Formal and Nonformal Instruction Delivered to Farmers by Adult Instructors, Secondary a Griculture Teachers, and Extension Agents

Numerous public and private organizations and agencies conduct adult agricultural education programs. Many of the public sector programs can be traced to the Smith-Lever and Smith-Hughes Acts enacted in 1914 and 1917, respectively, that created the Cooperative Extension System and provided federal funds for vocational-technical education in agriculture. Adult agricultural education programs that emanated from these two pieces of legislation experienced steady growth through the 1970s (Phipps & Osborne, 1989, p. 475). During the 1980s, however, competition between secondary and adult programs for funds and other resources resulted in fewer adult education programs being offered by secondary vocational agriculture teachers. In addition, the number of vocational agriculture teachers available to conduct adult education programs declined from 12,510 in 1980to 11,042 in 1986 (Craig, 1988, p. 11). Since the 1960s, several states have also reduced vocational agriculture teacher contracts from 12 months to 9-10 months, thereby reducing the level of adult instruction provided by secondary programs.