Providing the chief example of a successful adult education movement in the United States, the Cooperative Extension Service has demonstrated the capacity to adjust its programs to meet changing rural and urban needs. The roughly 3000 local offices provide people with ready access to a staff who are backed up by the land-grant university based specialists, but who reside in the area they serve. As a part of the land-grant system, it conducts continuing education programs of many types, while as a joint venture with the U. S. Department of Agriculture it places emphasis on improving the productivity and quality of life in rural areas. Additional emphasis is given to environmental quality, consumer information, energy conservation and management, improving the productivity and viability of agriculture and the wise use of natural resources. The future presents challenges to the system--determining program priorities, serving the many types of people, and meeting the changing urgency of different problems. (MW)