Tennessee County Commissioners' perception of the relevancy of the University of Tennessee Extension Agriculture Program

The University of Tennessee Extension (UTE) receives 15% of its funding from county governments (University of Tennessee Extension, 2021a). According to Blevins, Jayaratne, Bruce, Bradley, and Stumpf-Downing (2020), the relationship between Extension and county commissioners is vital to the success of county-based programming. Extension agents and specialists program the education services required for agriculture producers to qualify for State Department of Agriculture grants. This study assessed 60 county commissioners’ perception of UTE agriculture education programming efforts. Participants completed a modified version of the instrument utilized by Koon (2006) to assess state legislators’ perception of UTE. Findings suggested there were no differences in commissioners’ familiarity, perceived usefulness, and exposure with UTE agriculture education programs regarding rural and non-rural counties.