Virginia Cooperative Extension

Virginia Cooperative Extension is an educational outreach program of Virginia’s land grant universities, Virginia Tech and Virginia State University, and a part of the USDA’s National Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service. Our mission is to enable people to improve their lives through an educational process that uses scientific knowledge focused on local issues and needs.

Goals

• Agriculture and Natural Resources - To help sustain profitability of agricultural and forestry production, while protecting and enhancing the quality of our land and water resources.
• Family and Community Sciences - To provide appropriate research-based information to empower individuals, families, and communities to reduce risks of preventable diseases and to adopt food and nutrition choices that contribute to a healthy, productive society and to improve the quality of life for individuals, families, and communities, and support economic self-sufficiency and family stability.
• 4-H Youth Development - To develop youth (ages 5-18) and adults working with those youth to realize their full potential - becoming effective and contributing citizens through participation in research-based, informal, hands-on educational experiences under the guidance of 4-H agents and trained adult or teen 4-H volunteers.