Origins of 4-H in Virginia

S-86

F. Southall Farrar, farm demonstration agent for Southside Virginia, organized the state's first corn clubs for boys in 1909. Such clubs, a feature of the nation’s emerging agricultural extension movement, had originated in the Midwest to promote progressive farming methods and improve rural life. Farrar’s initial recruits, 100 Dinwiddie and Chesterfield County boys, each grew one acre of corn and, on average, outproduced local farms by more than three times. In 1910 Ella Agnew established the first canning clubs for Virginia girls. By the early 1920s, these organizations for children, administered by Virginia Cooperative Extension after 1914, evolved into 4-H clubs.

Department of Historic Resources, 2014

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References/Bibliographic Citation:

History of Virginia Cooperative Extension: http://www.ext.vt.edu/about/history.html J. D. Eggleston, “An Appraisal of Extension Work in VA”, in Extension Work in Virginia, 1907-1940: A Brief History (Blacksburg, 1941), 7-29. J. R. Hutcheson, “Virginia’s Extension Pioneers,” in Extension Work in Virginia, 1907-1940: A Brief History (Blacksburg: Epsilon Sigma Phi, 1941), 3-6. Robert Ray Meadows, “History of Virginia’s 4-H Camping Program: A Case Study on Events Leading to the Development of the 4-H Educational Centers” (Ph.D. diss, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State College, 1995). Virginia Cooperative Extension Service and Epsilon Sigma Phi, College of the Fields: Highlights of the Virginia Cooperative Extension Service, 1914-1980 (Blacksburg: 1987).