This research project sought to determine the origin of the three-component model of
agricultural education in the United States and provided a contextual base for future research
into the three-component model for agricultural education. The study concluded that each of the
three components of the agricultural education model originated at different times in American
history but were developed simultaneously. Supervised experience probably originated in
colonial America, and formal instruction in agricultural education probably began in 1858. The
FFA was officially established in 1928, although similar agricultural youth organizations
probably began either at the end of the nineteenth century or the beginning of the twentieth
century. This study did not find evidence of an established date or recognized event that created
the three-component agricultural education model. The Smith-Hughes Act of 1917 provided a
more sophisticated linkage between classroom instruction and supervised experience. This study
did not find evidence of a legal basis for the integral nature of the three-component agricultural
education model. Instead, the integral nature of the model probably exists out of tradition, or as
a result of a philosophical tenet in the agricultural education profession.