The present-day set of research-teachingextension institutions serving U.S. agriculture and households have enjoyed relatively long lives. The leading institution is the land-grant university system with a legislatively mandated mission involving federal-state-local partnerships for research, education, and extension. The secondary institution is the USDA with the Agricultural Research Service and Economic Research Service engaged in agricultural research. The early political recognition that local climates, soils, and environments play an important role in determining the local research and extension needs of farmers and rural people enabled passage of the Land-Grant College Act of 1862, the Hatch Act for state agricultural experiment stations in 1887, and the Smith-Lever Act of 1913 for Cooperative Extension. These institutions had unusual designs that provided the capacity to evolve and change with local needs