Virginia Cooperative Extension is an educational outreach program of Virginia's land grant universities: Virginia Tech and Virginia State University, and a part of the national Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture. James F. Johnson began his career in Virginia Cooperative Extension as an extension agent in 1961, serving three southeast Virginia counties. He became district agent in 1970, Staff Leader in 1972, assistant director for support services in 1985, and associate director, agency operations manager in 1988. He was named director in 1989 and served in that position until he retired on September 1, 1992. As director, he was head of an 850-person agency with 115 offices and a $35 million budget. He guided the organization through a 21 percent budget reduction and a major organizational renewal.