The Land Grant College Obligation

Abstract

BOUT 23,600 land grant college employees use $128 million in exA tension work and $113 million in research work to effectively discover and disseminate information. This is part of the land grant college system in the United States. The very fact that this system continues to receive regular appropriations is testimony to its unquestionable success. The extension service is the youngest of the three phases; teaching, research, and extension, in the land grant colleges. This organized network of county and state educators has a potential influence that has no equal in the world. Many foreign visitors have pointed to this system as the significant key to our agricultural productivity. Although the land grant system has a wide range of activities, its major efforts have been directed toward the adoption of new and improved technology. The success of this endeavor is obvious. In 1803 the productivity per farmer was enough for three consumers. Today's mechanized, scientific agriculturist produces for more than 20 people. For the first half century of the land grant college's life this single focus was correct. It might still be correct, but it is no longer sufficient! During that first half century incomes of consumers were low, income elasticities were high. With a small industrial product and a small labor force, the minimization of labor inputs in agriculture was necessary to allow for growth in the nonfarm economy. This general condition has not prevailed in the last few decades. The land grant college must re-examine its objectives because: (1) it is not benefiting farm income. (2) it is not encouraging agriculture's full contribution to economic growth. (3) it is permitting a distrust for new agricultural technology to develop that could endanger the land grant college's future and curtail economic growth.