Seaman Asahel Knapp
| Seaman A. Knapp | |
|---|---|
Seaman A. Knapp
|
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| Born |
December 16, 1833 Essex County, New York |
| Died | April 1, 1911 (aged 77) Washington D.C. |
| Residence | Vinton, Iowa |
| Nationality | United States |
| Citizenship | United States of America |
| Children | Bradford Knapp Seaman Knapp II |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | agronomy |
Seaman Asahel Knapp (December 16, 1833 – April 1, 1911) was a Union College graduate, Phi Beta Kappa member, physician, college instructor, and, later, administrator, who took up farming late in life, moving to Iowa to raise general crops and livestock.
The first seeds of what would later become an abiding interest in farm demonstration were planted after he became active in an organization called “The Teachers of Agriculture,” attending their meetings at the Michigan Agricultural College in 1881 and the Iowa Agricultural College in 1882. Knapp was so impressed with this teaching method that he drafted a bill for the establishment of experimental research stations, which later was introduced to the 47th Congress, laying the foundation for a nationwide network of agricultural experiment stations.
Knapp later served as the second president of Iowa Agricultural College from 1883 to 1884, but his interest in agricultural demonstration work did not occur until 1886, when he moved to Louisiana and began developing a large tract of agricultural land in the western part of this state. He founded Vinton, Louisiana, naming the town after his hometown Vinton, Iowa.
Knapp could neither persuade local farmers to adopt the techniques he had perfected on his farm nor enlist farmers from the North to move to the region to serve collectively as a sort of educational catalyst. What he could do, he reasoned, was to provide incentives for farmers to settle in each township with the proviso that each, in turn, would demonstrate to other farmers what could be done by adopting his improved farming methods.
The concept worked. Northern farmers began moving into the region, and native farmers began buying into Knapp’s methods.
By 1902, Knapp was employed by the government to promote good agricultural practices in the South.
Based on his own experience, Knapp was convinced that demonstrations carried out by farmers themselves were the most effective way to disseminate good farming methods. His efforts were aided by the onslaught of the boll weevil, a voracious cotton pest whose presence was felt not only in Louisiana but also throughout much of the South. Damage associated with this pest instilled fear among many merchants and growers that the cotton economy would disintegrate around them.
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