Neil Wubben one of many to retire this month
By Jean Caspers-Simmet
Agri News
Date Modified: 01/29/2010 4:02 PM
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Editor's Note: At the end of January, 83 people will retire from Iowa State University Extension. This is the first in a series of stories about Extension employees who have served in north Iowa.
OSAGE, Iowa —Neil Wubben, Iowa State University Extension County Education Director in Mitchell County, will retire at the end of the month. He's held the Mitchell County post since 1985 and has worked for Extension since 1982.
"It's a good county with good people," Wubben said. "There's an outstanding staff, and the Extension councils have always been very supportive. I've enjoyed working with them and with the 4-H people and the fair board."
Wubben, 67, did a stint in the Marine Corps after high school. He returned home, got married and went to work. In 1968 he and his family moved to Ames where he completed his agricultural education degree at ISU in 33 months while working part-time. He earned a master's degree in ag education in 1979 and a master's in agronomy in 2006.
He taught vocational agriculture for 11 years at North Kossuth Community Schools and when his job was eliminated due to budget cuts, he went to work for ISU Extension in Woodbury County as an agriculturist. When the county director position opened up in Mitchell County, he, his wife, Karen, and their three boys, Scott, Wade and Martin, moved to Osage.
When Wubben first came to Mitchell County, it was the farm crisis years.
"I had some opportunities to work with folks in evaluating their situations and making responsible decisions," he said.
He remembers quickly organizing a meeting on a spider mite infestation in 1988. The meeting in a soybean field north of Osage was attended by 200 producers looking for answers on how to save their soybean crop.
"I did a little follow-up, and that meeting had a $1.5 million impact on the local economy because yields improved with treatment," he said.
He remembers helping people work through the difficulties of the 1993 flood and assisting the Farm Service Agency office in educating farmers on farm program changes through the year. He created a spread sheet in 1985 that let producers compare farm program options. To his knowledge, it was the first of its kind and used by many farmers in their decision making.
Educating producers about using computers for problem solving was exciting.
Working with young people through the 4-H program was always something he enjoyed.
"It's been a pleasure working with kids and being involved in their lives," Wubben said.
For the past 1 1/2 years, he has been director in Floyd as well as Mitchell County.