The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1922-10-05
COUNTY AGENT A BIG ASSET

BY Geo. A. Starring, Secretary South Dakota
Farm Bureau Federation.
The South Dakota Farm Bureau
Federation believes firmly in county
agent work, which means that a ma
jority Of the constructive and progress
sive farmers Of the state believe in it.
South Dakota would not be the
state she is today were it not for the
extension work carried on by county
teal results obtained from the agri-
cultural college and experiment sta
ton, and take from farm to farm the
best farming practices OF individual
farmers. Many farms are very prac-
tical experiment stations without re-
alizing that fact.
Just consider what has happened
during the last decade of county agent
work in South Dakota!
Ten years ago the agricultural cen
sus listed very few herds of purebred
hogs or cattle. Today, our state sells
much valuable breeding stock to other
states, as far west as the Pacific coast.
Livestock improvement has been one
of the chief concerns Of the county
agent.
Ten years ago our farmers were not
going about improving their crops and
livestock in an organized manner.
beeders association and no livestock
shipping associations, South Dakota
ten years ago was vastly different than
today.
Ten years ago there was no pure
bred seed associations, nor seed mar
keting association; no Certified" po-
tato associations, nor had much been
done effectively to promote the value
Of legumes as protein feeds and soil
builders. The county agents have had
an active part in promoting these.
Ten years ago there was little, if
any, organized fight against prairie
dogs and grasshoppers, while now,
largely through county agents guild
ance, thousands of acres are reclaimed
or saved each year.
Ten years ago our farmers did not
know they were feeding away a
wealth of feeds to boarder and Stacker
hens. Today, every farm community
in an agent county may receive in
structions how to Gull out the unpro
ductive fowls.
County agents have shown the value
, Nd ,,,~ 80 INt+1, I.a-~ -,-,tn-,
and farm home con~veniences; have in
duced their farmers to bring in dairy
cattle by the carload; have enlisted
the interest of thousands of boys and
girls in agricultural clubs.
The county agent has been a clear.
ing house of information among his
farmers. If John Smith has good sue
cess with an improved variety of grain,
the county agent carries the informa-
ton to all other farmers in the county
and urges them to follow suit. Very
likely, he was responsible in the first
place for Mr.. Smiths trial Of the var
iety.
The county agent has a harder job
than the country doctor. He must
swallow lots of grief and be cheerful
about it. He gets many rebuffs but
doesn't get discouraged. He is human
and therefore not beyond making &C.
casional mistakes. 1t is we'll to add,
also, that he must depend upon having
an active experiment station and ag-
ricultural college for technical guild
ance. With his own common sense
and that Of his cooperating farmers
under whose direction he works, he
has done a world of good, and will do
more when farmers learn that there
is no legerdemain OF mystery about
him, and that his suggestions are
based upon practical tests Of the col.
lege plus practical proofs on various
farms.
Probably the best indication that
farmers appreciate the county agent
is the fact that whereas there were
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