17 pages., via online journal, Calls for improved targeting of conservation resources are increasingly common. However, arguments for improving the effectiveness and efficiency of agricultural conservation programs through proactive targeting are often tempered by questions regarding political feasibility. Such questions rest on an assumption that there will be resistance to these approaches, whether from farmers, farm groups, or elected officials, yet there is little research-based evidence supporting that assumption. Analysis of data on Iowa farmers’ attitudes toward targeted conservation indicates that most farmers support targeted approaches. Specific factors associated with endorsement of targeted approaches include awareness of agriculture's environmental impacts, belief that farmers should address water quality problems, having experienced significant soil erosion, belief that extreme weather will become more common, participation in the Conservation Reserve Program, and belief that farmers who have natural resource issues are less likely to seek conservation assistance. Concerns about government intrusion were negative predictors of support for targeted approaches.
11 pages., via online journal., This study compared researchers, extension agents, and farmers’ perceptions of the effect of Information Communication Technology (ICT) on agricultural information access. A simple random sampling technique was used to select 88 researchers, 115 extension agents, and 271 farmers. Data collected through a structured questionnaire were analyzed using means, standard deviation, and one-way analysis of variance. The results showed that, of the 29 statements on the rating scale, researchers, extension agents, and farmers agreed with and were positively disposed to 25, 23, and 19, respectively. A significant difference in the effect of ICT on agricultural information access among researchers, extension agents, and farmers (F = 6.49, p < .05) was observed. Access to agricultural information through ICT will continue to improve, since perceptions are overtly positive among researchers, extension agents, and farmers.
24 pages., Via online journal., We examined the relationship between attitudes toward urban ecological restoration and cognitive (perceived outcomes, value orientation, and objective knowledge), affective (emotional responses), and behavioral factors using residents of the Chicago Metropolitan Region. Positive and negative attitudes were both related to perceived outcomes of ecological restoration. In addition, positive attitudes were related to values while negative attitudes were related to emotions. Attitudes of high and low importance groups were connected to perceived outcomes of ecological restoration; however, attitudes of the high importance group were also related to values, emotions, and behavior. Positive and negative attitude groups differed on perceived outcomes, basic beliefs, knowledge, and behavior. Implications lie in understanding of complex attitudes toward natural resource issues and improved communication efforts to influence or educate the public.
15 pages., Via online journal., Preliminary results of a survey investigating individual well-being of residents in the
Great Barrier Reef region of Australia are presented. The well-being factors were
grouped into domains of: society, representing family and community issues; ecology, representing natural environment; and economy, dealing with economic issues
and provision of services. The relative perceived importance of factors was quantified, allowing for a creation of individual well-being functions. In the society domain,
family relations and health were identified as the most important contributors to
well-being. Water quality was the ecology domain factor that received highest
scores, and health services and income were the most important contributors to
the economic domain. The methodological approach used in this study has a potential to integrate ecological, social, and economic values of local people into
decision-making processes. The profiles of well-being thus generated would present
policymakers with information beyond that available from standard data sources.
9 pages., Via online journal., This article reports on an exploratory study designed to measure community leaders’
attitudes toward scenes from working rural landscapes as elicited by photographs
paired with a semantic differential scale. Using this approach it is determined that
age, occupation, knowledge about farm structure, and community size are important
factors shaping the diverse attitudes held by community leaders in rural southern
Illinois. Findings suggest that the position and magnitude of attitude differences
between relevant social groups be examined prior to launching new rural development initiatives.
8 pages., via online journal., A self-administered survey of randomly selected recipients in 44 Missouri, U.S., communities found that most Missourians were very concerned about the quality of natural resources and having trees on streets and in parks. Respondents felt that Missouri was not doing well at making sure fewer trees are lost during development and at managing stormwater runoff. Residents in communities with a population of 50,000 or more, in the St. Louis and Kansas City suburbs, and in the cities of St. Louis and Kansas City show strong support for a ballot issue establishing a tree fund supported by a tax of US$5 or less. Missourians in communities with a population greater than 5,000 showed support for protecting or replacing trees during development through passage of a tree preservation ordinance. They lack basic knowledge of their community's tree program and could not correctly say whether their community was certified by The National Arbor Day Foundation as a Tree City USA. They are most likely to seek information on trees from their local garden center. The results of the survey, together with recent surveys of community forestry officials and street tree inventories, are used to make recommendations to state agencies charged with managing community forests.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 34 Document Number: D10664
Notes:
Eugene A. Kroupa Collection, Case 5 Conference Workshop, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, December 13, 1981., Contains a selection of how-to articles, sample questionnaires, and other resources for conducting surveys. Includes a questionnaire about Wisconsin dairy farmers' opinions regarding dairy product promotion.
14 pages, This paper seeks to assess the factors influencing the adoption of the improved crop management practices (ICMP) in Boane District in Mozambique. The study was carried out using a qualitative survey method with a semi-structured interview schedule. Regression analysis and Pearson correlations were used to analyse the factors, constraints, and opportunities influencing the adoption of the improved crop management practices. The study covered a sample of 50 households. The results of the study show that the majority of the farmers (68%) in the Boane District adopted the improved crop management practices, compared to those who did not adopt them (32%). According to the logistic regression analysis, two factors (age and access to credit) were significant (p<0.05) at the 5% level of significance with the adoption of ICMP, meaning that age and access to credit have an influence on the adoption of the improved crop management practices in the Boane District. The study recommended that the Agricultural Development Fund and the district development should solve the challenge of low financial investments, which is the major problem of most smallholder farmers, limiting their response to the production process, and to adopting the improved crop management practices in the Boane District.
35pgs, The idea that citizens' support for environmental policies depends on their economic interest and the community that one lives in, has been debated extensively in the environmental attitudes literature. However, this literature has not differentiated between separate policy dimensions that concern measures that affect specific groups in different ways. This paper differentiates between a nature/agriculture dimension that divides those who prioritize the agrarian interest from those who prioritize the protection of nature and a climate/energy dimension that divides those who prioritize industrial interest from those who prioritize fighting climate change, using a new survey in the Netherlands (N = 11,327). This two-dimensional model meets three criteria: scalability, validity, and utility. Scalability is shown by factor analysis and Mokken scaling. Validity is shown by regression analyses that show that whether one lives in a rural or an urban community predicts one's position on the nature/agriculture dimension and that one's financial security predicts one's position on the climate/energy dimension. The utility is shown by regression analyses where the two dimensions are used to predict voting behavior. The Green Party voters favor nature and climate protection, the Liberal Party voters have the opposite views, the Christian-Democrats favor agricultural interests and the Freedom Party favor industrial interests.
10 pages., Via online journal., In 18 East German municipalities, nine of them with a planned pig production site and the other nine with an existing pig production site, a survey was carried out on the factors influencing the acceptance of pig production. The influencing factors examined were the personal attitude on particular aspects of pig production, socio-demographic characteristics, the personal involvement in local decision-making, the size of livestock and the production technology. As a result, existing production sites are perceived more positively than planned sites, without any influence of size and production technology. The difference may be explained by the fact that planned sites are evaluated in respect to economic arguments as jobs and income (market goods), while existing sites are rather evaluated in respect to environmental factors (public goods). For new investments the results lead to the recommendation to emphasize its economic aspects, to integrate the investor socially in the rural community and to apply technology that prevents pollution for the neighborhood. More importantly, the results show the shortcomings of a “top down” approach and the indispensability of endogenous resources in regional development.
