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A short history of a long agricultural tradition
BY JAMES JACENICH • STAFF WRITER
MONTEREY - The roots of the Virginia Cooperative Extension date back to the first land-grant colleges established by the Morrill Act of 1862. Southern states were added to the list of states having land-grant universities in 1890. The land-grant institutions started as centers of higher education established for the benefit of the people of each and dedicated to agriculture and technology.
• The Hatch Act of 1887 established agricultural experiment stations at the land-grant colleges.
• Seaman Knapp established the first demonstration farm in 1903 in Texas. In 1904, the Farmers Cooperative Demonstration Work was organized in the Bureau of Plant Industry, U.S. Department of Agriculture.
• W.C. Stalin became the first county agriculture agent in Terrell, Texas in 1906.
• T.O. Sandy of Burkeville became Virginia's first state agent in 1907.
• The first "corn clubs" in Virginia were organized in 1909 in Dinwiddie and Chesterfield counties.
• The first "girls' canning club" was formed in Nottoway and Halifax counties in 1910.
• The Smith Lever Act of 1914 established the cooperative extension and make it a partnership between the USDA and the land-grant universities.
• In 1925, nine Highland County citizens petitioned the county board of supervisors to hire a county agent for $1,500 a year (the state would pay half).Three of the citizens also promised to pay $5 each toward the agent's salary. But The Recorder in 1930 noted that Miss Belle Burke, the district home demonstration agent, helped welcome Miss Mary Bell (later Mrs. Mary Bell Blagg) as the first home demonstration agent serving 4-H and home economics. The first county agent serving agriculture was Frederick Holsinger who served from 1936-1942, according to the VCE office in Monterey.
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