The Texas Agricultural Extension Service (TAEX) Literacy Initiative has three major components: literacy awareness, cooperation and coordination with other state agencies and organizations, and programmatic responses. During 1991, the TAEX Literacy Initiative addressed the literacy awareness component through these activities: writing a research…

A sample of 731 farmers was surveyed to identify perceptions regarding selected soil and water conservation practices. The sample was stratified and proportioned by conservation district to have a representative group of respondents across Iowa. Items on the mailed questionnaire were designed to assess perceptions regarding issues in soil and…

Dissemination of technologies to increase agricultural production using the conventional transfer of technology system has often failed to consider the natural environment, indigenous knowledge systems, and resource endowments around which resource-poor farmers normally operate. A sample of 96 agricultural extension professionals in 2 districts in…

People act in environmentally sound ways for many reasons, but the best motivation is wanting to act in the public good and knowing how to do it. Education and socialization internalize socially responsible behavior. Land grant university education and extension are based on internalizing the right thing to do and learning the right way to do it.…

The report and resource directory contained in this document represent the efforts of the Rural Families in Transition Work Group, one of six such groups recently created to respond to key issues arising from the farm financial crisis. The directory is intended for use by extension agents in identifying educational resources across the region that…

This "special focus" journal issue consists of 13 individual articles on the theme of rural family programs relating to school, health services, church, and other institutions. It includes: (1) "Towards a Rural Family Policy" (Judith K. Chynoweth and Michael D. Campbell); (2) "Montana: Council for Families Collaborates for…

Since the advent of the 1980s, the economic viability of many farm operations has been severely jeopardized. Although attention has been directed primarily to the Midwest, in many respects farm stress has been greater in the South than in any other region. What is clear, however, is that the crisis is not strictly an agricultural one. Rather, a…

Designed for extension personnel who are involved in community leadership (CL) programs, this publication summarizes recent national efforts that could be useful in developing and conducting CL programs, and current leadership theory and literature. Part 1 reports the results of the national survey, initiated in April 1985, of extension staff…

A continuing education program to provide technical training or consultation for laboratory technologists practicing in rural and urban Utah has been established by the Centers for Disease Control and the Utah State Department of Health under the name Project PEER (Pursuing Excellence through Education Regionally). The core of the program is a…

Growing concern that the Cooperative Extension Service was failing to adequately reach small farmers with education materials through regular extension channels led to the implementation of Missouri's Small Farm Family Program. In this program, education assistants, many of whom are small farmers themselves, link the educational resources of the…

IN 25 COUNTIES IN ARKANSAS, TEXAS, VERMONT, WISCONSIN, AND WASHINGTON, A STUDY WAS MADE OF THE USE OF CIVIL DEFENSE PUBLICATIONS BY THE PUBLIC, OF DISTRIBUTION PRACTICES OF COUNTY AGRICULTURAL AGENTS, AND OF THE ATTITUDES OF THE AGENTS THEMSELVES. THREE PUBLICATIONS FROM THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND TWO FROM THE OFFICE OF CIVIL DEFENSE…

The purpose of the workshop was to evaluate efforts by the Cooperative Extension Service to provide educational services to the small farmer (one who markets less than $20,000 worth of products a year), to exchange ideas on small farm management, and to recommend program directions for the future. Experts in various farm management areas…

The recent conceptualization of organizations as "open" adaptive systems rather than "closed" systems has lead to increased interest in the relationship between the organization and its significant environmental influences. In order to study the perceived sources of internal (organizational) and external (environmental)…

The role of education in the human development of rural areas is considered by some to be the single most important thing that can be done to raise rural standards of living. Recognizing this need, the Federal government has sponsored three types of training programs relative to rural development; each is the responsibility of a different agency.…

In planning a reorganization of the Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service by re-grouping counties, a statewide study of home economics education was made to determine the audience for the programs, methods by which audiences were reached, and differences between members of homemakers clubs and nonmembers. Interviews were held with a 5% random…