Serving the Information Needs of Tomorrow's Farmers: Some Thoughts from an Extension Corn Guy.

Federal, state, and county funding support for the overall Cooperative Extension effort continues to erode and certainly begs the question about the sustainability of our capacity to provide independent, research-based agronomic information to farmers in the U.S. Results from numerous grower surveys lead some to further question whether agronomic Extension will be necessary in the future given the ever-increasing reliance by growers upon the agronomic advice and recommendations provided by agri-businesses and private consultants. Beyond the question of fiscal sustainability for Extension, there is the equally if not more important philosophical question whether farmers' agronomic needs are best served by a healthy combination of public and private efforts in agronomic research and education.