Do you recognize the title of this Footnote? The entire phrase is actually “Jenny and Me was like peas and carrots.” Does that help? That phrase was uttered in the movie, Forrest Gump. That phrase could also apply to county agricultural schools and the extension service for 60+ years in Massachusetts.
A couple of years ago I received an email from Jack Britt, retired Vice President for Agriculture in the University of Tennessee System. He was inquiring about the perceived “competition” or “tension” between vocational agriculture and the extension service. I responded with the “It’s Complicated” Footnote on 6/16/2023.
Now that we are visiting the state of Massachusetts on our Footnote journey, we might learn something new by revisiting Jack’s question. Because of the recent budget cuts coming from Washington DC this might be a timely topic.
Early Agricultural Schools in Massachusetts
Last week we learned that Smith’s Agricultural School in Northampton was the first agricultural school in the state (1908) and was also the birthplace of Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) programs. It did not take long for other agricultural schools to appear in Massachusetts.
In addition to adding agriculture to the offerings in 14 regular high schools, three County Agricultural Schools were created in Massachusetts in the 1910s. They were Bristol County Agricultural School (September 1913), Essex County Agricultural School (October 1913) and Norfolk County Agricultural School (October 1916). See Figure 1. It should be noted that all three county agricultural schools opened prior to the passage of the Smith-Hughes Act and all three schools implemented the home-farm cooperation plan described in last week’s Footnote.
Figure 1. News Articles About Establishing County Agricultural Schools in Massachusetts.
Early Extension Work in Massachusetts
Extension work in Massachusetts started well before the passage of the Smith-Lever Act of 1914 which established a nationwide system of agricultural extension. In 1908 club work was started in Hampshire county under the direction of William Hart, Professor of agricultural education at the Massachusetts Agricultural College. He sent five seed potatoes to any boy or girl in the county who would grow them according to instructions and report the yields. More than 500 boys and girls responded,
In 1910 Hart spoke to the Ashfield Grange about “Boys and Girls Agricultural Clubs.” Later that year he was responsible for the organization of the Massachusetts Home and School Garden Club. After the Smith-Hughes Act was passed in 1917 Hart devoted all his efforts to vocational agriculture.
After the provisions of the Smith-Lever Act were accepted in Massachusetts, a state law creating county boards of trustees for cooperative Federal, state and county extension was passed. Typically the extension office in a county was identified by the name “Farm Bureau.” We should not confuse this designation with the current Farm Bureaus that operate in many states (to learn more about extension work emanating from the Farm Bureaus check out the 10/11/2019 Footnote).
One provision of the Massachusetts extension law was that “no such board should be established in a county that maintained a country agricultural school” (Stimson and Lathrop, 1942, p. 192). This was to prevent overlapping or conflict of service in Essex, Bristol and Norfolk counties.
Basically the three county agricultural schools were to also operate as the extension service for the counties in which they were located. So “Farm Bureaus” were established in each of the three county agricultural schools. Stimson (1919, p. 363) writes:
The county agricultural schools maintain both farm bureau staffs and staffs for vocational agricultural education. The staffs for these schools include agricultural county agents, home-demonstration agents, and agricultural and home-making club leaders. The school specialists assist the farm bureau workers, and vice versa.
In Massachusetts, therefore, in the counties of Essex, Bristol, and Norfolk where there are such county schools, there is perfect teamwork.
Wherever county schools are maintained, the author is profoundly of the opinion that such unity and harmony of administration and instruction as the foregoing should be regarded as fundamental to economical and efficient expenditures of effort and of public funds.
In the 1960 era publication 60 Years of Cooperative Extension Service in Massachusetts, A History we find the following statements.
From its beginning in 1915, Extension Service in Bristol County has been a part of the County Agricultural School. P. 171
Norfolk County Farm Bureau, with Willard A. Munson as Extension Agent for both agriculture and boys’ and girls’ club work, started in 1915, having its office at the Court House in Dedham. It moved to the Norfolk County Agricultural School when it was built in Walpole a year later. The first director of the School, Frederick Kingman, was also county extension director. The name was changed in 1921 from Farm Bureau to the Extension Department of Norfolk County Agricultural School. P. 172
Essex County Extension Service has been connected continuously with the County Agricultural School, both being under the same director starting with Director Fred A. Smith. P. 176
A perusal of Newspapers.com found numerous articles about the extension activities originating from the county agricultural schools. See Figure 2 for one example.
Figure 2. The Boston Globe. September 3, 1952.
Two items in the Boston Globe, one in 1975 and one in 1976, further documents the duality of the agricultural schools and the Extension service. The 1975 item was advertising for a Chief Administrative Officer for the Norfolk Agricultural School AND for the Cooperative Extension Service. The 1976 article listed Extension offices in the area. Two of the entries identified the county agricultural schools and the Extension Service at the same location. (Essex and Norfolk) (See Figure 3).
Figure 3. From the Boston Globe. Left – May 25, 1975, Right, April 29, 1976
Times Do Change
The three original county agricultural schools in Massachusetts still exist today but they may have consolidated with other schools and/or changed their names.
- Bristol County Agricultural School is now Bristol County Agricultural High School.
- Essex County Agricultural School is now Essex North Shore Agricultural and Technical School but goes by Essex Tech.
- Norfolk County Agricultural School Is now Norfolk County Agricultural High School.
What has changed is the link between the schools and the extension service. During the 1980s Massachusetts, like numerous other states, was reexamining the structure of the extension service. Federal funding for extension work had steadily declined and the passage of Proposition 2 ½ in Massachusetts which limited budget increases was having a negative impact on the Extension service. In 1983 the state legislature moved funding and control of extension from the local level to the University of Massachusetts.
At about the same time a decision was made to go to a multi-county or regional system of organization for Extension. Today the University of Massachusetts has five extension regions but still has two county funded extension programs. They are:
- Western Massachusetts
- Central Massachusetts
- Northeastern Massachusetts
- Southeastern Massachusetts
- Cape & Islands
- Barnstable County
- Plymouth County
Figure 4. Extension Districts in Massachusetts
At some point in time the extension functions of the three county agricultural schools ceased to exist. My best guess would be sometime in the late 1970s or early to mid 1980s.
Concluding Remarks
For decades the three county agricultural schools in Massachusetts enjoyed a close symbiotic relationship with the Extension Service. It was like peas and carrots. It might be time to reestablish that relationship, not just in Massachusetts, but nationwide.
With the current events occurring in Washington, DC such as downsizing or attempting to abolish entire Departments, eliminating various services, and cancelling contracts and leases we might need to proactively work at reestablishing the linkages between Agricultural Education and Extension. Who knows, perhaps history will repeat. I can see Extension offices in our career and technical education centers. It would make sense. Perhaps the history in Massachusetts and the wisdom of Forrest Gump can point to the future.
References
Stimson, R. W. (1919). Vocational Agricultural Education by Home Projects. New York: The Macmillan company.
Stimson, R. & Lathrop, F. (1942). History of Agricultural Education of Less Than College Grade in the United States. Vocational Division Bulletin No. 217. Federal Security Agency. U. S. Government Printing Office.