Emily Kresca was recently promoted to Ag and Natural Resources Educator for Kosciusko County Purdue Extension. A native of Ohio, she brings a passion for agriculture to the job. Photo by Lauren Zeugner

By Lauren Zeugner
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — “Ever since I was young, I’ve had a passion for agriculture,” said Emily Kresca, Kosciusko County Purdue Extension educator for ag and natural resources.

While she didn’t grow up on a farm, her grandmother did. “She said it skipped a couple of generations,” she said.

Kresca grew up in a city similar to Warsaw, in that it’s surrounded by agriculture. “Ag was important,” she said. “Growing up in a rural area I had friends who lived on farms and I would go help on busy days with (animal) tagging and other things.”

Kresca, who is from Fremont, Ohio, went on to attend Ohio State University, where she majored in animal science. After graduating she attended Tennessee University for her masters in animal science. While there, she worked with dairy farmers in organic milk production.

“Dairy specifically was my passion,” she said.

After earning her master’s degree, she wanted to move closer to home, so she took a job as the 4-H educator at Wells County Purdue Extension. While working that job, she met her husband, who is a Kosciusko County native.

The two returned to Kosciusko and in October 2021, Kresca was hired as the assistant ag and natural resources educator. Then, after Kelly Heckaman was promoted in June, Kresca was also promoted to the primary ag and natural resource educator. Kresca said she was looking for a position that was more on the agriculture side.

As the agriculture educator, she manages the master gardener program and is currently working with a master gardener group. The program runs 16 weeks on home horticulture. After completing the program participants are certified master gardeners. They have to maintain so many education and volunteer hours to keep their certification.

Farmers within the county have required continuing education classes for a private application permit. Kresca provides those classes. She also provides other education programs to the agriculture community.

A “hidden secret” about her job is she takes on any mysterious horticulture questions that come into the extension office. She said during the summer it isn’t unusual for her to come back to her office after being out in the field and find several bags of weeds and bugs people have dropped off seeking information.

She and her husband are big sports fans, with football being a favorite. “I’m a diehard Ohio State fan and my husband is a Purdue grad,” she said. She has agreed to cheer Purdue on during basketball season.

Both Kresca and her husband love to be outside working in their yard where they have a garden.

She is still going through required training for the programs she can offer. She would like to bring more animal science programs to the extension office. She is still meeting farmers in the county and learning about what kind of programs they would like to see the extension office offer.