For more than 100 years, Extension agents have been a go-to resource for Arkansas farmers, families and voters, providing research-based information on everything from crop production and pest control to canning, quilting and child care.
As early as 1905, there were 20 agents working across the state. Besides helping farmers and creating homemaker volunteer service groups, they established corn clubs, teaching boys to grow corn and get the highest yields. With the success of the boys clubs, 10 agents were hired in 1912 to start girls canning clubs, teaching the proper methods of food preservation, writes Janet B. Carson in HomeStyle.
Today, there is a county Extension office in each of the 75 counties in Arkansas with at least one agricultural agent and one family and consumer science agent. They are the local connection to the county’s citizens.
See tomorrow’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for more on this important service organization.