Collegial support has been important. Clustering has heightened the sense of personal and professional support that agents receive from their colleagues. Mutual respect and support, and that wasn't there the same way before clustering. We didn't know each other as well, we didn't see each other as often. Now we have a lot more in common too, so it kind of builds on itself.
Agents feel much more free to share.
They're expected to share. In our case, there are five other ag agents and seven people on an issue team you have to work with. You begin to have to rely on other people to do their role. I enjoy that, but it's a totally different situation than it was 20 years ago when there was a strong county identity. You were the county agent.