County fills agricultural agent position
Presque Isle County has filled the Michigan State University Extension (MSUE) agriculture/natural resources position, and has had James DeDecker, 26, establishing local office hours since Sept. 4.
If he’s not in his office at the new annex (former Nowicki’s building), he’ll be out in the field working with agriculture stakeholders in Northeast Michigan. In less than a week, he already been out on potato and bean farms in Posen and Rogers City.
His coverage area includes 11 counties of District 4; however, he’ll be based out of Rogers City.
DeDecker graduated from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh with a Bachelor of Science degree in environmental studies and anthropology in 2009 and entered the crop sciences department at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.
There he worked with Dr. John Masiunas investigating alterna
His thesis project was aimed at identifying factors that influence the selection of weed management practices among growers in the Midwest U.S. in order to improve weed management outreach.
Since MSUE restructuring, the role of county extension director has been discontinued, but DeDecker’s responsibilities will be similar to that position with MSUE continuing to move forward with many services offered to Michigan residents.
His main focus will be working with ag producers.