Carol Waters champions small commercial producers and said she believes they deserve greater recognition in their communities. They may be small, but their impact on local food systems and their communities is immeasurable.
“The producers I work with are part of their community and are farmers in their own right,” Waters said. “They're valuable to the local food system in their regions, they care about the food system in their region, they care about the land and care about the people in their community, which is why they grow food.”
Waters is a commercial fruit and vegetable production extension educator for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln based in Weeping Water. She has a statewide appointment, responsible for serving Nebraskan commercial producers of all sizes by offering advice, diagnosing problems and proposing solutions.
Waters has worked in extension for 23 years. She started as a county agent for horticulture at the University of Kentucky, then worked as a regional and county director for Iowa State University for 10 years before joining Nebraska Extension in 2022. However, she did not discover that she wanted to work in extension until graduate school.
Waters earned a bachelor’s in horticulture from Northwest Missouri State University and a master’s in woody ornamental horticulture and urban forestry from Iowa State University. While studying at Iowa State, Waters became friends with an urban forestry extension specialist who invited her to attend talks with him. After a while, she began speaking at these meetings alongside him using her expertise in urban forestry.
“I was helping him give presentations and really enjoyed working with adult education and sharing that kind of knowledge,” Waters said. “So graduate school was really where I fell in love with extension work.”
After graduate school, Waters earned a Juris Doctor from Mitchell Hamline School of Law. Waters aims to one day use her law background to aid farmers with farm transition issues, but until then, extension education fulfills her.
Waters specializes in advising fruit and vegetable producers who want to sell their crops in some capacity. Some of her clients sell at roadside stands and farmer’s markets, while others are involved in community-supported agriculture operations or hope to sell to restaurants. No matter the size of the operation, Waters applies the research done in Nebraska’s Department of Agronomy and Horticulture to advise her clients. Occasionally she collaborates with Sam Wortman and Christian Stephenson for additional input and support.
“Some clients that are just starting out need more reassurance that they're doing the right thing, so I provide that for them,” Waters said. “Others need help diagnosing weed or insect problems, so I work with the spray guides to figure out what would be best for their operation.”
Waters says working with clients from all over Nebraska can be challenging. Often she has to diagnose problems digitally because she cannot travel to every client’s operation. She also has to market herself so clients from every corner of Nebraska know they can utilize her services. Waters participates in the Nebraska Sustainable Agriculture Society Conference and the Great Plains Growers Conference annually and hosts a commercial fruit and vegetables growers podcast called Nebraska Grows to network with other educators and connect with clients.
Though challenging, Waters finds having a large client base incredibly gratifying.
“Each producer has different goals and aspirations, and when you're able to help solve a problem for them or work with them to achieve their goals, that's the rewarding part,” Waters said.
Waters is an Extension Educator Affiliate in the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture. This is a new program to strengthen connections between extension educators and department faculty in research, teaching and extension activities.
