Century of Agronomic Education

Journals published by the American Society of Agronomy (ASA) richly chronicle the growth and success of agronomic education. To commemorate the 100th anniversary of Agronomy Journal, we compiled this historical recognition of the aggregate effort of our predecessors and colleagues. Their talented and dedicated legacy has played a significant role in feeding the world while protecting soil and water resources. By consulting our past we seek wisdom for the future, knowing that educational challenges of equal significance wait. The first volume (1909) included an article on instruction in soil physics and approximately 650 more education articles have since appeared. Most early articles focused on soils and crops course descriptions and their need for standardization. Then emphasis switched to teaching methods, aids, philosophies, student characteristics, evaluation, and curricula. Contributions from land-grant institutions have been most numerous, but other sources are becoming more common. The number of articles has steadily increased, as has author collaboration on articles, growing from only about 10% in early years to about 70% in recent editions. We hope our abbreviated summary of the past stimulates you into consulting the writings of your esteemed predecessors and that you find validation of your efforts toward making a difference in some future agronomic record. As global pressures increase the demands on agronomic education, history may provide a pattern for success. Past achievements suggest that agronomic education is well-founded and can be expected to impact the next century of learning as capably as it did its first century.