Virginia Cooperative Extension

“Virginia Cooperative Extension brings research-based knowledge and resources from Virginia’s land-grant universities, Virginia Tech & Virginia State University, to the people of the commonwealth to help them improve their lives.”

Overview

Understanding that knowledge is power, we place that power in the hands of Virginians and help them learn how to use it to improve the quality of their lives. Our Extension agents and specialists form a network of educators whose classrooms are the communities, homes, and businesses of Virginia, where they bring research-based solutions to the problems facing Virginians today.

To better utilize our resources, we form collaborations with hundreds of public and private partners and volunteers, who help us reach larger and more diverse audiences and also leverage the impact of our work.

Extension is part of the National Institute for Food and Agriculture, an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture, and is further supported through a cooperation among local, state and federal governments in partnership with tens of thousands of citizens, who, through local Extension Leadership Councils, help design, implement, and evaluate our needs-driven programs.

We are a dynamic organization that stimulates positive personal and societal change, leading to more productive lives, families, farms, and forests as well as a better environment.

Virginia Cooperative Extension programs are delivered through a network of faculty at two universities, 107 county and city offices, 11 agricultural research and Extension centers, and six 4-H educational centers. Our system incorporates the expertise of faculty in Virginia State University's College of Agriculture, the Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, College of Natural Resources and Environment, Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, and the Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station.

At Virginia State University

Virginia State University is an 1890 land-grant institution. The 1890 land-grant institutions are historically black universities that were established under the Second Morrill Act of 1890. NIFA's 1890 land-grant institutions programs are intended to strengthen research, extension and teaching in the food and agricultural sciences by building the institutional capacities of the 1890 Institutions.

Extension specialists at Virginia State University specifically focus on providing educational programs and tools, expert advice and a wealth of dependable answers to enrich the lives, the land and the economy of Virginia’s limited-resource individuals, families and communities.

The 1890 land-grant system consists of the following 19 universities: Alabama A&M, Alcorn State University, Central State University, Delaware State University, Florida A&M University, Fort Valley State University, Kentucky State University, Langston University, Lincoln University, North Carolina A&T State University, Prairie View A&M University, South Carolina State University, Southern University, Tennessee State University, Tuskegee University, University of Arkansas Pine Bluff, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Virginia State University and West Virginia State University.

What we do?

Provide educational programs to individuals, families, organizations, and communities in three broad areas of:
Provide prompt access to unbiased, objective, research-based information and educational programs through an innovative network of human and technological resources
Collaborate with public and private partners to better utilize our resources, enhance our effectiveness, and reach a more diverse audience
Partner with citizen-led Extension Leadership Councils throughout the state to identify local issues

2019 Impact Statements

2016 impact statements

2017 impact statements

2015 impact statements