C. Milton Coughenour
1926–2022
Charles Milton Coughenour, professor emeritus at the University of Kentucky, passed away on January 26, 2022, in Lexington, KY. Born March 9, 1926, he grew up on the family farm in Kansas. After graduating from the University of Kansas, Coughenour earned his PhD in rural sociology from the University of Missouri in 1953. Known as “Milt,” Coughenour broke new ground in rural sociology throughout his career. Guiding the development of countless graduate students, he was a supportive and inspiring advisor to students and a generous mentor to young faculty, including by establishing the Dr. and Mrs. C. Milton Coughenour Professorship of Rural Sociology at the University of Kentucky.
Coughenour’s professional life exemplified that of an engaged applied researcher and teacher. His remarkable scholarly career included the publication of 31 journal articles and book chapters, more than 30 numbered research bulletins and proceedings chapters, and countless papers presented at professional meetings.
Over the years, Coughenour served in numerous professional and university leadership roles. From 1982–1983, he served as president of the Rural Sociological Society (RSS), and he received the RSS Award for Excellence in Research in 1991. In 2012, the RSS awarded Coughenour its highest award, Distinguished Rural Sociologist.
Coughenour’s research was foundational to the sociology of agriculture, and his scholarly work illustrates the interpretive value of a sociological lens on both persistence and change in agricultural systems. As noted by Lois Wright Morton in her history of the study of agriculture and conservation written for the 75th anniversary of the Soil and Water Conservation Society (SWCS), Coughenour was one of the first to ask why and how farmers made their production decisions.
From the beginning, Coughenour’s research explored farmers’ views on soil-building and how these were influenced by characteristics of their operations, their values and beliefs, and the knowledge they constructed with trusted others. He brought new ways to understand and demonstrate the similarities in how farmers approached their decisions. Coughenour’s respect for the practicality of farmers and their families, their commitment to the farm enterprise and the land, was a thread throughout his research in the U.S., the Sudan, and Australia.
As a young rural sociologist, he focused on the diffusion of agricultural innovations, in particular focusing on conservation practices in U.S. agriculture. In the 1960s, Coughenour was a member of the Subcommittee for the Study of Diffusion of Farm Practices, which was part of the North Central Rural Sociology Committee sponsored by the Farm Foundation. Mixing survey research and qualitative skills, Coughenour discovered patterns among Kentucky farmers’ attitudes and behaviors as they struggled to balance business with conserving their most precious natural resource—the soil.
In the 1980s, Coughenour was one of the social scientists participating in the multidisciplinary INTSORMIL Collaborative Research Support Program, a nonprofit international agricultural development organization of the United States Agency for International Development focused on developing new technologies to improve sorghum, pearl millet, and other grains. This initiative produced significant international analyses of the opportunities and challenges of the diffusion of innovations by demonstrating how the innovations must fit within the sociocultural context of the farm family to be fully adopted.
Coughenour guided many of the next generation of rural sociologists. He shared his ideas and patiently supported younger colleagues as their scholarship matured. Quite simply, he was a kind mentor and colleague. He sought every opportunity to share his appreciation for the adaptability and resilience of farm families with others by offering access to his data, interviews, and observations. Rural sociology and the sociology of agriculture owes much to the insights C. Milton Coughenour, and many of us owe a debt to his guidance and support of our own careers.
Lori Garkovich, University of Kentucky; Louis Swanson, Colorado State University; and Julie N. Zimmerman, University of Kentucky
