Notes that farm papers, under financial strain along with their readers, are "sticking to their job of trying to help matters to mend." Says that the educational work of the colleges and experiment stations through local papers comes directly into the field formerly covered by farm papers, but "affords only a fraction of the service a live farmer wants. There is no displacing a good farm journal." Suggests that scientists should recognize the importance of the farm press in their contacts with the public.
The report notes that many college operated radio stations have experienced restricted operations during the past year. "Those institutions fortunate enough to have a satisfactory place in the air are furnishing a valuable service and should safeguard their present allotments by sound program development. Commercial stations offer a broad and increasing opportunity for the college information services to reach thousands of their people through a medium so important in the present day scheme of things as to demand careful consideration."
"The agricultural college editors stand at a very strategic point in the field of agricultural leadership. Through them the productive research of our laboratories may become articulate. As interpreters, they are liaison officers between the scientist and the farmer. The future of agriculture depends largely upon the quality of this interpretative process."
Brief summary of a talk by W. P. Kirkwood, University of Minnesota, at 1931 AAACE convention, Corvallis, Oregon.. American Association of Agricultural College Editors.
Reports results of a national survey among experiment station editors about their present information organization and their suggestions about how they would like their present setup changed for more efficient operation. Seventy-eight percent cast their vote for a coordinated setup (involving agricultural research, extension and possibly resident instruction). Fifty-four percent of respondents operated currently in a coordinated setup and like it; 24 percent operated in a decentralized arrangement but wanted to change.
Author observes that agricultural college editors have an inferiority complex. "I am firmly convinced that the general level of the output of the editorial offices is far higher than that of many of the other departments with which you work."
