National Institute of Food and Agriculture

Overview of U.S. Cooperative Extension System

• History
• Land-Grant Universities
• NIFA as the Federal Partner
• Funding for Extension
• Extension at the State & County Levels
• Program Areas
• International Programs
• A unique federal-state-county partnership
• The tripartite mission of the Land-grant Universities
– Research, Education & Extension
• Meeting the needs of local clientele
• Decentralized
• Providing objective, science-based information to
enable sound decisions
 Cooperative Extension System

• The U.S. Cooperative Extension System (CES) is nation’s

largest non-formal educational network that draws on the
expertise of federal, state and local partners to provide
practical, unbiased information produced by researcher centers
and universities to the people.

• USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA),

collaborates with more than 100 land-grant universities,
including 59 agricultural experiment stations, 63 schools of
forestry, and 27 colleges of veterinary medicine. It is also the
federal partner for the Cooperative Extension System.
 A Brief Historical Perspective

• 1862 – Land-Grant Universities (Morrill Act)

• 1887 – Agricultural Experiment Stations (Hatch Act)
• 1890 – Historically Black Colleges & Universities
• 1914 – Cooperative Extension System
(Smith-Lever Act)
• 1994 – Native-American Tribal Colleges
3,000+ U.S. Counties
 No Typical County

• Range in population from 82 to 10 million

 Average pop.: 101,000
• Land area: 31 sq. km.  52,000 sq. km
 Average county size : 2,584 sq.km
• Texas: 254 counties; Delaware: 3
• Ohio: 88 counties; Missouri: 114
• Rural and Urban
 (residential, commercial, industrial, agricultural…)
Cooperative Extension Program Areas
(not only farming…)

– Family and consumer science

– Nutrition
– 4-H Youth Development
– Agriculture and horticulture – production
and marketing of food and non-food crops
and animals
– Natural resources and the environment
– Community development
– Economic development
 NIFA’s Role as the Federal Partner

• National Program Leaders

– Network & collaborate with partners and stakeholders to

identify national needs
– Share information by program area among states
– Plan and administer competitive grant programs (peer
review panels)
– Review and approve state extension reports and plans
 Federal Funding for Extension
• Total NIFA support for Extension: $460 million (2014)
• “Formula” vs. Competitive Funding
– Formula based on overall state population,
percent of rural and farm population
– States are required to match formula funding
– Multistate requirement to spend percentage of
formula funds on issues concerning two or more
states
 NIFA Funding (cont.)
– Appropriated funds for national priorities
• Examples: Nutrition, Integrated Pest Management,
Sustainable Agriculture, Youth at Risk
– Peer-reviewed competitive grants
• Agriculture and Food Research Initiative
• Integrated funding that requires research, education
and/or extension cooperation
Federal, state and county governments all
contribute…

• Varies considerably from state-to-state

• As % of total, Federal support has declined
• Estimated nationwide funding:
– Federal: 15%
– State: 50%
– County: 25%
– Other: 10%
 Tight Budgets, Fewer Employees

• Decline in federal formula funds since 1980

• Trend away from formula towards competitive
funding

• 1980: Extension Specialists: 3,714

County Agents: 11,441
• 2010: Specialists: 3,972
Agents: 7,974
 Extension at the Land-Grant University

• Brings together research, education & extension

• Campus-based Extension Specialists
• Joint appointments
• Regional, multi-state programs
• Provide major source of funding (state government)
• Develop State Reports and Plans
• Communication
• Monitoring and Evaluation
 Extension in the County
• Staff
• Local Government Support
• Advisory Committees
• Engaging Local Stakeholders
• Communicating w/ Clientele
• Planning Cycle
• Importance of well-trained, credible agents
• Accountability/Monitoring & Evaluating
 Extension Personnel by Subject Area
(Rank order)

• 1) Agriculture
• 2) Family & Consumer Sciences
• 3) 4-H Youth Development

o 4-H: Head, Heart, Hands & Health

o K-12+: 6 million youth (200,000 adult
volunteers)
o Animals, environmental science, plants,
leadership development, arts, computers…
A Pluralistic Approach to Innovation
 4-H: Positive Youth Development

• Non-formal Education
• Community based
– Volunteer-led
– Experiential, Practical

• Largest Youth Development Organization

in the U.S.
– More than 6 million youth
– 60 million alumni
– 540,000 volunteers
 Examples of 4-H Programs

• Environmental Science
• Engineering & Technology
• Plant & Animal Sciences
• Leadership Development
• Communication and the Arts
• Health, Nutrition and Fitness
 4-H Around the World

Independent, country-led programs

 eXtension
(www.extension.org)
• Internet system designed to provide
research-based information
• Organized around Communities of Practice
• Supplements local programming
• Peer-reviewed contents
• More than 20% of visits from outside USA
• Worldwide growth in using ICT for extension
 Additional Resources

Foreign Agricultural Service:

• Cochran & Borlaug Fellowships
• http://www.fas.usda.gov/programs

Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in

Research (PEER)
• http://sites.nationalacademies.org/pga/
peer/index.htm
 NIFA’s Center for International Programs

• Facilitate internationalizing U.S. universities’

research, education and extension programs
• Collaborate with US universities to strengthen
extension systems in other countries…from
Poland (1990-96) to Afghanistan (2011-2014)
• Access the human resources of the entire
land-grant university community
 Potential Topics for Further Discussion
• Challenges in adopting a university model for
extension
– Organizational, cultural, financial, etc.
• Various ways of funding extension
– Public, private, fees, contracts…
• Universal concepts of effective extension
• Developing Social Capital
• Growing use of Information and Communications
Technology (ICT)
Michael McGirr
National Program Leader
Center for International Programs
National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA)
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
Washington, DC, USA
e-mail: mmcgirr@nifa.usda.gov