BUTLER/CUNNINGHAM

This site will change from time to time. Basic organization will remain constant.

click here to contact Mike Polioudakis, site developer

polioej@acesag.auburn.edu

Level 2

AL Ag Facts:

Govt Support

Selection of Similar Pages

Please see the page on US Agricultural facts for some papers about the level of extension and other services, and about concentration in agriculture. You can access it from the "Home Page" drop-down menu above.

Anyone interested in this topic should visit the Alabama Cooperative Extension Services (ACES) at www.aces.auburn.edu

Extension services all around the US did a phenomenal job of modernising agriculture and teaching new techniqes since they first began to become widespread in the 1930s. Since that time, in some regions of the country, agriculture has declined and/or changed character much (away from traditional row crops), the target markets have changed (more specialty markets in urban areas), and farmers have become adept at finding their own information (as on the Internet). Good modern extension has changed too, and continues to provide relevant modern services.

The first button to the left produces a map of the general numbers of extension agents (or their full-time equivalents [fte]) in the various states as of 1996. Of the four categories of numbers of agents, Alabama falls into the category of second-to-most, the same category as most of the more-heavily farmed Midwest. The second button goes to a slightly updated map on a site from the USDA, along with more detailed information on extension and with several useful links. The third button goes to a paper by a team at the USDA ERS, led by Mary Ahearn, on the impacts of extension work over time in the US.