266 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE 



Upon receiving the full list of programs from the various county 

 agents the State supervisors were able to check up and advise in both 

 subject matter and balance of these programs. Several changes were 

 made as a result of suggestions from the State office. Aside from the 

 assistance which could be directly rendered agents through this service, 

 the State office was able to so arrange specialists' schedules as to make 

 it possible for the agents to carry out their programs and at the same 

 time make more efficient use of the specialists' time. 



If the number of communities, in which County Agents in Michigan 

 have consulted some of the leading farmers concerning the agricultural 

 problems and a plan formulated to carry on some particular line of 

 work, leading to the solution of these problems, could be considered 

 communities in which programs have been developed, it could be safely 

 said that every county in Michigan has made progress in the develop- 

 ment of community programs and at least 600 communities have pro- 

 grams adopted according to this plan. 



We have maintained that the working out of a community program 

 should be a development process, rather than a spontaneous one. We 

 believe it to be a mistake to try to work along too many lines in a county. 

 Also, that a recognized job should precede the organization necessary 

 to carry it out and that no more organization should be formed than 

 necessary to do the work at hand. We believe each job undertaken 

 should be of such a nature that progress on it could be measured and 

 understood by the average farmer of a community. 



An example of the development of a community program may be 

 seen in reviewing the extension work which has been done in the com- 

 munity surrounding the village of Panna', in Jackson county. Ten years 

 ago last Fall the first bushel of Rosen Rye to be sent out from the College 

 Experiment Station went to a farm in that community ; due to the per- 

 sistent efforts of the extension department in promoting the Crop Im- 

 provement Association, the entire community is now growing Rye of 

 that variety. In fact, a survey of the situation taken through the 

 local elevators show that over 95 per cent of the rye grown in this county 

 in 1922 was Rosen. The benefits derived from this variety of rye paved 

 the way for other pedigreed grains, such as Wolverine Oats, Red Rock 

 Wheat and Robust Beans. The introduction of pedigreed grain in this 

 particular community proved of great advantage to the county agent, 

 when that branch of extension work was introduced in this county. A 

 Co-operative Livestock Shipping Association was organized and shortly 

 afterwards a co-operative elevator was also organized. This was fol- 

 lowed by the organizing of a Community Club, which included both Rural 

 and Urban people and dealt with problems which were of mutual inter- 

 est. While the Extension Department had no direct connection with 

 the forming of this organization, the fact that the farmers had been 

 previously brought together into the other organization mentioned, 

 doubtless, paved the way to the Community Club and it was this last 

 named organization which was induced to become actively interested in 

 the promotion of the county-wide Tuberculin Test on cattle. It is in- 

 teresting to note that it was in this community that the area plan was 

 started in controlling Bovine Tuberculosis in the county. After the 

 county-wide Tuberculin Test had been put across a Cow Testing Asso- 



