Rickey Roberts told Marion Kiwanis members last week that people give him a blank look when they ask him what he does and he answers he’s an extension agent.

Roberts talked to members about the origin of extension programs from 1862 to now.

The Morrill Land Grant Act established universities that taught agriculture science in each state.

In 1887, the Hatch Act established a series of experiment stations to assist in teaching agriculture.

The Smith-Lever Act of 1914 established cooperative extension service to disburse information to people not in classrooms.

Marion County got its first extension agent in 1922, and its first 4-H club in 1926.

Now the county is considering forming a two-county extension district with Dickinson County.

If the district is formed, the two counties will have five extension agents.