I had heard of a county extension agent prior to moving out to the farm, but didn’t really know what that meant. Who are they? What are they an agent of? What do they do?
Well, we got a flyer from our county extension agent at the beginning of January. It was for the Multi County New Landowner Program Series.
The program is for new landowners in four counties – Austin, Colorado, Fayette and Washington. It will teach us about raising livestock and horses, plant identification, fence building, applying pesticides, soil testing, stock pond management, pond construction, fruit and nut production, and more.
Hey, this sounds like a great place to start!
The first session was just over a week ago, and was an introduction. I learned that the county extension agent is a federal agent that extends the research findings of the state’s land grant university and cooperates with local government. They are an educational resource on all things agricultural for your particular area. And, to keep them honest I suppose, a county extension agent’s pay tracks back to all three of those sources – federal, university and county.
We also heard about a topic close to any property owner’s heart – property taxes. Owning acreage means that you may take on agricultural endeavors. In fact, the land may have been in agricultural use prior to purchase. Representatives from each county’s appraisal district were at the session. They explained ag exemptions and wildlife management exemptions. If your property qualifies for ag exemption, that means it is taxed using the productivity value rather than the market value. This generally results in a tax bill in the hundreds rather then the thousands of dollars.
Several other agencies also introduced themselves and how they are useful to new landowners (and seasoned landowners for that matter) – NCRS, FSA, TPW, TFS.
So many acronyms!
NCRS is the National Conservation Resource Service. They have engineers that can visit your property to map your soils, flood ways and help you develop a masterplan for your property. They can sometimes provide financial support for building things that help conserve resources. Things like cross fencing to allow rotational grazing or ponds or wells that allow livestock to easily access a water source rather than creating cowpaths to a water source that is farther away. It all depends on the particular situation on your property.
FSA is the Farm Service Agency. They are part of the USDA, and are mostly known for disaster assistance. In previous research, I saw that they also have loan programs.
TPW is Texas Parks and Wildlife. The primary service new landowners would want to take advantage of are their biologists. They won’t prepare your wildlife management plan, but they will provide input and, if you want, review it before you submit it to your tax appraisal office.
TFS is the Texas Forestry Service. If you have a question about a tree, these are probably your guys. They offer a variety of landowner assistance. There’s even a conservation nursery where you can purchase tree and shrub seedlings. They are grown from seeds that are collected in the field, so they are well-suited to the area.
I’m excited to know about all these resources as a new landowner. If you own acreage, I would love to hear what resources you find useful.
I’m really late posting this. The February New Landowner Program session already happened(!) on fruit and citrus trees. We have an orange tree, a lemon tree, fig trees, pear trees, and peach trees. So it was a timely session! I’ll post about it soon.