IMPROVING EXTENSION EFFECTIVENESS FOR ORGANIC CLIENTS: CURRENT STATUS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS

Luanne Lohr and Timothy Park

No 16666, Faculty Series from University of Georgia, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics

Abstract: Responses from a national survey of U.S. organic farmers indicated substantial dissatisfaction with the extension service. An ordered probit model was used to identify the factors influencing effectiveness ratings of extension advisors by farmers. This study showed that part time, higher income organic farmers who used a variety of highly rated private sector information sources rated extension providers as more effective. Farmers in the Northeast and West regions rated extension usefulness more highly than in other regions. Not accounting for these demographic components in effectiveness ratings may result in under- or overestimation of results of organic-targeted extension programs. Extension agents can improve their credibility with organic farmers by complementing educational and technical services offered by the private sector, and by facilitating farmer information exchanges as well as presenting relevant research findings as they have traditionally done.

Keywords: Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 28
Date: 2002
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/16666/files/fs0207.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Improving Extension Effectiveness for Organic Clients: Current Status and Future Directions (2003)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:ugeofs:16666

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.16666

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Faculty Series from University of Georgia, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by AgEcon Search ().