The Beginning of Formal Cooperative Extension Work in Alabama
A major milestone in formal Cooperative Extension work in Alabama was passed in 1906, when Seaman Knapp launched cooperative farm demonstration work. At the time, Knapp was overseeing Farmers Cooperative Demonstration Work nationally through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Plant Industry. C.R. Hudson, James C. Phelps, and C.S. Waldrop were appointed to do farm demonstration work among white farmers in what was then a heavily segregated state, while T.M. Campbell was appointed to carry out similar demonstration work on behalf of black farmers.
Three years later, Knapp drafted an agreement with then-API President C.C. Thach and Experiment Station Director and API Professor J.F. Duggar by which Extension work through the public schools in Alabama would be carried out jointly by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and API. This agreement formed the basis for similar agreements with land-grant institutions in other states
The plan provided for a “demonstration expert,” employed by the U.S Department of Agriculture and jointly selected by Bureau of Plant Industry and API, who, under Knapp’s direction, would be charged with carrying out the work of both agencies. The Bureau of Plant Industry was to provide the salary and travel expenses for the expert, while API would provide office space and an additional $300 for clerical assistance.
This demonstration expert was entrusted with a wide range of responsibilities including providing agricultural demonstration in the public schools, before boys clubs and through other effective ways; advising public school administrators on appropriate courses of agricultural courses of study; encouraging the formation of school gardening work; and assisting the Experiment Station with farmer institutes and short courses. The demonstration expert also was expected to cooperate closely with the demonstration agents throughout the state and to attend their meetings. And while he was made a professor of Extension in API’s School of Agriculture and selected in the same manner as other faculty members, he was prohibited from teaching regular coursework at the institution. Also, while he was to serve as a special agent representing the U.S. Department of Agriculture under Knapp's supervision, he was also expected to work closely with Experiment Station Director J.F. Duggar, assisting with that division’s outreach efforts.
Franklin County native Luther Duncan, a 1900 API alumnus, was selected for this role.
By 1910, there were 37 agents at work in 41 Alabama counties, though operating under the USDA. Even so, the salaries of many of these employees were supplemented by county funding — a practice that would distinguish formal Cooperative Extension work for the next century.
Read more about this topic: History Of The Alabama Cooperative Extension System
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