AGRICOLA IND 92004221, County agents receive cost of production information primarily from state extension services and then disseminate it to agricultural producers. A survey gathered data on agent usage of this information. A Poisson regression analysis using count data was performed to determine the factors influencing the number of times county agents directly referred to published cost of production (enterprise budget) information in a year. The agent's understanding of budget information use in management decisions, the availability of budgets, and his/her receiving the budgets in multiple forms (e.g., sheets, booklets, or software) had significant positive impacts on the use of budgets by the agent. (original)
AGRICOLA IND 90017261, A minicomputer online information retrieval program is described that is designed to facilitate timely distribution of agricultural market news to state and county research and extension faculty. These faculty have designed programs that extend this information to clientele in their areas. An evaluation indicates that users find great value in this network. Usage has grown rapidly over the period the network has been available. This program is available and can be used by other states and clientele.