Extension Service

The Oregon State University Extension Service provides practical, research-based information and engages learners, partners, and volunteers in communities across Oregon to meet local challenges and help every Oregonian thrive.

Our programs, partnerships and volunteer opportunities are focused on:

  • Healthy communities and economies
  • Resilient and productive forestry and natural ecosystems
  • Sustainable agriculture, food systems, and gardening
  • Thriving youth, individuals and families

OSU Extension gives Master Gardeners tools to broaden understanding of biodiversity

From tiny insects to towering trees, Oregon State University Extension Service Master Gardener volunteers are often called upon to identify the flora and fauna of Oregon. Plant and animal identification is a specialized skill that...

Mar 2022 | Impact Story

OSU Extension’s hemp harvest-timing research helps growers stay legal and protect profits

Hemp has the potential to become a major agricultural commodity in Oregon and the United States, with hemp plant fiber being used in manufactured products, including clothing, construction materials and packaging. Meanwhile, hemp ...

Mar 2022 | Impact Story

Woodland Pollinator Stewards enhance bee habitat on private lands

Pollinator health has captured the interest of the country as people become concerned about dwindling populations of bees. Oregon forests are home to an estimated 300 native bee species but there’s much to learn about their ...

Mar 2022 | Impact Story

Fledgling olive industry gets support from OSU research

Interest in growing olives, a high-value specialty crop, grows by the year in Oregon. Yet, research-based information about the feasibility of growing olives in the state doesn’t exist. Research is essential due to climate and ...

Feb 2022 | Impact Story

Teen learning experiences transformed by dive into VR app creation

Coupled with broad, societal misconceptions about food and agriculture, an aging crisis is threatening farming. According to the 2017 Census of Agriculture, the average age of an American farmer is 57, 10 years older than the ...

Feb 2022 | Impact Story

OSU researcher provides insight for hemp resilience to extreme heat

Recent extreme summer heat waves in the Pacific Northwest – such as the 2021 heat dome that resulted in record-setting high temperatures across the state – have been detrimental to the hemp growers of Oregon. Many farmers ...

Feb 2022 | Impact Story

Institute provides nature experiences, education for Portland-area youth

Research shows that people of color are far less likely to engage in nature-based outdoor recreation activities, with historic discrimination being a large underlying factor. People of color are three times more likely than white ...

Feb 2023 | Impact Story

Washington County 4-H assembles, donates 1,300 STEM Kits for youths

Through the Oregon Summer Food Service Program, free lunches are offered to all Oregon residents 18 and younger. In Washington County, Oregon’s second-most populous county behind Multnomah, free summer lunch sites include parks and...

Feb 2022 | Impact Story

Juntos helps shy eighth-grader transform into historic student body president

Latino/Hispanic students comprise the largest minority group at The Dalles High School – 37% of the total enrollment. In 2012, Oregon State University Extension’s Open Campus program launched Juntos (“together” in Spanish), ...

Feb 2022 | Impact Story

First Grant County Cybermill opens, providing high-speed internet

Over the last 20 years, Grant County has experienced declines in population, commerce, and culture due to the closing of five lumber mills. Reinventing livelihoods in the small towns and unincorporated communities of the county ...

Feb 2022 | Impact Story