A Hand Extended

A Hand Extended
Rebecca Bland

“We’ve got an awful infestation of potato bugs in the garden!” my mother exclaimed to my father one evening at the dinner table. “‘I’ll call the extension agent and find out what to do,” she continued.

I was only 8 years old, and had no idea what an “extension agent” was. I pictured a bespectacled researcher sitting among piles of books in a dingy office, ready and waiting to look up answers to random gardening questions. That picture remained in my mind even after I became an adult.

My mental picture was changed forever when, many years later, an extension agent visited my classroom to talk about nutrition with my third-grade students. She was an energetic mother of two, tall and cheerful, engaging and knowledgeable. My students were enthralled with her presentation, and couldn’t wait for her to return.

There are extension agents all over the United States. These individuals extend a helping hand from land grant universities to the public. Every state in the United States has at least one “land grant university,” and these universities are part of the U.S. Cooperative Extension Service (CES). The CES maintains a nationwide network of offices that uses scientific research findings to educate farmers and other members of the community (Croft, 2022).

This extension of university expertise began with an act of Congress sponsored by U.S. Senator Justin Morrill of Vermont in 1862. Senator Morrill, who never attended college, himself, envisioned a network in which scientific research conducted by universities could be used to improve people’s lives. The Morrill Act of 1862, signed into law by President Lincoln, provided tracts of public land to colleges for “the benefit of agriculture and the Mechanic arts.” Out of these land grants grew a national system of state colleges and universities (National Archives, 2022).  Every state in the United States has at least one land grant university (Cornell Cooperative Extension, 2022). Thanks to the Hatch Act of 1887, land grant universities received funding to conduct research on experimental farms (Croft 2022). Scientific knowledge gained through this research benefits the public.

Extension agencies offer support in all aspects of environmental education. Agents are ready and willing to share their expertise on a wide range of topics including forestry, native plants, invasive species, water quality, watershed issues, soil health, and renewable energy. They offer both in-school programs and train-the-trainer opportunities.

A listing of land grant universities can be found on the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) website at https://www.nifa.usda.gov/grants/land-grant-university-website-directory. The website features an interactive map tool that provides links to each university’s extension websites. Extension agents are an invaluable resource for planning and executing outdoor education activities. They’re only a click or a call away.