Station Director Research Articles

1. Regional Coordination of Agronomic Research from the Standpoint of the Station Director1

Agronomy JournalVolume 26, Issue 2 p. 81-88 A Symposium on “Maintaining the Efficiency of Agronomic Research with Reduced Support through Regional Organization” 1. Regional Coordination of Agronomic Research from the Standpoint of the Station Director1 L. E. Call, L. E. Call Director.Search for more papers by this author L. E. Call, L. E. Call Director.Search for more papers by this author First published: 01 February 1934 https://doi.org/10.2134/agronj1934.00021962002600020001x 1 Contribution No. 51 from the Office of the Director, Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station, Manhattan, Kan. AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Volume26, Issue2February 1934Pages 81-88 RelatedInformation

Research in Rural Sociology

It is doubtful whether rural social investigation has thus far attained the status of research. It has been on too narrow a base both geographically and in sustained pursuit of basic facts and trends. The passage of the Purnell law provide for sufficient research funds at the state agricultural experiment stations to make it possible and probable that hundreds of thousands of dollars will be spent in the next few years in rural social research. In addition, other public bureaus and endowed agencies are doing research in the field. During the year 1926 there were almost one hundred specific research projects being carried on in rural sociology in the United State. Many rural sociologists are poorly trained in the fundamentals of sociology and in research technique. Many agricultural experiment station directors do not yet see the significance of social investigation. Rural sociology is in competition for funds with so-called more practical projects. Rural sociologists must, therefore, stop following fads fancies and consistently pursue basic and fundamental researches. The rural environment is comparatively, simple. Research in this field, as elsewhere, is conditioned by two conditions: knowing what is most important to discover, and knowing how to discover it. Research consists of (I) discovering new facts, (2) determining the consequence of known facts, (3) developing a body of principles, (4) developing a methodology. Rural sociologists should seek to do all these things. The first task before the rural sociologists is to develop research methods and trained research workers. The second task is that of developing an appreciation of rural social research on the part of those responsible for research funds and research programs. With the Purnell funds available, a division of rural social research in the Bureau of Agricultural Economics of the United States Department of Agriculture, and a number of endowed agencies now doing research in this field, the future is promising. Universities should also enlarge their research programs to include this field.

The Work of the Office of Farm Management and Its Relation to the Agricultural Experiment Stations

It is with great pleasure that I find myself representing the interests of economic research at a meeting of experimental station directors. Prior to the days of experiment stations the economics of agriculture was better developed than were the physical and biological sciences in their relation to agricultural problems. As evidence of this condition attention is called to the English literature of the latter part of the eighteenth century and the first part of the nineteenth, especially the extensive writings of Arthur Young and William Marshall, the county agricultural surveys made by the Board of Agriculture and the writings of Adam Smith, James Anderson, David Ricardo, T. R. Malthus, and others relating to the economics of agriculture from the individual, the social and the national point of view.