While the Cooperative Extension System was officially established by the Smith-Lever Act of 1914, its roots go back to agricultural clubs and societies of the early 1800s.
These groups sprang up after the American Revolution in the early 1800s. In 1819, a pioneer agriculture journal entitled American Farmer encouraged farmers to report on their achievements and their methods of solving problems.
Seaman A. Knapp (1833-1911) is considered by many to be the founder of the Cooperative Extension System. He pioneered a demonstration system for teaching farmers about modern, research-based agricultural techniques, laying the groundwork for Extension as we know it today.
Early in the 20th century, Knapp, who was working for USDA, established the idea of teaching farmers through example and demonstration. He guided work at a Texas demonstration farm that proved—by changing farming practices and using different cotton varieties—farmers could improve boll weevil control. This work served as the foundation of USDA’s Farmers Cooperative Demonstration Work program.
Three years after Knapp’s death, Sen. Hoke Smith of Georgia and Rep. Frank Lever of South Carolina jointly introduced legislation to provide for cooperative agricultural extension work at Land-grant Colleges and Universities with USDA as the Federal partner. President Woodrow Wilson signed the Smith-Lever Act into law on May 8, 1914.
Extension was created to address exclusively rural and agricultural issues. At that time, more than 50 percent of the U.S. population lived in rural areas, and 30 percent of the workforce was engaged in farming.
World War I
Extension faced its first challenge during World War I as it worked to meet the Nation’s wartime needs.
- Helped farmers increase wheat acreage from 47 million acres in the pre-war years to 74 million in 1919
- Encouraged increased farm production
- Organized the Women's Land Army and the Boys' Working Reserve to address war-related labor shortages at harvest time
- Fostered preservation methods such as canning and drying, and the careful use of commodities like wheat, sugar, and meat
Depression Years
American farmers spent much of the 1920s confronting a continuing farm depression where farm prices fell even as the economy was prospering. Then the Great Depression made life for everyone much more challenging. Extension focused its works on helping farmers be profitable and families fed.
- Emphasized better farm management for individual farmers
- Taught farmers about marketing and helped farm groups organize both buying and selling cooperatives
- Instructed farm women on nutrition, surplus food canning, gardening, poultry production, home nursing, and sewing — skills that helped many farm families survive years of depression and drought
World War II
Throughout World War II, Extension again worked with farmers and their families, along with 4-H club members, to secure production increases essential to the war effort. Each year for five years, total food production increased. In 1944, food production was 38 percent above the 1935-1939 average. During World War II, Extension agents led a variety of efforts to help the war effort.
- Advised farmers of wartime food production goals and how to achieve them
- Helped allocate fertilizer supplies and trained farmers in the best ways to use it
- Guided increased timber planting
- Conducted training programs for inexperienced farm laborers
- Taught city families how to garden
After World War II
Extension’s role in extending new technologies to U.S. farmers and ranchers helped farm production increase dramatically. While U.S. farm numbers declined from 5.4 million in 1950 to 1.9 million in 2022, farm production dramatically increased. In 1950, one farmer supported the food needs of 15.5 people; in 2022, one farmer supported the food needs of almost 170 people.
But during this post-war period, Extension continued to broaden its reach beyond agriculture.
- Taught nutrition via paraprofessionals
- Educated families in better financial management
- Expanded 4-H programs into suburban and urban areas
- Created community and rural development programs to help both rural businesses and communities
21st Century Extension
About one percent of Americans farm today, and about 20 percent of Americans live in rural areas. But Extension continues to adapt to find new and better ways to take the university to the people no matter where they live. Extension answers the call every day—improving food systems through research-based education, assisting families through nutrition and parenting curricula, and preparing the next generation of leaders. Extension in the 21st century is actively working to not only to respond to needs, but to anticipate them and to work with partners in designing solutions.
Seaman Knapp developed the demonstration method of providing relevant information to farmers and families. As USDA’s special agent for the promotion of agriculture in the South, Knapp laid the groundwork for Extension with the hiring of field agents across the South.
Senator Hoke Smith served not only as a U.S. Senator, but also as Secretary of Interior under President Grover Cleveland and as governor of Georgia. As chair of the Senate Committee on Education and Labor, he introduced and guided through the Senate the legislation that we now know as the Smith-Lev
Frank Lever was elected to the U.S. Congress in 1901 as a representative for South Carolina. Lever was serving as the Chair of the House Committee on Agriculture when he worked with Sen. Hoke Smith to pass legislation that established the Cooperative Extension System.