Real Voices from the Montana Extension Service

Like its counterparts around the nation, Montana State University’s Agricultural Extension Service celebrated its one-hundredth anniversary last year. In 1914 Congress passed the Smith-Lever Act for the purpose of “extending the knowledge and research being conducted at the Land Grant Colleges and the Ag Experiment Stations to farmers and other residents of the nation.” Today, MSU’s extension service operates seven research stations around the state and offers programs focusing on youth development (including the iconic 4-H program), crops and livestock, community development, gardening, home and family, and energy. In this “Real Voices” panel, retired extension agents discuss their memories of the extension service, the difference the service has made to Montana communities, and the role the service can play as it enters its second century.