CSREES Overview
The Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) is an agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), part of the executive branch of the Federal Government. Congress created CSREES through the 1994 Department Reorganization Act, by combining the USDA’s Cooperative State Research Service (CSRS) and Extension Service (ES) into a single agency. This move united the research, education, and extension portfolios of both agencies and consolidated their expertise and resources under one leadership structure.
CSREES is one of four USDA
agencies that make up its Research, Education,
and Economics (REE) mission area. The other
three agencies are:
The USDA-REE agencies provide
federal leadership in creating and disseminating
knowledge spanning the biological, physical,
and social sciences related to agricultural
research, economic analysis, statistics,
extension, and higher education.
CSREES' unique mission is
to advance knowledge for agriculture, the
environment, human health and well-being,
and communities by supporting research, education,
and extension programs
in the Land-Grant University System and
other partner organizations. CSREES doesn't
perform actual research, education, and
extension but rather helps fund it at the
state and local level and provides program
leadership in these areas.
CSREES' targeted areas of
interest—its 60 identified programs—are
grouped in the following National
Emphasis Areas:
CSREES' two key mechanisms
for accomplishing its mission of "advancing
knowledge" are:
- National
program leadership.
We help states identify and meet
research, extension, and education
priorities in areas of public concern
that affect agricultural producers,
small business owners, youth and
families, and others.
- Federal
assistance. We provide
annual formula grants to land-grant
universities and competitively granted
funds to researchers in land-grant
and other universities.
CSREES collaborates or has
formal working partnerships with
many institutions and individuals. Our
key partners are the institutions of higher
learning making up the Land-Grant University
System. However, we also partner with other
federal agencies, within and beyond USDA;
non-profit associations; professional societies;
commodity groups and grower associations;
multistate research committees; private
industry; citizen groups; foundations;
regional centers; the military; task forces;
and other groups.
CSREES and its partners focus
on critical issues affecting people's daily
lives and the nation's future. The advanced
research and educational technologies we
support empower people and communities
to solve problems and improve their lives
on the local level.
We respond to quality-of-life
problems such as:
- Improving agricultural productivity
- Creating new products
- Protecting animal and plant health
- Promoting sound human nutrition and
health
- Strengthening children, youth, and
families
- Revitalizing rural American communities
We do this through an extensive
network of state, regional, and county
extension offices in every U.S. state and
territory. These offices have educators
and other staff who respond to public inquiries
and conduct informal, noncredit workshops
and other educational events. You're connected
to this system—which is now 90 years
old—through your nearest extension
office, which provides answers to commonly
encountered problems through educational
materials (print, video, CD), Web-based
information, the telephone, and other means.
With support from more than
600,000 volunteers, 4-H—USDA's 105-year-old
youth development program administered
through CSREES—engages more than
6.5 million young people every year and
teaches them life skills through hands-on
learning and leadership activities.
Through all of these activities, CSREES impacts the lives of millions of Americans each day. |
