[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 46 (Thursday, March 16, 2017)]
[House]
[Page H2087]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               PENN STATE EXTENSION IS A VALUABLE SERVICE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Thompson) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commend 
the efforts of Penn State Extension, which is an educational network 
that gives the people in Pennsylvania's 67 counties access to the 
university's resources and expertise, especially its agricultural 
resources as a land-grant university.
  Cooperative extension services began in 1914. The Smith-Lever Act 
established a system of cooperative extension services connected to the 
land-grant universities in order to inform people about the current 
developments in agriculture, home economics, public policy and 
government, leadership, 
4-H, economic development, coastal issues, and many other related 
subjects. It helped farmers learn new agricultural techniques by the 
introduction of home instruction.
  Since its inception, it has been focused on informal, noncredit adult 
continuing education. Thus, cooperative extension is not a service, but 
a scholarly content-driven educational mission of the university. This 
program is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, State, and 
county governments. Through these county-based partnerships, Penn State 
Extension educators, faculty, and local volunteers work together to 
share unbiased, research-based information with local residents.
  Penn State Extension can help you become a master gardener. It helps 
teach families how to prepare and preserve food safely. It can help you 
learn about how to start a home-based business or how to properly 
prepare tax forms. Penn State Extension helps individuals, families, 
businesses, and communities throughout Pennsylvania with information 
and a broad range of educational programs.
  Everyone in the community can tap into the assets and information of 
our major research university, and there are numerous ways to learn. 
You can attend an educational event, take an online course, read a 
publication, or speak face-to-face with an extension educator. There is 
no shortage of learning opportunities with Penn State Extension.
  Mr. Speaker, this is just one way that Penn State is extending 
knowledge and improving the quality of life for all Pennsylvanians. The 
programs are very localized and touch every county in the State through 
21 separate districts. Extension is particularly helpful to farmers and 
those involved in the agriculture industry, which is Pennsylvania's 
number one economic driver.
  Whether you are a beginning farmer or you have a few years under your 
belt, it is good to know you are not in the farming world alone. 
Extension activities can help connect you with others to share ideas, 
trials, and tribulations. In fact, Federal cooperative extension 
programs have helped more than 137,000 farmers stay in business just 
since 1985. Without cooperative extension and the underlying research, 
researchers have estimated that the country would have lost 28 percent 
more farmers than those who actually left agriculture.
  Who would feed us? Who would provide that food, fiber, building 
materials, even forms of energy that our farmers and farm families do 
today?
  By design, extension is locally directed and responsive to the needs 
of local communities. I am grateful that Penn State is one of those 
land-grant universities and can offer this service to the public. It 
helps keep our local farmers abreast of the most up-to-date information 
that impacts the industry and impacts the lives of families. It helps 
promote lifelong learning and provides invaluable support and 
assistance to our communities. That is something for which we can all 
be very proud.

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