The Spirit of Service: Jake Tibbitts, CARET Delegate for University of Nevada, Reno & CARET National Chair

This National Volunteer Month, we celebrate those who serve on behalf of the land-grant university mission.

Jake Tibbitts has supported Nevada agriculture throughout his career, both through his position as the Natural Resources Manager for Eureka County, Nevada and his volunteer service with the Council for Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching (CARET). CARET is a national grassroots coalition of volunteers advocating for sustained federal support of the land-grant university system.

In addition to representing the University of Nevada, Reno as a CARET delegate for the past 12 years, Tibbitts has recently taken on the role of the CARET National Chair. Learn more about his service in this Q&A:

What first inspired you to become a CARET delegate, and what has kept you committed over time?

Experiencing firsthand how the research and programming from my land grant university positively impacts me and my community. My past experiences have helped drive my commitment to do my small part to help ensure future community benefits through the LGU system.

How does funding for research, education, and Extension help your community?

I live in a very rural area and my community’s long-term socioeconomic stability is reliant on natural resources use, primarily farming and ranching. We are also water limited. Sustainable and modern farming and ranching research developed by our ag experiment stations and disseminated through Extension, including irrigation water use efficiency, weed control, and nutrient management, has been a major component of keeping our farms and ranches in operation. Many of our farmers and ranchers, including many of their sons and daughters, were educated through the land grant system and have returned to run the family operations. Further, the efforts by the university to promote and deliver rural economic development has had real impact here.

Can you share a moment from your time as a CARET delegate that really stayed with you, and/or you when saw the impact of your advocacy?

In about my third year as a CARET delegate, one of the congressional offices we has been consistently meeting with, that typically has not supported federal funding for about everything, became a strong supporter of advocating for capacity funding and has remained a strong supporter since that time consistently pushing our requests forward.

What does being a CARET delegate mean to you personally?

I am busy in life between my full-time work and personal and family matters. I would not spend my time as a volunteer advocate if I did not strongly believe in the mission and programming CARET advocates for. It is a pleasure to spend some of my time working on land grant matters so important to my community and the country.