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The Extension Story Just what is the Cooperative Extension Service? For a more complete understanding of this unique organization, we must go back to 1862 when the U.S. Congress passed the Morrill Act which established colleges in each state to be financed through grants of land from the Federal Government. These became known as "land grant colleges", a name which persists today. The colleges would emphasize teaching practical subjects such as agriculture and home economics. The 1887 Hatch Act provided for experimental stations at Land Grant Colleges to conduct research for those colleges' agricultural problems. |
| Then in 1914 the Smith-Lever Act created the Extension Service as a part of these colleges as a means of disseminating the practical knowledge gained through research. The University of Florida at Gainesville is Florida's Land Grant College. The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is that part of the University responsible for the Cooperative Extension Service. | |
| The term "cooperative" refers to the method by which extension services are funded. In Florida, three cooperating tax sources provide funds: The U.S. Department of Agriculture, the State through legislative appropriations and the counties through appropriations by county governments. The word "cooperative" also implies a sharing of information generated through sound research programs at the federal and state levels. The term "extension" defines this organization's purpose - to extend the information generated to people at the county level in the form of a "service". Today, the Cooperative Extension Service provides information and education beyond the three traditional areas of Agriculture, Home Economics and 4-H. | |
| E-mail Wayne Odegaard, Extension Director |