The Advisory Council meets periodically to discuss rising issues in the State. The administrative officers of the Maryland Agricultural Experiment Station and Maryland Cooperative Extension sit on and attend a wide array of committees with the State's agricultural leaders. Such continuous contact with the agricultural leadership including the Maryland Secretaries of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment provides additional contact to keep research and education issues examined by the research and extension in the State's two land grant universities current. The groups include the Maryland Agricultural Commission, the Maryland Grain Producers Association, the Delmarva Poultry Industry, the Southern Maryland Agriculture Commission, the Maryland Association of Soil Conservation Districts and many other similar groups. The county level EAC's provide substantial input into the planning of programs at the local level for Maryland Cooperative Extension.
Membership is broad-based and diverse.
The EAC concept initiated in 1983 required that a diverse set of clients be selected to provide the stateholder input that is need to effectively direct MCE programs. EAC members are major contributors to these unit plans. The Extension Advisory Councils can also provide input into future planning for research and extension. In the development of a state plan of work in 1997, Maryland Cooperative Extension engaged conversation with a large number of its faculty and staff. This input sought to determine from their prospective the needs of local clients both in the then current education climate and in the five years that followed.