North Central Regional Center for Rural Development

09/15/2026

Join the National Digital Education Extension Team (NDEET) Cybersecurity Team for a Lunch and Learn webinar to learn about tools and tips to help farmers recognize digital threats and protect their operation.

📆 When: October 15, 2026
📍 Where: Virtual on Zoom

Register: msstateextension.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_H-mqy_F0RIO_Ceb4tOwOfg #/registration

Learn more: farmcybersecurity.ces.ncsu.edu/cyberpest-management/

09/15/2026

Reminder: NCRCRD webinar today (9/15) at 2 pm ET. Registration: https://bit.ly/4fhteaw. Join us for an introduction to the new housing curriculum created by the multi-state, North Central Region Housing Working Group with the goal of empowering university extension educators with the skills, knowledge, and tools to tackle housing deficiencies in rural areas.

09/15/2026

UMN Extension Community Development has posted a new position for an Extension Educator. Application deadline: 9/27/26.

📢 Are you passionate about engaging with communities to strengthen local leadership? The Department of Community Development is hiring a leadership and civic engagement educator! The position is responsible for translating research into responsive training and resources, building community partnerships, using data and impact assessments to guide and improve programs, and pursuing strategic partnerships and funding opportunities. For more info and to apply, visit z.umn.edu/LCE2026.

09/08/2026

Join us next week for our September webinar, Building Options: Flexible Housing Curriculum for Rural Communities (9/15/26 • 2:00 pm ET) https://bit.ly/4fhteaw

Presenters Omar Padilla and Lisa M Bates LEED AP, with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach will introduce a new flexible modular housing curriculum designed to help communities address aging housing stock and expand housing access!

09/04/2026

The recording of NCRCRD’s August webinar, “Housing and Food Security in the North Central Region: Evidence from the 2026 NCR-Stat Survey" is now available. https://youtu.be/8p70Dyh4O3Y

Thank you to our presenter, Samuel Mindes, Iowa State University for sharing key findings from the open access 2026 NCR-Stat: Housing and Food Security Survey and its potential future applications.

09/01/2026

Don't forget about the 2027 JCEP Excellence in Extension Engagement Award!!!!!

The Joint Council of Extension Professionals (JCEP) “Excellence in Extension Engagement Award” nomination period is open.
What is the Excellence in Extension Engagement Award?
This award recognizes high quality, evidence-based Extension work that has documented outstanding outcomes and impacts with clientele and strengthens the Extension profession. The selection committee considers individual or team applicants that documents an engagement program that is: local needs driven, grounded in scholarly practice, has adequate program evaluation, adoption beyond the initial audience, strengthens professionals within or across states, and shows innovation that brings something new to Extension professionals.

Full details and the application, along with examples of past winners, may be found at: www.jcep.org/awards. The application deadline has been extended to September 30, 2026. Submit your application to both Kevin Zobrist at [email protected] and [email protected] by 11:59 p.m. submitter’s time, September 30th.

First place receives a $750 award. The winner will be an invited plenary session speaker at the Extension Leadership Conference in Orlando, FL in February 9-10, 2026 (ELC registration waived). This presentation is required to receive the award.

Honorable mention receives a $250 award, possible invitation to speak at ELC, and ELC registration waived.

To learn more, visit: www.jcep.org/awards

08/24/2026

Quick reminder: Webinar tomorrow, Aug 25. Join us to learn preliminary findings from the NCR-Stat: Housing & Food Security open access dataset.

Please join us Tue., August 25 at 2 pm ET for the webinar, Housing and Food Security in the North Central Region: Evidence from the 2026 NCR-Stat Survey. Registration: https://bit.ly/4fsdcJW

Presenter Samuel Mindes, Assistant Professor of Rural Sociology, Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, Iowa State University and NCRCRD Fellow, will present key findings from the recently released, 2026 NCR-Stat: Housing and Food Security Survey which collected data on housing conditions, costs, and features, as well as food access, food security, and household demographics across the North Central Region.

For information about the NCR-Stat: Housing & Food Security Survey: https://bit.ly/4hk9MLD

08/24/2026

Where does the road lead? In recent years, more attention has been brought to the importance of estate planning for family farm businesses.

As the average age of commercial farmers in Illinois is 60-plus, and most landowners are 65 and older, planning is an essential step for any business.

Kevin Brooks, Extension commercial agriculture educator, developed a blog series on farm estate planning in which he explores the basic need for a plan in place and where to start with what can seem overwhelming to many.

Weekly blogs explore the starting point, strategies, implications and implementations, financial plans, taxes, and how or what to prepare to keep things moving even after.

🔗 Check out Illinois Extension’s Farm Coach farm estate planning series at https://extension.illinois.edu/blogs/farm-coach

Farm Coach - University of Illinois Extension | University of Illinois Extension Fulton Mason Peoria Tazewell Unit

08/24/2026

Raj Chetty, Director of Opportunity Insights and Professor of Economics at Harvard University, will serve as the keynote speaker for the 2026 Investing in Rural America Conference. During his keynote address, he will discuss economic mobility across rural America.

As a partner with the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond’s Center for Rural Economies, we invite you to join us in Asheville, NC, to learn about cutting-edge research and community-driven solutions that are strengthening rural economies.

08/24/2026

Join our R Fundamentals for Data Exploration and Visualization workshop on September 22, 2026 in Ames, Iowa. Learn the basics of R and RStudio, analyze data with tidyverse tools, and create compelling visualizations and maps. No prior programming experience required!

📍 Alliant Energy Ag Innovation Lab
⏰ 8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

🔗 Register: https://go.iastate.edu/RZEDSG