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Oren Cornelius Gregg (November 2, 1845 – February 2, 1926) was a farmer and educator from Minnesota. In the 1880s, agricultural education in Minnesota was in trouble: farmers would not travel to the Twin Cities for classes, and university students did not want to study farming. Gregg, a successful dairy farmer from Lyon County, saved the day by bringing lectures directly to farmers. Beginning in 1885, he led the Minnesota Farmers' Institute, a public lecture series that became the agricultural extension service at the University of Minnesota. Through the institutes that he held across the state, Gregg encouraged farmers to diversify their crops and taught them how to make dairy farming more efficient. ==Early life== Gregg was born in Enosburgh, Vermont in 1845. His father was a traveling minister, and his grandfather ran a highly regarded dairy farm. Gregg worked as a clerk, a schoolteacher, and a lay minister as a young man, before he settled on a homestead in Lyon County, Minnesota, in 1870. He and his wife, Charlotte, named the homestead Coteau Farm. They went into dairy farming, hoping to avoid problems such as soil depletion that can come with growing a single cash crop.〔 At Coteau Farm, Gregg pioneered winter dairying. Minnesota dairy farmers had been at a disadvantage because of the state's climate. Without nutritious grass in the winter, cows stopped producing milk. Using knowledge from his grandfather, Gregg experimented to make winter dairying possible. He bred cows specifically for dairy, rather than beef, and he used a combination of grain, corn, and hay to keep his cows producing milk during the winter. Gregg and his wife developed high-quality butter known as "Solid Gold" that consistently won top prizes at local fairs.〔 Gregg's success drew attention, and farmers began to visit Coteau Farm to learn about his methods. In the early 1880s, he was asked to begin speaking about his methods at dairy conventions and county fairs.〔 At the same time, the agricultural education programs at the University of Minnesota were drawing fierce criticism. As a land-grant university, the school was required to teach agriculture. The Farmers' Alliance in Minnesota alleged that land grant funds were being misused and demanded a separate agricultural college. Other farmer organizations, like The National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry (the Grange), were less militant but supported the position held by the Farmers' Alliance.〔 In response, in 1885 University Regent and former Minnesota Governor John S. Pillsbury and Professor Edward D. Porter asked Gregg for help. Gregg proposed a series of lectures that would travel to farmers, rather than asking farmers to travel to the Twin Cities. The university's Board of Regents liked the idea.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Oren Cornelius Gregg」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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