Federal, state, and county funding support for the overall Cooperative Extension effort continues to erode and certainly begs the question about the sustainability of our capacity to provide independent, research-based agronomic information to farmers in the U.S. Results from numerous grower surveys lead some to further question whether agronomic Extension will be necessary in the future given the ever-increasing reliance by growers upon the agronomic advice and recommendations provided by agri-businesses and private consultants. Beyond the question of fiscal sustainability for Extension, there is the equally if not more important philosophical question whether farmers' agronomic needs are best served by a healthy combination of public and private efforts in agronomic research and education.