Today is Cooperative Extension's 110th birthday. The National Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA) website has a long narrative of Extension's history. Here is the introductory paragraphs which offer an excellent snapshot of how Extension began.
"Extension’s roots go back to agricultural clubs and societies, which 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.
The Smith Lever Act formalized extension in 1914, establishing USDA's partnership with land-grant universities to apply research and provide education in agriculture. Congress created the extension system to address exclusively rural, 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.
Extension's engagement with rural America helped make possible the American agricultural revolution, which dramatically increased farm productivity, allowing fewer farmers to produce more food."
In honor of the 110th year of Cooperative Extension, I wanted to share a few names of the people who have served as Agents in the Pender County Extension program in the last 110 years. The dates of employment of each County Director and Agent were collected from articles published in the Pender Voice, which are archived in the Pender County Library. So, there may be some discrepancies in the years the agents served and their titles. But this is as close to accurate as I have had time to research.
Pender County Extension's program started in 1914, at the same time as the US Extension program. Mr. G.H. Highsmith was the first County Agent, and newspaper articles show that he served for two, or possibly three years. He was followed by R.T. Melvin from 1917 to 1920, then J. R. Powell (1921-1922) and C.M. James (1922-1924). In 1925, W.H. Robbins became the County Agent, serving ten years from 1925 to 1935 before taking over as the director of the Penderlea Homesteads Program started by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
C.V. Morgan served for one year, followed by R.R. Rich from 1937 to 1948. Joe Honeycutt (the second longest-serving County Agent) took the reigns in 1949 and ran the Extension office and program until 1973.
Eva Logan was Pender County's first Home Demonstration Agent, with sporadic mention of Elizabeth Lemly, Georgia Piland and Nora Miller serving in this position in the 1920s and 1930s. Dorothy Howard (1942-42) preceded Francis Westin, later Francis Register, who served as both 4-H and Home Demonstration Agent from 1944 to 1952. John Wynne served as a 4-H Youth Agent from 1958 to 1987. Francis Heyer and Linda Lee served as the Home Demonstration Agents in the late 1950s and early 1960s before Peggy Casey took the reigns between 1963 and 1993. Jean Rawls was the last full-time Home Demonstration / Family and Consumer Science (FCS) Agent in Pender County, serving from 1994 to 2008, when funding for this position was eliminated. Attempts have been made to fill this program position with area FCS Agents in the last 16 years with limited success.
Concurrently between 1953 and 1973, the Negro Extension office opened, and the Assistant County / Farm Management Agents were W.T. Chaffin, Jr. (1953-61) and W.F. Walker (1962-1973). In 1974 records show that the Negro Extension office closed, and Mr. Walker took over the Extension program, running it until 1984. While the Negro Extension office was open, Rosetta Maxine Holmes served as the Home Demonstration Agent, with V.T. Maltsby (1957-62), F.E. Emory (1963-64) and D.H. Tilford (1965-66) serving as the Negro County Extension Agents.
William 'Bill' Jester was the County Agent from 1985 to 1988, followed by Whit Jones (1988-89), Mark Keene (1989-93), Dr. Sandra Maddox (1993-97), Mike Jones (1997-1999), James Parsons (2000), Wayne Batten (2001-2010) and then Mark Seitz (2010-present).
Today, the Pender County Extension office consists of three full-time Agents, one Administrative Assistant, a full-time Expanded Foods and Nutrition (EFNEP) Program Assistant and a part-time 4-H Program Assistant. The Agents and staff information can be found on the N.C. Cooperative Extension, Pender County Center website.
Working for Cooperative Extension is an honor and for many of us a mission. Helping people find research-based solutions to their day-to-day challenges forces all of us in Extension to be detectives, marketers, coaches, and leaders. It is both rewarding and for many of us it is the best job we could ever have.
On behalf of the Pender County Center staff, I would like to thank you for letting us serve you as your 'Agents'.
