Ames, Iowa
April 16, 2003

By Susan Thompson
Communications specialist with the Iowa State University College of Agriculture

People across Iowa and the nation have Perry Holden to thank for  today's Cooperative Extension Service. In 1902, Holden was manager of Funk Brothers Seed Co. He came to Iowa State College in Ames to give a short course on corn. Holden proved to be a popular teacher. Special sessions were added to accommodate the many farmers who wanted to hear his presentations.

Iowa State President William Beardshear was impressed with Holden and asked him to organize the new department of agronomy for the college. Holden agreed. Soon a farmer from Hull asked if research at the college was applicable to him and his neighbors in northwest Iowa.

Holden said local crop experiments would help answer that question. Soon he and the Sioux County Farmers Institute had established the nation's first county cooperative experimental farm. The experimental farm involved farmers in comparative field testing, with someone from Iowa State directing the testing and explaining the results to area farmers.

Holden's philosophy is obvious in this quote. "I follow the principle that all people in the state are in reality students of the college," he once said. "Therefore, we must go to them and help them where they are, under their own conditions, with their own problems."

This model for cooperative extension work was adopted nationwide in 1914 with the passage of the Smith-Lever Act. It brought together federal, state and county governments to form Cooperative Extension. By 1918, every county in Iowa had its own extension agent. While extension has its roots in agriculture, its programs have expanded to serve communities, families, youth, business and industry. More than 665,000 people had contact last year with ISU Extension programs.

A year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of ISU Extension kicked off April 7 at the Hull Community Center. ISU President Gregory Geoffroy said it made sense the event took place in Hull.
"It's fitting we're in rural Iowa because that's where extension was needed the most, where it was born and where it has had the greatest impact," he said.

"We have such a wonderful tradition of taking knowledge created through our research program and providing this knowledge through extension to those who have immediate problems that this new information can help solve," said Catherine Woteki, ISU College of Agriculture Dean. "That's what started extension and what makes it so important today."

Vice Provost for Extension Stanley Johnson presided over the event. In closing, he urged those in attendance to look ahead another 100 years. "Let this be a beginning for the next century and all the good things extension can do to make Iowa a better place to live," he said.