Speaker - Kent Olson

Speaker-Kent Olson – University of MN Community Outreach

Tom Hendrickson introduced our speaker Kent Olson. Kent is on the Iringa Hope Board and an Associate Dean at the University of MN Extension Center for Community Vitality.

Dr. Olson’s extension and outreach work focuses on farm management issues. He develops educational materials and decision tools to help farmers choose which options are best for them within the U.S. farm bill. He has written a set of information sheets describing the options and is developing educational materials for farmer and agricultural professionals. In response to the wet spring in 2013, he analyzed farmers’ options and choices under crop insurance regarding prevented planting, adapted an analysis package and made it available on the web and press release. He has spoken on topics such as “Trends, Issues, Threats, and Opportunities Affecting Farmers” and “The Good, Bad, and Ugly: Helping Solve Hunger in the World” to public audiences. Due to a rapid decrease in crop prices, many farmers were facing an extreme squeeze between low income and high rents so Dr. Olson developed an analysis package for a spreadsheet and made it available on the web.

For more information visit, http://www.extension.umn.edu/community/