COOPERATIVE EXTENSIONSS URBAN EXPANSION - THE DEFAULT OF LEADERSHIP OR A RESPONSIVENESS TO CHANGING TIMES

In 1914, Congress established the Cooperative Agricultural Extension S ervice. This unique and complex educational system is a three-way coop erative relationship between the U.S. Department of Agriculture, land- grant colleges and universities, and several thousand county governmen ts. The Extension Service was created to disseminate scientific inform ation (generated at the land-grant institutions) to farmers and their families in order to improve agricultural production and the quality o f rural life. In recent years, however Extension's leadership has made a commitment to expand the system's operations in urban areas. This e xpansion has sparked an intense debate regarding the interpretation of Extension's mission. Using various approaches to statutory interpreta tion as an analytical framework, this article seeks to answer the ques tion, Is Extension's urban expansion a failure of leadership or a resp onsiveness to changing times?