Agricultural Education

Agricultural education was primarily a rural phenomenon in America. Since the formation of the Land Grant University System in 1862, agricultural education has served to increase the agricultural output of farmers while improving the lives of rural people and building rural communities. Agricultural education broadly includes education in (for purpose of career preparation) and education about (for the purpose of [Page 29]agricultural awareness or literacy) agriculture, food, and natural resources, as well as a multitude of subtopics related to families and communities. Agricultural education typically occurs within three different settings: postsecondary institutions, the Cooperative Extension Service, and schools. Formal, organized agricultural education in the United States was federally funded with the passage of the Morrill Land-Grant Act of 1862. Each state was endowed 30,000 acres ...