History and Philosophy of Cooperative Extension Faculty Orientation Module

1
History and Philosophy of Cooperative
ExtensionFaculty Orientation Module

• This educational module provides an overview of
  the Cooperative Extension System within the U.S.
  It will enable you to better understand
• What Cooperative Extension is
• What led to the creation and development of
  Cooperative Extension
• Cooperative Extensions Philosophy, Values and
  Mission and how these have continued to provide
  focus and direction through today
• What events influenced Cooperative Extension
• Who were some pioneering key individuals for
  Extension
• The development of Extensions educational
  program areas
• Issues currently facing Cooperative Extension
• This module was developed by
• Dr. Nick T. Place, Asst. Professor Department of
  Agricultural Education and Communication /
  University of Florida - IFAS
• Tel [phone] Email nplace_at_gnv.ifas.ufl.edu

2
Cooperative Extension is....

• The way we extend the university to the people
• Provide unbiased research-based knowledge,
  information and education
• Education that is used to Help People - Help
  Themselves

3
Cooperative Extension is....

• Worlds largest out-of-school nonformal
  education system
• Includes over 16,000 faculty and staff in over
  3,000 counties in the U.S.
• Millions of volunteers across the nation are
  involved as leaders and trained educators

4
Cooperative Extension is....

• Public-funded, non-formal, education system. For
  youth and adults across numerous educational
  program areas
• Links the education and research resources of
  the USDA, state, and county administrative units

5
Cooperative Extension is....

• Established by Federal law in 1914 with the
  Smith-Lever Act and further supported by state
  legislation
• It is a partnership with Land-Grant
  Universities. Land-Grant Universities were
  established with the Act of 1862. This Act was
  enhanced with Acts in 1890 and 1994.

6
Cooperative Extension is....

• One of the three arms of the Land-Grant
  University System
• Teaching
• Research
• Extension

Extension not only provides local
educational programs, but it is the ideal way for
the Land-Grant university to maintain a viable
connection with grass-roots input and involvement
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Looking Back at the History of Cooperative
Extension
We (Extension) need to

• Learn or relearn our Story
• Reaffirm our Values, Ideals and Aims
• Embrace our Central Obligation
• To carry the heart of the land-grant idea into
  the next century and give it new life
• We neglect history and pride ourselves on being
  modern, but the experience of men and women
  before us is not to be disregarded if we are to
  make the best success of our efforts. All things
  are rooted in the past. Persons before our day
  lived as successfully as we.
• M.C. Burritt, 1922. Director, New York State
  Extension Service

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• Early Legislative Acts Leading to Cooperative
  Extension
• 1862 1890 Morrill Acts Established Land-Grant
  Universities
• 1862 Organic Act Established USDA
• 1887 Hatch Act Established Experiment Stations
• 1914 The Smith-Lever Act - Established
  Cooperative Extension

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The Social Situation During the Development of
Extension

• The nation was largely rural and agricultural
• Over 50 of the population were farmers compared
  to less than 2 today

• Rural people were lagging far behind the urban
  standard of living - high poverty and illiteracy

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The Social Situation During the Development of
Extension
Extension developed as a response to rural
conditions
To aid in diffusing among the people of the
United States useful and practical information on
subjects relating to agriculture and home
economics, and to encourage the application of
the same. Smith-Lever Act 1914
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Why was the National Cooperative Extension
Created?

• First Vision of Cooperative Extensions Core
  Mission
• The primary economic aim of simultaneously (1)
  producing cheap food for consumers and American
  industry and (2) raising farmers incomes through
  bringing science to agriculture to make it more
  efficient and productive.

12
What the city man wanted was cheap food.
Therefore, what was done for the farmer was
directed almost without exception toward helping
or inducing him to grow cheap food. - Gifford
Pinchot, 1918. US Forest Service. Country Life
Commission member appointed by President
Roosevelt.
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Why was the National Cooperative Extension
Created?

• Second Vision of Cooperative Extensions Core
  Mission
• Building a rich, vital, democratic culture
  through pooling scientific knowledge with local
  knowledge and experience in cooperative
  educational work that develops the full-range of
  peoples individual and community capacities and
  well-being.

14
Clyde William Warburton, 1930. Director of
Extension Work, USDA

• For what is the object of Extension work? More
  bushels of corn? More bales of cotton? More
  pounds of butter-fat in the dairy cows annual
  record? More quarts of fruit and vegetables
  canned for winter use? No, these are but means to
  an end. The end, the object of Extension work, is
  to aid the farmer and his family to improve
  living conditions on the farm, to provide a more
  satisfying rural life. Better crops, better
  livestock, better food, better clothes, these are
  among the objects of Extension work. But back of
  it all, the ultimate purpose is to create better
  homes, better citizens, better communities,
  better rural living.

15
Professor Liberty Hyde Bailey, 1915. Chairman,
New York State College of Agriculture

• The measuring of farming in terms of yields and
  incomes introduces a dangerous standard. It is
  commonly assumed that state moneys for
  agriculture education may be used only for
  practical - that is, for dollars-and-cents
  results, and the emphasis is widely placed very
  exclusively on more alfalfa, more corn, more
  hogs, more fruit, on the two-blades-of-grass
  morals and yet the highest good that can accrue
  to a state for the expenditure of its money is
  the raising up of a population less responsive to
  cash that to some other stimuli.

16
Kathryn Van Aken Burns, 1937. State Leader, Home
Economics Extension, Illinois Chair of the
National Committee of State and Federal Home
Demonstration Leaders.

• The development and growth of home economics in
  the agricultural colleges brought to them an
  idealism and a cultural element not always
  recognized, as well as a new measuring stick.
  Heretofore, results had been largely in terms of
  livestock or crops hereafter, the measure of
  successful agriculture was the kind of life
  produced. In spite of much fulsome oratory on the
  part of agriculture that successful living was
  its aim, the aim seems to have been such a remote
  one that provisions for bringing it about were
  pretty much lost sight of in carrying out the
  immediate objectives for improved agricultural
  practices.

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M.C. Burritt, 1922. Early Director of Extension
in New York State

• Extension work in agriculture is a social and
  welfare movement. It is based on the idea that we
  are here founding a democracy and democracy is
  not a form of government, but the expression of
  the souls of men and women. Extension work is not
  intended primarily to make better crops and
  animals, but better men and women.

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The ultimate objective was not more and better
food, clothing, and housing. These were merely
means and conditions prerequisite to improvement
of human relationships, of intellectual and
spiritual outlook. Apparent preoccupation with
economic interests must be interpreted in terms
of the purposes that material welfare is intended
to serve. The fundamental function of Smith-Lever
extension education is the development of rural
people themselves. This is accomplished by
fostering attitudes of mind and capacities which
will enable them to better meet the individual
and civic problems with which they are
confronted. Unless economic attainment and
independence are regarded chiefly as means for
advancing the social and cultural life of those
living in the open country, the most important
purpose of extension education will not be
achieved. - Federal Office of Education, 1930
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Professor Liberty Hyde Bailey, 1918. Chairman,
New York State College of Agriculture

• The ultimate welfare of the community does not
  depend on the balance-sheets of a few industries,
  but on the character of the people, the moral
  issues, the nature of home life, the community
  pride, the public spirit, the readiness of
  responses to calls for aid, the opportunities of
  education and recreation and entertainment and
  cooperative activity as well as of increased
  daily work and better wages.

20
C.B. Smith, 1939. USDA Extension Service.

• Probably the biggest thing that adult
  Agricultural Extension and 4-H club work are
  doing for individuals and the Nation is not so
  much the growing of better crops or the rearing
  of better livestock or the making of better
  kitchens, but rather the giving of actual
  experience in the practice of democracy. And it
  has done so not by telling people about democracy
  or preaching about it, but by actually practicing
  democracy in all phases of its work and
  developing its Extension program down to the
  smallest community and individual farm through
  democratic processes. And this practice of
  democracy in Extension since 1914 has come about
  because democratic processes from the outset were
  in the minds and heart of those State and Federal
  officers administering the law and native to them.

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Cooperative Extensions Early Civic Mission and
Public Work

• Celebrated and developed ordinary people as
  civic, economic, and cultural producers.
• Honored both scientific knowledge and knowledge
  from practical experience, transforming each
  through public research and action partnerships.
• Sought wisdom, not just knowledge or economic and
  technical efficiency.

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Cooperative Extensions Early Civic Mission and
Public Work

• Engaged both Youth and Adults in Improving
• The Farm
• The Home
• The Community
• The People

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C.B. Smith and M.C. Wilson, 1930. USDA Extension
Service.

• The agent of the government does not come to the
  farmer with a program or plan all worked out in
  advance. He or she and the people, working as
  partners, develop the plan together and carry it
  out together. The government contributes
  technical knowledge, based on its continuing
  research the farming people contribute their
  local knowledge and experiences, each
  supplementing the knowledge of the other and both
  the stronger for the association.

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M.L. Wilson, 1944 USDA Agriculture
Undersecretary What Agricultural Extension Is

• Extension is a partnership agency in which the
  officials of government - federal, state, and
  county - sit in council with rural people and
  together analyze local conditions, take stock of
  their resources and make and help to carry out
  programs for the financial, educational, and
  social benefit of the community and its
  individual members.

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The Democratic Promise of the Land-Grant Idea

• Placing control in the hands of the people
• Opening up access
• Expanding the curriculum
• Elevating the character, knowledge and political
  status of the common people
• Expanding opportunities for social and economic
  mobility
• Addressing public problems through applied
  research and public service
• Developing an active, democratic citizenship

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Professor Liberty Hyde Bailey, 1915. Chairman,
New York State College of Agriculture

• It is not sufficient to train technically in the
  trades and crafts and arts to the end of securing
  greater economic efficiency - this may be
  accomplished in a despotism (absolutism) and
  result in no self-action on the part of the
  people. Every democracy must reach far beyond
  what is commonly known as economic efficiency,
  and do everything it can to enable those in the
  backgrounds to maintain their standing and their
  pride and to partake in the making of political
  affairs.

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Ulysses P. Hedrick, 1933.

• There is a flood of literature urging the
  industrialization of agriculture. From it one
  would glean that the object of life is to attain
  efficiency. Some of the happiest, most worthy,
  and most influential farmers in the state are
  dreadfully inefficient. A self-respecting freeman
  is more desirable citizen than a slave to
  industry.

28
Ruby Green Smith, 1949 - State Leader of Home
Demonstration Agents, College of Home Economics,
Cornell University

• There is vigorous reciprocity in the Extension
  Service because it is with the people, as well as
  of the people, by the people, and for the
  people. It not only carries knowledge from the
  State Colleges to the people, but it also works
  in reverse it carries from the people to their
  State Colleges practical knowledge whose
  workability has been tested on farms, in
  industry, in homes, and in communities. In ideal
  extension work, science and art meet life and
  practice. Mutual benefits result for the people
  and for the educational institutions they
  support. Thus the Extension Service develops not
  only better agriculture, industries, homes, and
  communities, but better colleges.

29
Douglas Ensminger and Irwin T. Sanders, 1945

• One of the really great contributions of
  Extension education is that it develops people as
  individuals, leaders, and cooperative members of
  the local community and the world society.
  Through participation in Extension activities
  farmers gain a new vision. They are brought
  face-to-face with their neighbors problems and
  thus aided in seeing the interdependence of their
  welfare and the welfare of their neighbors, their
  community, and the entire nation. Problems are
  thus recognized as being group problems requiring
  group consideration and action. Working within
  the democratic framework which exists in most
  communities around the world, Extension can help
  farm people not only in the solution of their
  individual problems but also aid them in the
  solution of their common problems. Extension then
  becomes education for action, action on the
  individual farm as well as group and community
  action.

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M.L. Wilson, 1940 USDA Agriculture Undersecretary

• Extension workers and others who are charged with
  assisting in the development of programs to meet
  not only current needs, but also the changed
  needs of the world, are vitally concerned with
  questions of leadership. Their primary job is to
  help the community analyze its problems in the
  light of all available information and so to
  organize itself that the necessary action can be
  taken.

31
Isabel Bevier, 1920 Head of Home Economics
Department, University of Illinois

• And so another great door of opportunity was
  opened for human betterment another chance was
  given for men and women, hand-in-hand, to work at
  the worlds problems. That, to me, has always
  been one of the very great benefits that the
  land-grant college has given to our daily life -
  the fact that the men and women have worked
  together at the worlds problems.

32
Early Work of Cooperative Extension Pioneers

• Very difficult to introduce new ideas, new
  techniques and educational programs
• High suspicion and skepticism among the
  public/clientele about Extension and its agents
• Little initial support for Extension from
  business and the general public
• First agents were on their own to create
  awareness, answer questions and conduct programs.
  Furthermore, they did not have modern
  technologies for obtaining timely help from their
  land-grant partner
• The agent had to prove himself/herself as worthy,
  helpful, progressive, and necessary for the county

33
Seaman A. Knapp

• Social pioneer for Extension Education Father of
  Extension
• Drafted the Hatch Act
• Originator of farm demonstration education
• Started in Texas as a means of controlling the
  boll weevil and improving profitability on cotton
  farms
• The demonstration method was very successful!
• Chance to see first-hand results and get involved
  in new techniques. The first demonstration farm
  realized an increased annual profit of 700.00!
• Note A very early demonstration pioneer was
  Squanto. He introduced corn planting and
  fertilization to the Pilgrims.

34
Knapps demonstration farm efforts

• Knapps success lead to an emergency 40,000
  appropriation by Congress to bring home to the
  farmer on his own farm information which would
  enable him to grow cotton despite the presence of
  the weevil. In 1904, 24 agents were employed by
  USDA in Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas, and over
  7,000 farmers agreed to demonstrate. Agents
  visited the farmers and furnished them with
  plans, records, and reports. The agents were
  expected to cover 6 to 8 counties, but the number
  of demonstrations they could supervise did not
  create sufficient public sentiment and moral
  force to change the long established usage of the
  masses. As a result, on Nov. 12, 1906, the first
  county agent, W.C. Stallings, was appointed in
  Smith County, Texas. His appointment resulted
  from a local demand for more demonstrations and
  more information. Subsequent agents were
  appointed on the advice of local committees of
  businessmen and farmers.

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Key Principles for Cooperative Extension - Then
and Now

• Democratic atmosphere and approach
• Flexibility towards clientele, local needs, and
  local issues
• Alertness towards local needs and issues
• Service oriented approach
• Ever-expanding character
• Vision for the future - Proactive and Interactive
  regarding needs and issues

36
4-H Arose as a means of educating farmers

• Initial educational work with adults was
  difficult to accomplish
• More impact could be realized from working with
  youth
• Adults became involved, through youth
  education
• There was a spillover educational effect to
  adults!

37
Otwells Corn Clubs and Corn Growing Contests

• Earliest beginnings of youth club work - started
  1890s
• First organized by W. B. Otwell in Illinois - by
  1901 there were 1500 boys involved 50,000 by
  1904
• Gained national recognition for their Pyramid
  of Corn at a 1904 Expo in St. Louis
• Caused national interest and business support

38
Great Results through Youth Corn Clubs

• 1912 - Marius Malmgrem from VA produced 209
  bushels of corn per acre
• Average national yield at that time was 45
  Bu./ac.
• News of these results quickly spread to other
  states
• Results were utilized with adult farmers

39
Business Support of Boys and Girls Clubs

• Excellent relationship evolved between public
  and private participation of youth club work,
  because of positive results and outcomes
• Thousands of youth relied on bank loans for
  their first major projects

40
1915 Girls Canning Clubs

• Girls learned about safe food preservation
• Food poisoning was rampant at the time these
  clubs started. The incidence decreased
  dramatically as a result of the Canning Clubs
• Federal (USDA) sponsored clubs started in 1910 in
  South Carolina

41
Girls Sewing Clubsstarted around 1920

• The Sewing Clubs were a secondary activity to
  canning
• Federal reluctance initially to start these clubs
• Girls clubs had a full range of home economics
  projects and activities by the mid-1920s

42
Volunteer Leadership

• Evolved with youth clubs and was established by
  1920
• Brought about a change in Extensions role with
  youth clubs
• Critical component to the success and scope of
  the 4-H program

43
Growth of Home Demonstration Work

• Home demonstration agents who worked with youth
  evolved to helping mothers with simple, useful
  lessons in cooking, sewing, sanitation, and
  beautification. In the South, the year 1913 marks
  the beginning of Extension work with adult
  homemakers. Their work included managing the
  household, but also the larger needs of the home,
  broadening the vision of farm women. New York
  appointed their first home demonstration agent in
  1914 in Erie County. Utah followed suit in 1915.
  In Florida, organized work with adult women
  started in 1916. Miss Sarah Partridge was
  appointed Floridas first district home
  demonstration agent.

44
WW I and II effects on Extension

• WW I and II played a major role in defining 4-H
  and Extension programs
• Food and fiber production Food For Freedom
• Clothing conservation projects
• Community Training Leadership
• Officer (ROTC) Training

45
The Farm Depression of the 1920s

• Extensions educational emphasis changed from
  production to economic concerns, farm efficiency
  and the quality of rural life.
• Extensions ranks became thinner and emergency
  funds disappeared, so Extension called upon
  volunteers which stimulated rural leadership
  development.
• Extension became very active in helping farmers
  organize cooperatives.

46
Extension and The Great Depression Era

• Extension was called upon to manage the Farm Seed
  and Loan Program
• Farm families were drawn into active
  participation in county, state, and national
  public affairs by Extension
• Home economics programs were geared towards
  family self sufficiency
• After the Depression, Extension managed many
  Federal programs such as Agricultural Adjustment
  Administration, Soil Conservation Service, Rural
  Electrification Program, and Farmers Home
  Administration

47
VOLUNTEERS The Backbone of Cooperative
Extension

• Overall County
• Advisory Committee
• Program Needs
• Financial Oversight
• Legislative Support
• Marketing of Extension and its programs

• Program Advisory Committees
• Volunteer Educators (Ex. 4-H, Master Gardeners,
  Master Canners, Master Farmers, etc.)

48
Whats behind the name Cooperative Extension
System?

• Cooperative in that it includes 3 levels of
  partners Federal, State, and County Governments
• Extension of the USDA and the Land-Grant
  Institutions of the nation
• System of education to provide unbiased,
  scientific-based knowledge

49
Cooperative Extension is a System of Partnerships

• State
• Facilities support
• Staff
• Educational materials
• Funding

• Federal
• Program leadership
• Publications
• Establish national initiatives
• Funding

• Counties
• Office facilities and support
• Support staff, paraprofessionals
• Travel budget / Funding
• Equipment, supplies

50
Cooperative Extension Clientele A Few Examples

• Farmers/Producers
• Township and Municipal Officials
• Small Business Owners
• Schools (Elementary, Middle, High)
• Homeowners/Landowners
• Homemakers
• Child Care Providers
• Resource Stressed Audiences
• Volunteers
• Includes Youth and Adult Education!

51
Clientele Costs for Extension Educational
Programs

• Minimal program costs because of government
• appropriated dollars
• Includes salaries, state support, program
• development, penalty mail, etc.
• Cost recovery basis for
• Program materials, facilities, meals, etc.

Note Extension has restrictions in how it uses
appropriated (tax) dollars
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Educational Program Process
Local input of issues, needs and program
direction Develop, Implement, and Evaluate work
plans. Primary Goal
IMPACT on People
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Program DeliveryWhen Where

• When Anytime, Year - Round
• - Schools, farms, homes,camps,
• municipal officials

• Where Anywhere the Learners are
• - Schools, halls, farms churches, centers,
  housing developments, prisons, ...

Common characteristics of Extension Nonformal
Education
54
Educational Delivery Methods
Satellite and Distance Education
Computer Training
Print Materials - Newsletters, News-articles
Group Meetings and
Individual Assistance
Volunteers
Mass Media
Delivery methods need to align with subject
matter and targeted clientele!
55
The Four Traditional Extension Program areas - in
Extensions beginnings

• Agriculture
• Focused mostly on farm production
• Home Economics
• Focused mostly on canning, sewing and supporting
  the farm/rural home
• 4-H
• Focused mostly on farm, home, and rural projects
• Community Development
• Focused mostly on farm and rural development
• Think about how each program area has changed
  since the beginning of Extension in 1914???

56
Current Extension Program Areas

• Agriculture and Natural Resources
• Family and Consumer Science
• Youth Development / 4-H
• Community Development
• In some states
• Sea Grant
• Energy
• Both program areas are part of Florida CES

57
Program Examples - Economic and Community
Development
- Rural and Community Development - Municipal
Official Development - Rural / Urban Interface
Issues - Leadership Training - Land Use Issues -
Public Policy - Water Quality
58
Program Examples - Families and Youth
- Improving Nutrition, Health and Food Safety -
Managing Family and Household Resources -
Strengthening Family Life - Volunteer and
Leadership Development - Improving life
skills of youth
59
Program Examples - Ag and Natural Resources
- Plant and Animal Science - Fruits and
Vegetables - Turf and Gardening - Farm
Management - Forestry and Wood Products -
Wildlife - Ag Marketing
60
Cooperative Extension Interactions
Agencies USDA Conservation and Water
Districts Children Youth/WIC Area Agencies on
Aging Health Dept. Planning Commissions Numerous
others Businesses Program delivery Program
sponsorship
Very important for Extension to have these
partnerships and linkages for greater and broader
program impact
61
The Philosophy of Cooperative Extension is a -
Strong Belief in

• the equality of people
• the possibility of change or progress
• the reliability of science
• the power of education
• Mission ...to help people improve their lives
  through an educational process that uses
  scientific knowledge to address issues and needs.

62
Three original guiding principles for Cooperative
Extension

• Reach people where they are
• Education, interest, understanding, and ability
• Teach people to determine their own needs
• Teach people to help themselves

63
Mission, Philosophy and Values of Cooperative
Extension
What are Values?? A principle or quality that
is intrinsically valuable or desirable

• Values of Cooperative Extension and Extension
  educators
• Belief in the development of people / humanistic
  approach
• Integrity, credibility, helpful, honest, team
  players, motivated, others???

64
The Values and Beliefs of Florida CES
We Believe in

• an emphasis on excellence in educational
  programming
• programs that help people solve problems
• helping people help themselves
• quick responses to clientele
• the unbiased delivery of information
• the philosophy of teamwork

65
What is Extensions Role and Purpose?

• Technology and knowledge transfer?
• Facilitation of learning and deliberation?
• Capacity and skill building?
• Action and applied research?
• Organizing people?
• A combination of all of these?

66
Interrelated challenges facing Cooperative
Extension today

• Globalization
• Rapid technological and cultural change
• Economic and political restructuring
• Ecological Crisis
• Many dimensions / factions / interests
• Civic Decline and Degeneration
• Erosion of social capital and civic muscle
• Erosion of trust and civility
• Greater consumerism market / economic focus

67
Questions for Cooperative Extension to consider

• Who are we (Cooperative Extension) in this world
  of challenges and opportunities?
• What do we stand for?
• What is our work and responsibility?
• What is the work that we either are doing or
  could be doing that is so important it must be
  paid for with public tax dollars??
• Public accountability

68

• As the nations and the worlds needs change,
  Cooperative Extensions role must change to meet
  them to remain effective.
• In regards to Extension
  programs, it is the people served who
  are important.
• Helping People Help Themselves is what
  Cooperative Extension is all about!

Extension Today and in the Future
69
Sources of information for this module on the
History and Philosophy of Cooperative Extension

• Bliss, R. K. et. al. 1952. The Spirit and
  Philosophy of Extension Work as recorded in
  significant papers. USDA Graduate School.
  Washington, DC.
• Brunner, Edmund and Hsin Pao Yang. 1949. Rural
  American and the Extension Service A History and
  Critique of the Cooperative Agricultural and Home
  Economics Extension Service. Columbia University.
  NY, NY.
• Cooper, J. Francis. 1976. Dimensions in History
  Recounting Florida Cooperative Extension Service
  Progress, 1909-76. Gainesville, FL.
• Kelsey, Lincoln D. and Cannon C. Hearne. 1963.
  Cooperative Extension Work. Comstock Pub. Assoc.
  Ithaca, NY.
• Peters, Scott J. 1999. Cooperative Extension and
  the Democratic Promise of the Land-Grant Idea
  Historical Foundations, Contemporary Renewal.
  Annual Ext. Conf. Penn State University. Nov. 18.
• Vines, C. Austin and Marvin A. Anderson. 1976.
  Heritage Horizons Extensions Commitment to
  People. Journal of Extension. Madison, WI.
• Wessel Thomas and Marilyn Wessel. 1982. 4-H An
  American Idea 1900-1980 A History of 4-H.
  National 4-H Council. Chevy Chase, MD.