Opinion: Here's To 150 Years of Land Grant Excellence

By Frank Giles|July 1, 2012

This year, land grant universities across the country are observing 150 years of service to our nation. Land grants came about with the passage of the Morrill Act in 1862.
The bill, signed by President Lincoln, created what would become 76 land grant institutions across the U.S. In our state, the University of Florida and Florida A&M are part of this prestigious club.

In January, Florida Grower featured a story on the history of land grants, which you can revisit for more details on how these schools came about. I wanted to personally use this page to congratulate our Florida land grants and all the others around the nation for crossing this milestone.
These schools were created so the common man could gain access to higher education at a time when only the wealthiest could afford the money or the time required to gain a college degree. They are emblematic of what has made America great.
It is no coincidence that land grants were established at about the same time as the economic engines in this country began to really fire on all cylinders.

As Jack Payne, senior vice president of UF/IFAS, tells me: “It was the transition from an agrarian society to the industrial age that was behind much of the land grants justification. At the time, 80% of the country’s citizens lived in rural areas and 60% were involved in agriculture. There was no way that the U.S. would be successful in the transition to the industrial age with most of its citizens involved in agriculture. So, one goal was to have a more mechanized and efficient agriculture to free up the U.S. population for industry. So it is the huge success of land grants across the country in plant breeding and later plant genetics, along with the mechanization of agriculture that also came out of these schools, that has made our agriculture the most efficient in the world with the cheapest food.”
And, think about all of the millions of people who have received an education at these schools and have gone out and done good and sometimes revolutionary work. These people have changed the world.
Today, there are about 3 million students in these schools enrolled each year and about a third of all bachelor and master degrees come out of land grant colleges. Looking at even higher education, 60% of all Ph.D.’s and 70% of all engineering degrees originate from land grant schools.

There’s been a lot of discussion lately about a college debt bubble and whether or not it is worth it for kids to amass huge student loan debts, especially in this lackluster economy. There might be an argument for this with some individuals and for some degrees — a degree in paleontology comes to mind. Sorry to all the dinosaur folks out there.

However, when you look at the tremendous accomplishments in driving innovation that have come from the land grant colleges, I’d argue pursuing a degree in agricultural-related fields at one of these fine schools will be rewarding for young men’s and women’s career paths. In addition, they’ll rightly take pride in having a part in feeding us all. In short, the world needs them.