11.9. THE AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION MODEL
One government agency that has been extremely successful in technology transfer of research results in the past is the Agricultural Extension Service. The approach used by the Agricultural Extension Service is commonly called "The Agricultural Extension Model," which consists of three main components (Rogers, 1983, p. 159):
A research subsystem, which conducted agricultural research. This was a cooperative effort of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the 50 state agricultural experiment stations.
County extension agents, who worked as change agents with farmers, and other rural people at the local level.
Once an agricultural innovation reached an individual, via the county extension agent, horizontal transfer of the innovation took place through the peer networks.
The Agricultural Extension Service was established in 1914 "to aid in diffusing among the people of the United States useful and practical information on subjects relating to agriculture and home economics, and to encourage the application of same." Thus, the Agricultural Extension Service had a long and successful history of technology transfer. Unique among its characteristics was the fact that the budget for the extension service came from federal, state, and county governments (Rogers, 1983, p. 160).
Since federal agencies and industry are concerned about the lack of adequate mechanisms for transferring technology from the R&D groups to the users, it has been suggested that the agricultural extension model be replicated. However, the application of this model for other purposes has not been very successful.
What are the reasons for this? One has to look at the unique characteristics of agricultural research and this model. In this case, the farmer is an identifiable and unique target of research, sustained level of funding was available from the federal, state, and county governments, and there were over 70 years of history and experience in implementing this model. Many of these characteristics are not present in other technology transfer situations.