From Romania to Georgia and Back

UGA Extension and the land-grant model

The Romanian extension network will need to differ from UGA’s model due to differences between the countries, but the program will provide inspiration, Vitan explained. “Our plan is looking at what works and bringing it back home to experiment as we build up a new system.”

In other countries, the government offers extension programs rather than universities, said Borron, who will travel to Romania annually to help facilitate in-country programming.

“What’s unique about the U.S. system is the capacity to have a touch point in every aspect of a local community, which allows us to have very cross-collaborative, cross-interdisciplinary and multi-expert collaborations to address community needs.”

Borron will develop a research component for the program to monitor the development process, participant experience and overall extension engagement.

“This is an interesting aspect of the program: to be able to see what it looks like to take university outreach and engagement into very new communities,” she said. “Especially in places like Romania that are dealing with a lot of things from a post-Communist standpoint, it is very different from what we deal with in our own communities.”

UGA program co-directors include CAES Coordinator of International Programs Victoria McMaken, former Assistant Dean for Extension Mark McCann and Extension Program and Staff Development Specialist Kristi Carpenter. CAES faculty and UGA Extension specialists Tim Coolong, Gary Hawkins, William Hudson, Vanessa Shonkwiler, Lawton Stewart and Kevan Lamm served as scholar mentors.    

The Cooperative Extension system in the U.S. dates back to the passage of the 1914 Smith-Lever Act, which created the service to disseminate research-based information produced by land-grant universities and U.S. Department of Agriculture research stations. Land-grant universities are designated public institutions charged with providing equal access to higher education with a focus on farming and mechanical skills for working-class citizens. 

Agricultural science as public outreach

In Romania, political and agricultural history is intertwined and complex. In late 1947, agriculture in Romania underwent forcible collectivization after the establishment of the Romanian People’s Republic. Following the Romanian revolution in December 1989, ongoing efforts have returned land back to the previous owners or their heirs. 

Over the past 35 years, government support for agricultural and rural advisory services has shifted between state and local levels, resulting in most government funds being spent at the administrative level. Current agricultural advisory services are chiefly provided by commercial entities through sales of agricultural inputs. 

“There is a lack of science knowledge shared with farmers. We need to adapt our system to fill in the gaps between collaborations with the government and providing the information to the farmers. This is where it breaks down,” said Memedemin, an assistant professor specializing in soil science, grassland management and botany.

As of 2022, about 12% of Romanians practice agricultural-related activities, and the country’s 2.9 million agricultural landowners account for one-third of the European Union’s agricultural holdings, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce International Trade Administration. However, the average farm size of just under 11 acres (4.42 hectares) is considerably smaller than the EU average, and the majority are family-owned farms producing for home consumption, local sale and the support of extended families.

As an economist whose research involves agri-food and environmental economics and sustainability, Zaharia said the extension model of making research meaningful and relevant to small producers has been an interest since her doctoral studies.

“We can think of doing community assessment needs, but we cannot start with all of Romania. We have to start somewhere, and the good news is that we come from several universities, and we can reach more regions,” said Zaharia.

Using the country’s university system as a base for a comprehensive approach to agricultural consultancy will build on the framework created by existing community outreach and development efforts.

“There are steps we are already taking in our universities toward civic engagement and community involvement, but we are not doing so in a coordinated way. If we put everything together in a strategic way, we may see that we’ve already started toward an extension system,” said Chiciudean, an agricultural economist. 

Creating a culture of service

Fulbright-RAF Scholar Andreea Ona, who specializes in plant breeding and genetics, was particularly interested in developing a service-learning component at the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Cluj-Napoca.

“Our model of service learning has to prepare our students for first recognizing and understanding problems from the real world, then having the theoretical education from the university they need to reflect on how to solve those real problems,” Ona said. 

The second cohort of five Fulbright-RAF Scholars will arrive at UGA in August. The 2024-25 Fulbright-RAF Scholars include faculty from universities in three university centers — Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca and Timisoara — extending the geographical footprint in western Romania.

In June, the first class of scholars will make a presentation to the new cohort before they depart for UGA in August to build connections between each year’s participants and their universities.

McCann pointed out that across the U.S., extension systems are organized and implemented differently from state to state, “but the fundamental principles are the same.” 

“The system they start in Romania might be more similar to UGA Public Service and Outreach. There are many units across campus that have faculty who are involved in community development beyond the university including the Carl Vinson Institute of Government and the Archway Partnership,” he said.

Reflecting on the experience, Zaharia said the cohort gained insight from both UGA Extension and academic faculty and staff on how different units support the overall success of public service and outreach.

“Each one of us, through our mentors and all the people we met along the way, had many opportunities for creating connections and finding different perspectives on agricultural extension systems,” she said.  

While the current Romanian Extension Education Development Program is funded for three years, Vitan is confident that the program will succeed far beyond its start. 

“As a foundation, we are trying to find ways to help the small person to be an entrepreneur and make a living. Small-scale agriculture really hits a lot of the points that are important — it hits biodiversity, it hits poverty, it hits stronger communities and economic opportunities for women,” Vitan said. “We are here for the long run.”