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New educator starting at OSU Extension Greene County

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XENIA — OSU Extension Greene County has a new agriculture and natural resources educator and just a short time into his new role, he has a bold vision for his work ahead.

“I’m here as a defender of the food system,” said Brian Kleinke, freshly installed in his new role. At a broad level, he’ll work to make Greene County “a more environmentally conscious, agronomically sustainable community,” he said.

Kleinke’s roles in Greene County will include supervising the extension office’s Master Gardener program, answering questions from farmers and home gardeners and providing information from the academic and research communities to those individuals. Part of that work will have him out in the community and the state, learning the latest agricultural and natural resources information for him to relay back to Greene County in one way or another.

“There’s something fascinating about being a portion of the pipeline from research information to community,” he said. “I’ve always been a strong advocate for education. … I’m just glad to be a part of it.”

Kleinke comes to Greene County via Columbus and The Ohio State University, where he completed both undergraduate and master’s work in crop science and plant health management, respectively. After graduating in December, Kleinke began working in his new Greene County role at the end of January.

“I’m extremely eager to further my education and extremely eager to take the information that I gain and to make myself successful, and even more so, make Greene County successful in any sort of agronomic or horticulture venture,” he said. “I’m excited to learn … really instill the ideas of stewardship and good farming practices in Greene County.”

By Nathan Pilling

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Reach Nathan Pilling at 937-502-4498 or on Twitter @XDGNatePilling.