The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1922-10-05
COUNTY AGENT A BIG ASSET TO
AGRICULTURE AND PUBLIC
AS A WHOLE
By Geo. A. Starring, Secretary 8. ID.
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 IL.
South Dakota would not be the state
she is today were Ii not for the extern
sion work carried on by county agents
who take to the farms the practical
results obtained from the agricultural
college and experiment station, and
take from farm to farm the best farm
ing practices of individual farmers.
Many farms are very practical expert
nient stations without realizing that
fact.
Ten Years Of Progress
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
With but a single purebred livestock
breeders association and no livestock
shipping associations, South Dakota
ten years ago was vastly different than
today.
Ten years ago there were no pure
bred seed associations: no alfalfa seed
marketing association; no certified
potato 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 reclaim
ed 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
and use of better drainage systems
and farm and home conveniences;
have induced 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 had good
success with an improved variety of
grain, the county agent carries the
information 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 variety.
The county agent has a harder job
than the county doctor. He must
swallow lots of grief and be cheerful
about il. He gets many rebluffs but
doesn't get discouraged. He Is hu-
man and therefore not beyond making
occasional mistakes. 1t is well to add,
also, that he must depend upon having
an active experiment station and agrl-
| cultural college for technical guild
ance. With his W 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 or mystery about
him, and that his suggestions are bas-
ed upon practical tests of the college
plus practical proofs on various farms.
Work Growing Rapidly
Probably the best indication that
farmers appreciate the county agent
is the fact that whereas there were
| only three county agents in the state
in 1914, now as counties employ coun-
Nv agents. The growth has not been
spasmodic. BY years the increases
have been as follows: 3 agents in
1914. 9 in 1915, IL in 1916, IA in 1917,
16 in 1918, 80 in 1919, Al in 1920. As
in 1921 and As in 1922.
This increase in the employment of
county agents has developed in spite
of the great effort being made to cut
down taxes by eliminating unneces
sary expense Farmers therefore
consider the county agent an invest
ment rather than an expense. Fur
Their. they have discovered that the
elimination of a county agent would
not decrease taxes, because the x
pcnse of conducting his Office would
merely be shifted to some other fund.
The cost of county agent work runs
from only 25 cents to rs cents per
quarter section of land, an infinitesi-
NAL amount as compared to the good
results secured.
There has been an organized effort
On the part of certain interests" to
kill off county agent work because
farmers are learning too much" The
Farm Bureau believes in the county
| araut hecausa he has hppu for the
wholesome upbuilding of farm life
and In doing so he has benefited the
whole public which in the final anal
ysis will progress or recede as agri-
culture prospers or decays.