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FEBRUARY NEWS Cooperative Extension Turns 100 University farming research and education began under Woodrow Wilson O akland, Calif.—May 2014 will mark the 100th anniversary of the Smith-Lever Act, the legislation that created Cooperative Extension, a nationwide system of community-based education as part of each state's land-grant university. Cooperative Extension was started to help farmers, homemakers and young people use the latest university research. A century later, Cooperative Extension provides a real link between public universities and communities. Cooperative Extension advisors have been a vital help in improving viticulture as well as helping wine grape growers overcome a host of pests, diseases and climatic issues by applying university research. Rhonda Smith has been a Cooperative Extension farm advisor in Sonoma County, Calif., for almost 30 years. "In early days, most growers were small, independent farmers," she said. Now, most people Smith works with are employees of large corporations, many multinational. 20 W in es & V i ne s F E B R uary 20 14 Celebrating a centennial C ooperative Extension will be celebrating its 100th anniversary across California on May 8 by asking Californians to participate in research into three areas: ways to conserve water, growing food in their communities and counting pollinators. Celebrations also will be held at World Agriculture Day in Tulare, Calif., in February, during Ag Day in Sacramento in March and at Farm to Fork Day in the fall. Details: ucanr.edu. When Cooperative Extension started, farm advisors dealt with multiple crops, and the viticultural work and research was primarily focused on improving the culture of vines. Things soon changed. "Increasingly, the trials were associated with grapevine pests, especially exotic pests," Smith said. Until the passage of the Smith-Lever Act, there was not a consistent way of getting important research-based knowledge from the campuses out to the communities that needed this information. Sen. Hoke Smith of Georgia and Rep. Asbury Lever of South Carolina authored the legislation, and it created a historic partnership between land-grant universities and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Founded by USDA educator Seaman Knapp, this program was based on farmerled demonstrations and was popular and successful throughout the south. President Woodrow Wilson signed the SmithLever Act on May 8, 1914, and soon, each state's land-grant university was organizing Cooperative Extension, or formalizing existing efforts. —Paul Franson