By Sarah Cato
U of A System Division of Agriculture

LITTLE ROCK – With 30 years of experience under his belt, Chad Norton is ready to shepherd in the next generation of agriculture extension agents in Arkansas.

OLD HAND — Chad Norton, agriculture and natural resources instructor for the U of A System Division of Agriculture, will be working directly with new county agriculture agents and help them understand their duties. (Division of Agriculture photo.)

Norton, who worked as a county agent for 20 years and a verification coordinator for 10, stepped into his next role with the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture as the new agriculture and natural resources instructor for row crops on June 1. Norton will be working directly with new county agriculture agents and help them understand their duties. He joins current instructors Les Walz, beef and forages, and Leigh Ann Bullington, family consumer science.

“With his extensive experience in extension and with county agents, Chad is well-suited for this position,” said Victor Ford, associate vice president of Agriculture and Natural Resources for the Division of Agriculture. “We’re excited to have him in this new role.”

This position won’t be entirely new to Norton, who has worked closely with new agents in past roles, including as verification coordinator for the Corn and Grain Sorghum Research Verification Program.

“As a verification coordinator, I was in south Arkansas at the time, and we had four or five brand new agents,” Norton said. “That gave me an opportunity to work with someone just starting out and help them increase their knowledge base.”

Norton said his experience working with new agents taught him how to work with different learning styles, saying that “not everyone learns in the same way.” But that’s a challenge he’s looking forward to.

“I’m very excited to work with our new agents and watch them grow and gain confidence,” Norton said. “That’s what I’ve enjoyed doing over the last ten years. That growth is what I like to see.”

Find your local agriculture county extension agent at www.uaex.uada.edu.

To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @AR_Extension. To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu/. Follow on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @AgInArk.