World Aquaculture 47 The role of the aquaculture demonstration project in the United States Maxwell H. Mayeaux1 Modern agricultural advances in the United States as seen in the late 19th through the 20th and into the 21st century are a direct result of the integration of science-based research linked through a network of trained professionals disseminating this new information directly to the farming community. This network, located in every county and parish throughout the United States, has provided an important segue between science-based advances in agricultural methods and their adoption. This system has evolved over time as technological innovations have forced us to accept new cultural paradigms, shaping a new society as populations grew and demographics changed. However, the modern-day Land Grant and Sea Grant university systems still have important roles to play as agents of change. This mission is accomplished via the conduct of targeted, basic and applied research linked to a network of trained extension professionals enabling two-way communication between researchers and the communities needing this new information. In the 21st century, the Extension mission has not changed. Educational programs that are timely, relevant, and provide science-based information help people change and improve their lives. Cooperative Extension and Sea Grant Marine Advisory agents are facilitators of two-way communication and because of their close ties to the agricultural and coastal communities, extension professionals serve as a liaisons to deliver research findings to clientele, communicate community needs back to the researchers and funding agencies and assist in their communications with representatives in Congress. Extension, the Internet and Aquaculture The Land Grant system, initiated by a series of legislative initiatives during the mid to late 19th and early 20th centuries, traditionally includes a Congressionally designated university (The 1862 and 1890 Morrill Acts) and corresponding Agricultural Experiment Station (The 1887 Hatch Act) that generally house the states’ Cooperative Extension Systems (The 1914 Smith-Lever Act). The National Sea Grant College Program was established by the 1966 National Sea Grant College and Program Act to increase the understanding, assessment, development, utilization and conservation of the nation’s ocean and coastal resources. Involving clientele in collaborative research projects are hallmarks of the Land Grant and Sea Grant programs. Seaman A. Knapp, generally regarded as the founder of the Cooperative Extension System, is quoted as saying: “What a man hears, he may doubt; what he sees, he may possibly doubt; but what he does himself, he cannot doubt.” He advocated on-farm demonstration of new agricultural advances directly to the American farmer although he was not the first in expounding the virtues of what is known today as “The Demonstration Project” (Pigg 1983). In the same vein, the American sage Benjamin Franklin was also quoted as saying, “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” So the idea of hands-on, experiential learning is hardly a new concept. Today, the legacy of Seaman Knapp lives on. U.S. Cooperative Extension and National Sea Grant Marine Advisory Service professionals continue to provide information and educational opportunities on progressive, science-based information to American farmers, fishermen and coastal communities. This is achieved by an organized system of farm and home demonstration agents located in every county and parish in the United States. But the world has changed. Many now depend on the Internet as a source for the information they seek. However, the sheer volume of information available via the World Wide Web and lack of review is increasingly becoming a hindrance to knowing what is fact and what is hype. Type any word into search engines such as Google™ and try to wade through the information overload. Although useful information can certainly be found, it is a challenge to discern what is factual information. Aquaculture, although not a traditional sector of agricultural production, has become mainstream. As such, there has been a major investment in research aimed at improving aquaculture production methods throughout the world. With new scientific developments occurring at an increasingly accelerated pace, extension professionals have been tasked with being the intellectual liaisons, so to speak, disseminating new information and increasingly, proposing opportunities to engage the public with new knowledge via increasingly technology-driven methodologies. As with the progressive development of agricultural systems in the late 19th and 20th centuries, modern research findings still need to be disseminated and demonstrated to improve adoption of new technologies by the aquaculture industry in the United States. This is part of the Land Grant and Sea Grant missions.
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