The Early Historyof Agricultureat Iowa State

Deans of Agriculture

Knapp Wilson Curtiss Kildee Andre

Kolmer Topel Ross Woteki Wintersteen

“Tama Jim” Wilson1852 Immigrates from

Scotland1855 Moves to Tama County1873-77 and 1883-85

U.S. Congress1890-97 Director Ag

Experiment Station and Dean of Agriculture

1897-1913 U.S.Secretary of Agriculture

The Wallace FamilyThe Wallace Family1823 John Wallace emigrated to U.S.

1836-1916 “Uncle” Henry Wallace ( to Adair County in 1876)

1866-1924 Henry “Harry” C. Wallace

1888-1965 Henry Agard Wallace

Seaman Knapp

Educator

“Tama Jim” WilsonPolitician/Educator

“Uncle” Henry Wallace

Magazine editor/minister

3 Great Iowa Agriculturists

Helping Each Other Out!1879-85 Knapp, Dean of Agriculture

1882 Knapp and Bessey write bill to establish Federal system of Agriculture

Experiment Stations

1885 Henry C. Wallace enrolls at Iowa State

1886 Knapp resigns and goes south

Helping Each Other Out!Helping Each Other Out!1887 Hatch Act (Research)

1888 Iowa Agriculture Experiment Station established

1888 Henry A. Wallace born

1890-97 Wilson Director of new Iowa Agriculture Experiment Station, Dean of Agriculture

Helping Each Other Out!1891 George Washington Carver enrolls in

Scientific agriculture at Iowa State

1892 Wilson invites Henry C. back to finish degree with promise to hire as dairy science faculty

1892 Henry A. is three-years old when family moves to Ames

1893 Henry C. and Curtiss start farm magazine

1894 Begins friendship with Henry A. Wallace

1894 Receives B.S.

1895 Carver and Wallace walks

1896 Carver receives M.S.

1896 Carver to Tuskegee

George Washington Carver

Wallace, Wilson, Knapp, Carver1896 McKinley elected president; Uncle Henry suggests

Wilson for U.S. Ag Secretary

1897 Wilson becomes Secretary of Agriculture

1902 Wilson appoints Knapp as Special Agent

1906 Knapp and Carver create first black

demonstration agent in U.S. at Tuskegee

“Uncle” Henry “Tama”Jim

Extension is Born1902 Uncle Henry Wallace attracts Perry Holden to

promote corn shows

1902 Curtiss becomes Dean of Agriculture

1903 First Cooperative Extension program

1906 Nation’s first Agricultural and Home Economics Extension Service at ISU

Extension History Maker

1906 Ralph Bliss heads Animal Science Extension

1914 Smith-Lever Act

1914 Bliss appointed Director of Iowa Cooperative Extension

Henry A. Wallace1910 Graduate of Iowa State

1910-30s Writer for Wallace’s Farmer

1924 Conducting statistics conferences with George Snedecor

1926 Pioneer Hybrid Seed Cornfirst employee – Raymond Baker

Henry A. WallacePublic Service

1933-40 Secretary of Agriculture

1940-44 U.S. Vice-President

1945-46 Secretary of Commerce

1948 Progressive Party candidate for President

USDA Location

Corner of Independence Avenue and 12th Avenue

October 4-8, 1999New USDA administrative complex, Beltsville Maryland

was named the George Washington Carver Center

Wallace Research Center

June 6, 2000Beltsville Agricultural Research Center

was named the Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agriculture Research Center

What’s in a Name?

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Organizational Chart

Secretary

Deputy Secretary

Natural Resources and environment

Farm and Foreign agricultural

services

Rural Development

Food nutrition and Consumer Services

Food Safety

Research, Education and

Economics

The Seed Corn Story

Adoption and Diffusion of Innovations

The Seed Corn Story

The Seed Corn Story

The Seed Corn Story

Agriculture Adoption Diffusion

1955 ABC Television program

1955 USDA National Seminar

From Iowa State to the Nation

From Agriculture to the PentagonLand Grant Impact

1957 Sputnik

1961 Berlin Crisis

1962 Cuban Missile Crisis -

Department of Defense

Need for fallout shelters

Federal Emergency Management Agency

Land Grant ImpactFrom Agriculture to the Health

System

Cancer and Public Health

1964 Smoking is harmful to health says Surgeon General

1965 Public Health Service implements pilot community studies

1970s American Cancer Society

1970s Centers for Cancer Control

Research Expenditures

Years 1997 2007

State Appropriations 32,882,882 31,581,983

USDA Formula 5,719.386 6,330,685

USDA Grants 4,556,383 10,008,123

Other Federal Grants 9,915,901 11,061,631

Other Grants 13,206,350 17,558,621

Product Sales 5,937,186 10,556,956

Total 72,218,088 87,097,939

Federal FundingFormula funds

Versus

National FundingCompetitive Grants

USDA Competitive GrantsNational Research Initiative

Grants Awarded to Iowa State

Year Total $$ Rank by $$ Total Grants ISU’s Rank by # Grant

1993 1,425,016 13 9 10

1999 4,988,155 1 29 1

2002 4,886,771 1 23 2

2006 3,535,500 13 12 9

Total Grant Expenditures 2007Rank State Total Scientist Years Total Grants $ Grants/Scientific year

1 Mississippi 100.3 40,430,000 403,091

2 Wisconsin 166.1 63,246,000 380,771

3 California 398.6 148,277,000 371,994

4 Michigan 185.9 61,438,000 330,490

5 Virginia 118.5 38,710,000 326,667

6 Iowa 147.7 38,629,000 261,537

Total Research Expenditures 2007

Rank State Total Agriculture Experiment Station $$

Scientist Years

Money/Scientific Year

Number of projects

1 California 271,357,000 398.6 680,775 927

2 Texas 158,350,000 256.5 617,349 417

3 New York 150,931,000 524.8 287,597 894

4 Florida 138,654,000 375.5 369,252 524

5 Indiana 110,715,000 323.1 342,665 349

6 Michigan 106,183,000 185.9 571,183 608

7 Wisconsin 105,191,000 166.1 633,299 597

8 North Carolina

102,769,000 207.4 495,511 488

9 Nebraska 92,190,000 177.5 519,380 302

10 Iowa 87,098,000 147.7 589,695 236

Research History Makers1894-1896

George Washington Carver -Horticulture

1915-1970 Elizabeth Hoyt -Economics Consumer Price Index

1930-1966 Jay Lush Animal Science Animal Breeding

1932-1962 Paul Errington -Animal Ecology Naturalist

Research History Makers

Credits• Gerald Klonglan, Ph.D.

• Emeritus Professor of Rural Sociology• Iowa State University

• College of Agriculture and Life SciencesE-mail: geraldk@isunet.net

• College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Communications Service

• Brenton Center for Agricultural Instruction and Technology Transfer

Prepared 2009