The Extension Service and Public Policy

If the United States is to have a foreign agricul tural policy which is consistent with our over-all foreign eco nomic policy it may be necessary to find some simultaneous solutions to our current farm problems. The Co-operative Ex tension Service is uniquely equipped to meet the challenge of providing a firm educational base for facilitating adjustments needed in American agriculture and also for a consistent foreign agricultural policy. But meeting this challenge will not be easy. The Extension Service and probably the whole land-grant in stitution would face a major reorientation of the extension educational program. Emphasis and support would have to be shifted from preoccupation with the technology scientific re search has made possible to a much broader program of educa tion designed to help society manage social and economic change. Whether extension can rise to this challenge may determine whether the United States can have a consistent foreign agricultural policy.