunities for youth to develop life skills in communication, working with others, and getting along with others. Ethics Education is an educational program that has been incorporated into programs within 4-H youth programming as well as in schools and communities throughout North Dakota. CHARACTER COUNTS! is an educational program developed by the Josephson Institute of Ethics and adopted by the NDSU Extension Service to teach six character traits. They are trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, caring, fairness and citizenship.

State, federal, local and grant sources of funding have enabled North Dakota to offer CHARACTER COUNTS! in communities and in 4-H youth activities throughout the state. Volunteers, county extension staff (state and local) along with school administrators, teachers, and community members have been part of the training and implementation of the program in local communities.

Leaders and teachers are trained in the curriculum and then are able to teach the curriculum and activities to others. It makes use of traditional extension face-to-face training with leaders and then exponentially expands as each leader trains more people. Educational materials on character including extension publications and newsletters promote and explain character education. It has been incorporated into activities at county and state fairs as well. In addition television, radio, and newspapers have also picked up on the need to educate for character. Many schools have requested this character education program after going through school improvement processes and have come to the extension service for assistance in this area.

Impact -

An evaluation plan to measure the effectiveness of CHARACTER COUNTS! in North Dakota was initiated in 2001. Student and teacher survey instruments were adapted to the needs of North Dakota from the South Dakota State University Cooperative Extension Service/4-H Evaluation. During spring of 2001 the first student and teacher surveys were administered to establish a baseline to compare future surveys. The data from the surveys will help draw conclusions about the behavioral changes occurring as a result of this program. The findings cannot be used to make definite statements about the program’s effectiveness. They are designed as baselines against which future measurements can be compared.

Seven schools in seven counties were invited to participate in the teacher surveys. One hundred fifty surveys were returned from teachers in grades 1-12. Impact measures from these surveys give us a window into the teacher perceptions of how the program is working. The teachers believe that although they cannot say that students fight less often they do help each other more and call each other names less. In grades 1-6 the majority of teachers feel their students are less destructive of property and treat the teacher with more respect. Since not as much time is spent in grades 7-12 on CHARACTER COUNTS! the numbers are lower in the same categories. The majority of teachers in grades 1-6 feel that their students play by the rules more often and have better recess behavior. In grades 7-12, 15 percent of teachers feel that their students cheat less, 12 percent get their homework done more often and 7 percent have better manners.

Teachers in grades 1-6 perceive that their students are receptive to the program, that fellow teachers are supportive and that parents are supportive. In grades 7-12 teachers perceive that 35 percent of students are receptive to the program, 29 percent of the teachers are supportive of the program and 23 percent of the parents are supportive of the program. Both groups perceived the community as lacking in support of this program. Most teachers are not sure that this program reaches children who really need it. The majority in all grades feels that the curriculum is age appropriate. Forty-one percent of teachers in grades 1-6 believe that CHARACTER COUNTS! makes a difference in the lives of their students while only 14 percent in grades 7-12 believe this. Forty-nine percent of teachers in grades 1-6 believe that CHARACTER COUNTS! will have a long term impact on their communities while only 21 percent believed that in grades 7-12.

Two teachers summed up the whole process. One said "I think it is an excellent program but it is way to soon to be looking for permanent changes! I think those who started these activities at a younger age and continue them will gain more than most senior high students." Another teacher said "It takes time to make changes in our lives."

Source of federal funds: Smith-Lever

Scope of Impact: State specific within the National CHARACTER COUNTS! effort.

This effort focuses on three phases of value-added agriculture development. The first is to assist producers and industry identify the strengths and opportunities in the region. The second is to educate clients on constraints and requirements to develop an identified value-added venture. The third is to serve as a resource for implementing identified value added agriculture opportunities.

Impact - Five events aimed at educating the public on the strengths and identified opportunities for the region were held during the year. Interest in value-added agriculture was high as over 75 participants attended each session. The outcome of this effort included identification of four areas that participants felt had the best opportunity for success. The first was potential for high value crop development with the vast irrigation resources in the region (potatoes, onions, and cabbage were singled out). The second was developing niche crops to be used in rotation with high value crops (malting barley, soybeans and identity-preserved wheat were identified). The third was attracting food-processing firms for better markets (an effort is underway to attract a French fry plant to the region). The final area of identified opportunity was the development of higher value dryland crops (chickpeas, other legumes, and oilseed crops saw dramatic acreage increases in the past three years).

Throughout the year producers and end users were brought together in an effort to form value added agriculture production and marketing alliances. Four outcomes from this effort are offering value added opportunities to producers in the region. First, Anheuser Busch, Cargill and Coors have implemented a malting barley increase program. Acreage of selected varieties of malting barley under contract has gone from zero acres in 1998 to over 30,000 acres in 2001. The three companies would like to contract 50,000 to 100,000 acres of malting barley in the near future. Second, identity-preserved wheat production for sale directly to end-user markets began in 2000. Ten producers contracting 1,100 acres of identity-preserved hard red spring wheat participated in a pilot program to develop this opportunity. Acreage for this project should increase substantially in following years. Third, contracted irrigated potato production went from zero acres in 1997 to 80 acres in 1998 up to 1,500 acres in 2001. During the summer of 2000, $2.6 million of potato storage facilities were built as local French fry processors have guaranteed five years of production contracts. Eventually, the region hopes to attract a French fry processing or potato dehydration plant from this effort. Fourth, pulse and oilseed crops have seen a dramatic increase over the past three years. With over 100,000 acres of legume crops (chickpeas, field peas, lentil, etc.) and over 2 million oilseed acres (canola, mustard, flax, etc.) many new processing facilities have developed. In the region, there was one processor in 1995; now there are 4 processing facilities.

On the livestock side, two dairies are currently working on equity drives and hopefully will be in production in 2003. An alfalfa cubing and press facility is in the works and will utilize 75,000 tons of alfalfa in the region. The hay will be marketed in the horse and dairy industries and will be shipped mostly to the Pacific Northwest, California, Texas, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. There may be marketing opportunities overseas, for example in Japan.

Source of federal funds: Smith-Lever

Scope of Impact: Multi-state Integrated Research and Extension in ND and MT.

Extension specialists from the center for 4-H and agricultural engineering have teamed with county extension agents to create 4-H GIS/GPS leadership camps for teens in North Dakota. The program is designed to teach teams of teens and adult mentors GIS and G.P.S. skills in data collection and mapping for use in areas of need back in their local communities.

Impact – More than 40 teens and adults have participated in this training program. Community projects have included helping a city forester map mosquito breeding areas for more targeted chemical application, having teens teach farmers at an annual pesticide update how GPS works and using a GPS challenge activity as a Friday night fun alternative activity for teens in one small rural community to teach other teens about GPS and to address the need for positive youth development activities within their community. In addition, North Dakota 4-H has two traveling GPS educational trunks, each containing 10 GPS units, educational activities and supplies for carrying out GPS training activities.

Source of federal funds: Smith-Lever

Scope of impact: Statewide extension

The impacts of agriculture processing plants on rural communities were evaluated by researchers through data collected from community leaders, company officials, and area residents in four North Dakota towns that are the sites of new agricultural processing facilities developed during the 1990s. Study results indicated that improved job opportunities and enhanced incomes were generally seen as major positive effects of the new processing plants. Because most of the plant jobs were taken by persons already living in the area, the new plants did not lead to substantial in-migration or major population growth, but served to stabilize the local economy and population. Of all the effects, only air quality and water quality were more often rated as negative than positive by local residents, but interviews indicated that even these effects were not major concerns.

Impact – Communities, business planners and policy makers will use the research to plan for new business development and anticipate effects of that development.

Source of federal funds: Hatch

Scope of impact: Statewide research

Value-added cooperatives in the Northern Plains have had major financial difficulties for a variety of reasons, including marketing, production line difficulties, financial and equity management and under capitalization. NDSU researchers developed a management tool for new generation cooperatives that features a user-friendly spreadsheet that tracks cooperative financial status and incorporates risk into financial projections.

Impact – Interest in the new spreadsheet has been broad and it will be used by cooperatives throughout the Great Plains to assist with financial decision making. Explicitly incorporating risk into the spreadsheet helps directors and managers examine scenarios to limit downside risk, inherently protecting the farmer/owner equity position.

Source of federal funds: Hatch

Scope of impact: Multi-state research.