The purpose of extension is to disseminate advice to farmers. Currently, government clearly faces the largest challenges in extension. The private sector is enjoying dynamic growth opportunities in agricultural supply chains, and its presence will become more and more pervasive. The required re-think by government prompted by this situation has barely started. Agriculture has moved on. Subsistence farming is history, at least aspirationally. The government needs to adjust by filling the many remaining gaps, in partnership with private for profit and non-profit actors. The “resource-poor” majority, growers of much of India’s food, need external, science-based extension to complement local knowledge. Much debate focuses on how best to achieve the desired outcomes that extension can convey. Many countries have neglected extension and indeed agriculture as a whole. But interest appears to be returning globally, and India is no exception. This article builds on that discussion. It looks at extension in relation to both primary production and market links, and acknowledges the contributions of all providers of extension, public and private. Challenges of implementation are widely cited as a bottleneck in Indian agriculture and rural development, begging the question of how government can inject skills, motivation, a sense of mission and renewal where they are needed.