Celebrate With Us! 100 Years of Extension Work
Smith-Lever established one of the most unique partnerships existing in the country:
USDA, the land-grant university and the local county. The 100-year anniversary of the
signing of the Smith-Lever Act of 1914 which officially created the national Cooperative Extension
System will take place in 2014. This celebration will highlight Extension’s past focus and the
contemporary application of Extension’s transformational educational programming in the future.
“Changing Lives – Extending Knowledge”. Centralized at USDA, utilizing research at the land
grant university; extension “extended” the most recent research to be “applied” in the local
communities. Today there are 2,900 Extension Offices in the United States.
Extension’s skills in building relationships helps us to have vital communities. Extension
works to solve local problems with the highest quality information available.
Join us in 2014, as we begin the second century of changing lives and helping
communities.
Celebrate With Us! 100 Years of Extension Work
1. 1862- Morrill Act: Granting 30,000 acres of Federal land for every senator and representative. Each
state was to sell the land and invest the proceeds in an endowment. The interest was to be used to
establish at least one college to teach such branches of learning as those related to agriculture and
the mechanic arts.
2. 1890- The Second Morrill Act: The endowments of the 1862 Morrill Act proved inadequate and Morrill
was successful in 1890 in securing increased funding through the Second Morrill Act. The 1890
Morrill Act also led to the creation of 17 land-grant universities for black students.
3. 1887- The Hatch Act: This created Agricultural Experiment Stations to conduct research, investigations,
and experiments to support a permanent agricultural industry, and the development and
improvement of the rural home and rural life.
4. 1914- The Smith-Lever Act: This Act called for cooperative agricultural extension work between the
land-grant colleges and the United States Department of Agriculture to diffuse useful and practical
information on subjects related to agriculture and home economics to the people of the United
States.
“As the state’s first county agent, D.C.
Bascom toiled with a missionary-like
zeal to assist rural Coloradans. Club
organization, short courses, field
demonstrations, and a traveling
library represented part of his duties.
In summarizing a single years work,
Bascom reported that he had
traveled nearly 14,000 miles and
written more than 1,200 personal
letters.”– Taken from the “Beyond the
Ivory Tower, the History of Colorado
State University Cooperative
Extension.
Logan County Extension Agent,
D.C. Bascom (1912-1916)
Colorado Extension – started with early
farmers' institutes conducted offcampus starting in 1879.
Research results from the university to
rural farmers and homemakers in an
effort to improve their quality of life.
Logan, El Paso, and Conejos were among
the first Colorado counties to begin
farm demonstration programs in the
autumn of 1912.
Logan County Extension Agent, George
Burckhalter , (1916-1918) worked to
control grasshopper infestations.
Logan County
Ayrshire Calf
Club
Colorado Extension – By 1917, when the
U.S. joined the war, Extension had
begun to fill the role of community
organizer and brought together
resources to help citizens "fight" on
the home front. "Food will win the
war" became a popular slogan, and
American farmers were encouraged
to drastically increase their output to
feed the troops.
Logan County Extension Agent,
James E. Morrison (1918-1931)
When the U.S. joined World War II in
1941, Agents organized victory
gardens, scrap metal and scrap
rubber collection. Home
demonstration agents taught farm
wives to bake without sugar and to
make meals within the constraints of
their war rations. 4-H members
rotated to different farms in their
counties, picking sugar beets,
potatoes, melons, and other crops to
help bring in the harvest on farms
that lacked labor. level.
In the 1950s, there began a focus on life skills
in addition to the project skills taught in 4H.
Property was purchased and renovated in the
1950s in Chevy Chase, Maryland. In 1959,
President Dwight D. Eisenhower presided
over the opening ceremonies for the
National 4-H Center, which quickly
became the national home for 4 H, which
hosts one of the premier youth leadership
and citizenship conferences, Citizenship …
Washington Focus for 4-H teens.
,
Logan County Extension –
worked to improve grain varieties
and better production methods.
Helped to start Great Western Beef Expo
and Sugar Beet Days.
Research test plots with local farmers.
Logan County Extension Agent,
James “Jim” Read (1963-1983)
Logan County Extension – The Present
Wheat Collaborative On-Farm Trials
Pesticide Applicator Programs
Crop Clinics
Young Farmer Talks
Logan County Extension – The Present
Strong Women
Diabetes Education
Super Tasters and Mighty Movers
Grow Project – Oregon State
Research
Logan County Extension – The Present
Cowboy Ethics
Horticulture Answers and Tree Sales
Native Plant Masters
Robotics
Science Outreach
Logan County Extension – The Present
Cloverbuds – getting youth excited
about 4-H at a young age.
4-H Livestock Judging
Catch-it Animals
The Science in Animal Science
Celebrate With Us!
The Future
What is eXtension?
eXtension is an Internet-based
collaborative environment where
Land Grant University content
providers exchange objective,
research-based knowledge to solve
real challenges in real time.
Celebrate With Us!
The Future
Technology ….
We are using it and
helping others use it.