Agricultural Consultants

In the late 18th century, President George Washington decided to establish a federal educational agency dedicated to assisting the nation's farmers. Washington's proposal eventually developed into what is now known as the Department of Agriculture.

In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln promoted the Morrill Act, which established land grant colleges. According to the law, every state that receives Senators and representatives is entitled to 30,000 acres of land. The land belongs to them as a part of their entitlement. The land was supposed to be sold, and the money generated from the sale was used to establish colleges focusing on agricultural and engineering education.

Once established, the state agricultural colleges were tasked with compiling enough data to develop a valuable farming curriculum for the American farmer. Under the Hatch Act of 1887, experimental stations were created. These agricultural laboratory settings gathered information regarding soils, crops, livestock, fruits, and machinery. They became sources of information for both agricultural colleges and farmers.

Land-grant colleges became essential resources for agricultural data and education. However, it soon became apparent that sending people into the field who were familiar with the farmers' work and who were educated in the agricultural sciences would be more effective than expecting farmers to leave their work or come from remote areas to attend college classes. Thus, the role of the farm consultant came into being.

The Cooperative Extension Service was developed and placed in operation in 1914 on a federal basis by the passage of the Smith-Lever Act. The service was opened to any state that wished to join the educational project cooperatively, and most states accepted the opportunity. Because of this, every state agricultural college in the nation today has an extension service as one of its major departmental classifications.

In 1994, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act created the CSREES, which expanded the research and higher education functions of the former Cooperative State Research Service and the education and outreach functions of the former Extension Service. In 2008, the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act caused CSREES to become NIFA, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture.