Birthplace of Cooperative Extension

In 1903, the nation's first cooperative agricultural extension program was launched when Iowa State professor Perry Holden, a group of farmers in Sioux County, and the county's board of supervisors created a plan for educating farmers about improving seed corn. This massive effort included demonstration farms, farmer institutes, and special "seed corn exhibit trains" traveling from town to town on Iowa's railroads. Cooperative Extension nationwide is the result of this model of support and funding.

Photo Credit: Iowa State University

Submitted by

Bryan Arnold

@nanowhiskers