Family and Consumer Education Rowan County has a strong agriculture base. Extension helps farmers to be good stewards of the environment by offering a variety of programs that emphasize the importance of water quality, reduction of soil erosion, pesticide safety and increased yields through variety selection.
Animal agriculture contributes a great deal of revenue to Rowan County.
Extension aids in improving management techniques and implementing new technology. This accounts for the rapid expansion of horticultural crops over the past several years. Commercial landscape contractors have increased from less than 10 in 1980 to over 75 in 1995. Dairy Production Dairy production is the chief agricultural enterprise. A dairies produced over 7.5 million gallons of milk in the county in 1996.