The Pike County Extension Office in Troy hosted a 2018 Grass Roots Committee meeting Wednesday at the Colley Senior Complex.

Katie Thomas, Pike County Extension Coordinator, said the staff members of the Pike County Extension Office strive to serve the people of Pike County to the best of their abilities and the committee’s partnership with Extension is the key to its success.

“We value your input in helping identify the biggest issues facing our citizens,” Thomas said in addressing the committee members. “We look forward to collaborating with you and the organizations you represent to improve the lives of people across Pike County and to strengthen our communities.”

The committee members were invited to participate in the 2018 Grass Roots Assessment. Thomas said the response to the survey from the local committee was in the top five in the state.

“The response from our committee has been outstanding and will play an important role as we plan programs that will improve the quality of life for our citizens,” Thomas said.

Following a time for networking, the committee members were asked to select the most important issues facing Pike County in a variety of agriculture related areas.

Each committee member responded to the survey by designating their first choice on each issue.

The issues included economic and community development, workforce development, financial management, family and child development, 4-H and youth development, food safety and quality, human nutrition, diet and health, agronomic crops, animal science and forages, home horticulture, commercial horticulture and farm and agribusiness management.

Joel Williams said he appreciated the opportunity to have input into the programming that will be offered to the community.

“We all benefit from Pike County Extension and this was a chance to say what we think is important here in our county,” he said. “We will all benefit from this.”

Not only did the committee members participate in the survey, they also had opportunities to express their personal views.

“The committee members had opportunities to describe additional needs our office can address and how our office can serve the community better,” Thomas said. “We will compile all of the information that we have collected and that will give us an idea of what Extension can do to better serve the people of Pike County. Our hope is the programs will attract the interest of the community and, through participation, will improve the quality of life for all our citizens.”