BY JIM LANGHAM
DHI Media Correspondent
news@timesbulletin.com
VAN
WERT — Curtis Young has worn many titles since he left his native area
in a semi-agricultural Pittsburgh suburb. Young described the area where
he grew up as one that had shared suburban and urban lifestyles during
the Great Depression. Some of those qualities, he said, were still
evident in the area where he was raised.
One fascination that
always stuck with Young was that of studying and understanding insects.
As a result, he received an undergraduate degree in biology at Edinboro
University in Pennsylvania and then furthered his education by earning
both a masters and PHD in entomology at Ohio State University.
These
days, Young has combined the value of education in his various degrees
to assist in his position as OSU Agriculture and Natural Resource
Extension Educator for Van Wert County. Young has been in the local
county since 2011.
“When I was in undergraduate school, I worked
for a nursery landscaping company,” said Young. “I saw insects and
plants they feed on and became interested in the interaction between the
two.
“I moved to Ohio in 1982. I met my wife, Linda, at Ohio
State,” continued Young. “We have three daughters. I taught at Ohio
Northern for four years. Linda is a full professor in the biology
department there. She is into plants and I am into insects that feed on
those plants.”
In 1992, Young started working for OSU Extension
out of the district office in Findlay. From there, he moved into 19
counties in northwest Ohio, research crop production, assisting with
insects and helping out with the Farm Focus Program in Van Wert. During
that time, he helped county agents in entomology. He developed various
programs in pest management and farm stored grain pest management.
Next,
Young moved on to Allen County where he served as the county educator.
There, he assisted with the Metropark System and started an Ohio
certified volunteer naturalist program. During that time, he also taught
at Ohio State University in Lima, where he taught biology courses.
These
days in Van Wert County, Young spends time bringing research education
that was generated at Ohio State University Agriculture Extension.
“We
are making programs that benefit educational agriculture issues,” noted
Young. “The big issue right now is that of fertilizer as it pertains to
our streams and runoff. I am continuing to manager master gardener.
“The
big thing is to answer all questions that are important to Van Wert
County,” added Young. “We do a multitude of identifications of insects
and plants. We conduct an agronomy day and deal with such areas as land
rent, weed management and insect management.”