The United States spends over 1 billion on Cooperative Extension annually. As a total system, we must make a difference, we must show results. It's the responsibility of the Extension Committee on Organization and Policy (ECOP) in cooperation with Extension Service-USDA to set a course for the Cooperative Extension System. Let me use a sailing metaphor to describe what it means to set a course for the total Extension System. The Cooperative Extension System (CES) is a fleet of individual sailboats on one side of a large lake. We want to get across the lake to bring desperately needed supplies to people on the other side. We know the basic direction we need to sail, but we can't set a straight course because weather conditions can change dramatically on a big lake. We may encounter storms, fog, other sailing vessels, or areas of windless calm, so we'll have to adjust our sails, our speed, and our direction accordingly. We won't sail in a straight line, but we'll maintain a basic direction. We won't all go at the same speed, and we may even sometimes lose sight of each other, but we're in radio communications, still moving together toward the other side of the lake. We don't have a precise landing point in mind when we reach the other side. We'll have to survey and inspect the shoreline as we get closer. Some will get there before others, doing the early exploratory work for those still out on the lake.
Patrick J. Borich (Fri,) studied this question.