Entomology at the Land Grant University: Perspectives from the Texas A&M University Department Centenary

8. Taking the University to the People: The Changing Role of Extension Entomology

C  Taking the University to the People The Changing Role of Extension Entomology
 .  Texas Cooperative Extension Texas A&M Research and Extension Center Dallas Teaching, research, and extension, these are the missions of the Department of Entomology. While the nature of teaching and research are well understood and indeed practiced by both students and faculty within the department , extension activities and programs are less familiar to most. This is due in part to the limited exposure to extension of many undergraduate and graduate students in and outside the classroom. Outside the classroom, faculty and graduate students have few opportunities to interact with extension entomologists as most of them are based at Texas A&M Research and Extension Centers, and County Extension Offices across the state. Although extension programs may at times be somewhat invisible within the department , they are aimed directly at educating the public about entomology in general, and providing practical solutions to entomological problems in particular. Before discussing how the role of extension entomology is changing, and in keeping with the historic theme of the Centennial Celebration, I would first like to briefly review the early history of the Cooperative Extension Service . Texas can claim the birthplace of the Cooperative Extension Service, now recognized nationally and internationally as a premier public agency of technology transfer and adult education. Also, this history is of entomological interest because the invasion of the cotton boll weevil (Anthonomus grandis Boheman) into Texas and the southeast, and the associated economic problems, were the catalysts for the creation of the Cooperative Extension Service. Texas, the Boll Weevil, and the Origins of the Cooperative Extension Service The Cooperative Extension Service is part of the land grant heritage initiated in  with the passage of the Morrill Act by the U.S. Congress. Each state was provided , acres to be used to establish a college for the purpose of teaching agriculture and the mechanical arts. Texas A&M was organized as the land grant university for the state of Texas. The architects of the land grant system recognized that lives could be changed for the better through education; they recognized that education is a lifelong process, and that access to knowledge is essential to improving the quality of life. Twenty- five years later, the Hatch Act authorized each state to establish an Agricultural Experiment Station in conjunction with the land grant university to conduct research related to agriculture. Thus, by , the missions of teaching and research had been established at land grant universities in many states, including Texas A&M (Hutchison, ). The forces that would bring about the third mission, extension, were soon to converge in east Texas. At the turn of the century, early settlers had moved into and established farms in east and central Texas where cash income from cotton production provided the economic basis for many communities. Railroads were key to the economic viability of the area as they provided transport of cotton crops to markets, and railroad companies were keenly interested in bettering the plight of farmers along their routes. History records that F. B. McKay, general passenger and freight agent for the Texas Midland Railroad, heard of a new USDA program to establish model farms to show growers the most advanced agricultural practices. Mr. McKay wrote a letter to USDA offices in Washington to request that such a project be started somewhere along the Midland route in Texas. His letter fell on the desk of Dr. Seaman A. Knapp, special agent for the USDA in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Dr. Knapp, who was in charge of the model farm program, replied that no funds were available for such a project in Texas. Not to be discouraged, Mr. McKay replied that the Farmer’s Institute of Terrell, Texas, was interested in pursuing the idea and would be willing to underwrite any costs incurred. Dr. Knapp agreed to travel by train from Louisiana to meet with these Texas producers. The year was  (Hutchison, ; Anonymous, n.d.). Dr. Seaman Knapp had been a minister, president of a seminary, a farmer,        and a publisher before being elected president of the Iowa State Agricultural College in Ames in . However, two years later Knapp resigned his presidency and joined a private concern engaged in the agricultural development of the southwestern part of Louisiana. Here he was successful in encouraging hundreds of families from the Midwest to move to Louisiana to begin growing rice and other crops. One of his most effective methods...