Town of Chenango, NY (WBNG Binghamton) The Cornell Cooperative Extension is celebrating its 100th birthday by recognizing the accomplishments of John Barron.
His work in Broome County helped farmers across the country.
"John Barron Day is basically a day where we're getting together to recognize that the farm bureau and the Cornell Cooperative Extension have been in existence for over 100 years and it was here in Binghamton in 1911 that a phenomenon was started that swept across the county," said President of the New York Farm Bureau Dean Norton.
He grew up on a farm in New York State and graduated from Cornell University.
When railroad companies and the Federal Department of Agriculture wanted to address the problem of farms going out of business, Barron took charge.
That phenomenon started with the work of John Barron.
"Some of his tasks were going out to the farmers and just helping them be better farmers, whether it be learning how to fertilize better, or seed better business summaries," said Norton.
Today, members of the Cooperative Extension honor Barron at the rock where he held his first farm bureau meeting.
The rock sits outside of the HSBC branch on Upper Front Street.
Barron's grandson joined the celebration.
"I'm still a farmer myself and farm the land that he owned so It's pretty touching really," said John's Barron's grandson, Nathaniel Barron.
He is a dairy farmer in Ossian.
"My dad remembers him and said he was a really nice man, as far as a father goes, and what I've read about him, he could really speak to farmers at that time which was probably really tough," said Barron.
"In 100 years we've just made so much progress. Yields are very high, our industry in New York State is doing extremely well and so we're just proud to have that first county agent and have this site here to be able to commemorate," said Cornell Cooperative Extension's Helene Dillard.
While Cornell Coopeative Extension continues to work with farmers, its outreach has expanded.
It also works energy and environment, nutrition and health, and family and community development.
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