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Community Corner

Dakota County Trims Funding for Master Gardener Program

As 0f 2012, the program is on its own.

Dakota County's popular Master Gardner Program will be facing drastic changes beginning in 2012. The cash strapped county has cut the popular program as part of its budget cuts.

One of 16 regional offices of the University of Minnesota and Dakota County outreach delivered though regional and county based offices, the Dakota County program was one of the largest Master Gardner Programs in the state.

The funding cut doesn’t mean the entire program will go away, said Jayne Hager Dee, the Regional Director of an area from the Minnesota River to the Iowa border that includes Dakota County. Administrative duties, she said, some of which are currently handled by a part-time staff member, will fall on the shoulders of volunteers. Volunteers may also find fundraising added to their responsibilities.

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“We haven’t yet determined what’s going to happen to the partnership,” said Dee, admitting that the transition to an all volunteer program has been a struggle. “It’s a different kind of model,” but said that she remains optimistic. “I’m extremely proud of this group. They’re trained to share their skills. We have 130 University trained master gardener volunteers. and the organization is moving to an all volunteer led organization.”

Gardening is enormously popular activity. For more than 20 years, the number of American adults who say they garden as a hobby has stayed between 23 and 25 percent, according to American Demographics magazine. For people aged 45 to 59, the percent of those who garden is around 30 percent. The number rises to nearly 33 percent for those aged 60 and above.

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As the gardening education program is being cut, there is recent statistical evidence that interest in gardening—especially vegetable gardening—is beginning to grow, with greenhorn gardeners claiming that health and economic concerns as well as interest in eating locally are the main reasons for their new pastime.

 Master gardeners, who are often the primary source of gardening information for both the novice and experienced, are certified by the State of Minnesota.  Before claiming the title of master gardener, each candidate goes through a grueling process requiring an interview, a background check and an internship that means 48 hours of training at the University of Minnesota and 50 hours of assigned volunteer work.

These unpaid workers have always been the backbone of the state’s Master Gardener Programs, but many of the other program expenses have been funded by several sources. Locally, much of the funding came from Dakota County, which means that without that money, some programs will be cut. Programs most likely to survive the next few years are those can generate revenue. In addition to established fund raising efforts, such as activity fees and a popular plant sale held during the spring, new and higher fees for consumers might be necessary.

The master gardener volunteers used to rely on the administrative staff to coordinate with the schools and to set up seminars, workshops and information tables with community groups, gardening clubs and farmer’s markets. With funds drying up and volunteers busy running programs and raising money, designing new and innovative programs may not happen.

“We really aren’t trying to do anything new next year. We just want to maintain what we have, and make sure we have enough people.” said Lora Berg, a member of the new leadership team who is helping to ease the transition. Volunteers in Dakota County are already beginning to do more of the coordinating, fielding in coming calls for speakers and classes, stepping up to the challenge of becoming the administrators as well as the educators and advocates, she said.

Berg, who lives in Lakeville, is confident that among the programs that will survive are the outreach educational programs to grade schools. This year, Dakota County master gardeners brought their horticultural expertise to Pine Grove Elementary School in Mendota Heights, reaching about 400 students and to Cherry View Elementary School in Lakeville, serving about 600 kids. “We’re maintaining a community gardening program this summer, using the University of Minnesota information and adapting it for children,” she said.

  “As a master gardener volunteer, I was always interested in the administrative side,” said Marsha Knittig, who has been a volunteer with the program for 10 years. “I was a vice chair of the advisory board. We determined the programs, then hired people to give them. We have extension people from the University, including plant pathologists and entomologists, that were part of that universe. They’d train us and we’d train others. We got the latest and greatest and that’s what keeps many of us happy and coming back.”

With the changes coming, Knittig has decided that she will not continue as a volunteer. She worries that many master gardeners, who love working the gardens and teaching about gardening, will have to become money raisers instead and said that for some, the change is discouraging. “It takes more than labor for those gardens to be successful. It takes money – from the University and from the county,” she said.  She said that she hopes that those who continue volunteering can spread the word about gardening and raise money, too. She hopes, she said, that the money will come.

“I also worry about the gardens,” she said, referring to six acres of University experimental and training gardens south of Rosemont. “I understand that when the state is in financial trouble and that the university is in trouble. I hope we have enough to keep our projects going, but I don’t know.” 

 “I would like to say one more thing,” said Khittig. “Our group of master gardeners is talented and competent. I want to cheer those people who are doing it by themselves. I have faith in them and I know they’re doing fine.”

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