Extension In Your Community

UMass Extension is a statewide organization based at UMass Amherst. Extension’s four programs are active in all regions of the Commonwealth. To see information on Extension’s involvement with each region, please click on each region on the map.

Cooperative Extension was formed nationally by an Act of Congress in 1914 as a three-way partnership. The three partners were the land-grant university in each state (such as UMass Amherst in Massachusetts), the federal government (through the United States Department of Agriculture), and local government (through the counties). True to this model, Extension in Massachusetts had county-funded offices in each county until the 1980s. At that time, the county system of government in Massachusetts began to have a reduced role. This change continued until many of the counties ceased to exist as governing entities in the state. Notable exceptions to this were, and are, Barnstable County, on Cape Cod, and Plymouth County, in nearby southeastern Massachusetts. However, for much of the state, responsibility for funding local Extension efforts has shifted to the state and the University of Massachusetts.

Much of Extension’s work in local communities is part of larger statewide projects conducted by one or more of Extension’s four programs. Local offices now tend to be focused on one program or project rather than on the full suite of programs found in past decades in the general county-based offices. You can see more about these efforts by clicking on the sections of the map on this page as well as by exploring the four programs themselves.