In 2022, Sherburne County joined a coalition with Stearns, Benton, and Morrison Counties for University of Minnesota Extension services. 

The extension services used to be set up so each county in Minnesota would have an extension educator, but the system changed in the past so each county would need to opt-in to the program. Since that time, Sherburne County has not had an extension educator at all. 

Stearns, Benton, and Morrison Counties formed a coalition with their extension educators to offer a broader spectrum of services, hiring three specialized experts instead of just one. Last year, Sherburne County joined this coalition, and gained access to these three experts as well as creating an additional role within the coalition. 

This reporter interviewed all four extension educators serving the four counties and this article will provide information on the expertise and backgrounds of all four.

(Note: Consultations with extension educators are free of charge to residents within the four counties.)

Anthony Adams, Small Farms

Anthony Adams is the extension educator for the coalition’s newest position, created when Sherburne County joined. He specializes in small farms, which is perfect for Sherburne County. Against the trend set by the rest of the state, the number of farms in Sherburne has grown, rather than decreased. There are many small farms and hobby farms around the county that keep Sherburne’s agricultural roots alive. Adams specializes in helping these small farms with any questions they may have.

Small farms, as defined by the US Dept. of Agriculture (USDA), is any farm producing less than $350,000 in gross cash farm income annually. A significant portion of farms in Sherburne County and the state at large falls under this category. 

Adams went to undergrad at Gustavus University for environmental studies, with a minor in biology. During his studies, he fell in love with biology, conservation, and agriculture and knew he wished to focus his career in those fields. After graduating, he worked with the USDA for two years and worked in a microgreen operation before attending graduate school at Kentucky State University. 

Adams says his broad background made him right for his current role, as small farms can be very diverse. 

Adams says his current goals are to let people know what the extension program does and to continue to work with the small farms in Sherburne County.

Adams can be emailed at AnthonyA@umn.edu

Tyler Rice, Crops

Tyler Rice is the extension educator focusing on crops.

Rice comes from a dairy farm in Pennsylvania. He attended Pennsylvania State University for his undergraduate education, where two of his professors inspired him to study crops. He worked as an assistant to one of these professors, researching soil fertility and foraging. Rice says the research side of agriculture has always fascinated him. After working in both Pennsylvania and Kentucky, Rice’s wife, who also works in the ag industry, was offered a job in Minnesota, so the couple moved to central MN and Rice found the job with the extension coalition. 

Rice says since moving to Minnesota, he’s been learning a lot about the unique sandy soils of the area, potatoes, and irrigation, since these are all things that play a big role in central MN crops. 

Rice’s goal is to offer an outside perspective when it comes to problems with crops, as a unique point of view can oftentimes be helpful for farms. He can work as a non biased third party when it comes to decision making.

Rice can be emailed at Rice0416@umn.edu.

Quincy Sadowski, Horticulture 

Quincy Sadowski is the extension educator focusing on horticulture. 

Sadowski spent her undergraduate years studying animal science at Utah State University with an emphasis on dairy science. She worked with the Illinois extension office while she earned her masters degree in crop science.

Sadowski said she was excited to find the position in the extension coalition. Since being hired by the coalition, she has been working with the master gardeners in the counties and with Big Lake Continuing Education. She is happy to help answer questions about gardening, and works mostly with homeowners who have backyard gardens. Her goal is to continue to answer questions about entomology (including identifying insects infecting gardens), solving problems about vegetable gardens, and discussing trees and lawns (though not helping with landscape design.)

Sadowski can be reached via email at Quincy@umn.edu

Dana Adams, Livestock

Dana Adams is the extension educator specializing in livestock.

Adams grew up in Virginia and studied at the University of Mary Washington. During her junior year of undergrad, she spent some time studying in New Zealand on a 1,200 head dairy farm, where she got some incredible experience in commercial farming. When Adams came back to the states, she worked with a small startup company for a time, but always fondly remembered her experiences with university extension. 

She found a job as an agriculture educator, where she wore many hats, from master gardener to livestock expert. While she loved the area she served and enjoyed the job, she found her focus to be too broad, and when she heard of a position in Minnesota that would allow her to become more specialized, she was excited to jump on the opportunity, and has been with the extension coalition since November of 2020. 

Adams’ goals are to continue to get to know her clients in the four counties and to help them meet their needs and problem solve with their animals. She notes that she can help determine when is a good time to switch to milking robots, or which kinds of weeds will be noxious for animals. She also says she hardly ever gets the same question twice, and is ready to help with any problems farmers may have. 

Adams can be reached via email at Adam1744@umn.edu.

Workshops

In addition to one-on-one consultations, the extension educators offer many workshops on various topics. A list of workshops and webinars being offered in Sherburne County is available at Extension.UMN.edu/courses-and-events. On that page, visitors can click “local office” on the left hand side to search by their county.