14 pages., Article #:3FEA9, via online journal., This article reports on a study to determine which information sources organic growers use to inform farming practices by conducting in-depth semi-structured interviews with 23 organic farmers across 17 North Carolina counties. Effective information sources included: networking, agricultural organizations, universities, conferences, Extension, Web resources, personal experience, books, organic buyers/certifiers, and consultants. Results suggest that grower-to-grower networking is a highly effective information-seeking behavior for organic growers. Recommendations for Extension personnel include reshaping educational programing for organic growers to include peer-to-peer information sharing, as well as increased investment to graduate and undergraduate programs that train future Extension agents in organic production approaches.
7 pages, Use of cover cropping systems has multiple benefits for agriculture. To convince vegetable growers to adopt such systems, we applied a field demonstration in which we grew selected cover crops during the off-season and then tomatoes. We focused on implementation of a science-based demonstration design and attended to the usefulness of the demonstration and audience timing preferences. As a result, growers grasped the advantages of growing cover crops and, consequently, have extensively adopted cover cropping systems, thereby applying a critically important practice for crop management and agricultural sustainability. Our method and findings can help Extension educators better implement programs to convince agricultural producers to adopt desirable farming practices that improve sustainable agriculture.
