30 pages, While Georgia is one of the top producers of cotton and peanuts in the Unites States, much attention has been centered on ensuring sustainability in the production of these crops. The need to understand what drives farmers’ decision to utilize voluntary best management practices is critical for the improvement of strategies focused on increasing farmers’ adoption of these practices. Empirical evidence that identifies influential factors in farmers’ decision to adopt best management practices have yet to produce consistent predictors of adoption behavior. This has led to increased calls for unique approaches examining how farmers’ views and motivations impact their adoption decisions regarding these practices. This study builds on previous research using Q methodology to provide an in-depth investigation of the differences in farmers’ views on best management practices for cotton and peanut production in southwest Georgia. A purposive sample of 21 participants completed the Q sorting exercise and semi-structured interviews. Analysis of the data revealed three primary viewpoints that were identified and labeled as the: (1) land preservers, (2) ambitious self-starters, and (3) principled go-getters. These perspectives show the differences in motivations for adoption behavior and denote the range of influential factors on farm management decisions. The findings of this study reveal key viewpoints held by Georgia cotton and peanut farmers toward best management practices, which can inform the development of strategically tailored educational resources and opportunities. These targeted educational approaches must account for the specific needs and preferences of farmers found in this study to potentially increase adoption.
Mize, Jessie J. (author / Home Economics, University of Georgia College of Agriculture, Experiment Station, Athens, Georgia) and Home Economics, University of Georgia College of Agriculture, Experiment Station, Athens, Georgia
Format:
Report
Publication Date:
1967
Published:
USA
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 44 Document Number: B05349
Notes:
Table of contents, introduction, summary, Athens, Georgia : University of Georgia College of Agriculture Experiment Station, 1967. 37 p. (Southern Cooperative Series Bulletin no. 127)
Douce, G. Keith (author), Edwards, David M. (author), Musser, Wesley N. (author), Reece, Susan Y. (author), Varca,Philip E. (author), Wetzstein, Michael E. (author), and Musser: Associate professor, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Oregon State University, OR; Wetzstein: Assoicate professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Georgia-Athens, GA; Reece: Graduate student, Department of Psychology, Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Georgia-Athens, GA; Varca: Former assistant professor, Department of Psychology, Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Georgia-Athens, GA; Edwards: Graduate research assistant, Department of Agricultural Economics, Texas A&M University, TX; Douce: Extension entymologist, Department of Entymology, University of Georgia-Tifton, GA
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
1986
Published:
USA
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 85 Document Number: C05398
AGRICOLA AGE 86929022, Extract: Georgia peanut farmers have adopted integrated pest management (IPM) on only a limited basis, although objective data indicate that IPM technology may be more efficient than conventional pest control strategies. Users and nonusers of IPM hold different views pertaining to the consequences of employing IPM. These beliefs influence its use. Educational programs on these beliefs should influence adoption and continued use of IPM. This article analyzes belief data pertaining to IPM among 192 Georgia peanut farmers and explores the relationship between beliefs about IPM and its adoption.
9 pages., Via online journal., Little information has been published on the business and marketing practices of landscape firms, an important sector of the green industry. We sought to profile the product mix, advertising, marketing, and other business practices of United States landscape firms and compare them by business type (landscape only, landscape/retail, and landscape/retail/grower) as well as by firm size. We sent the 2014 Trade Flows and Marketing survey to a wide selection of green industry businesses across the country and for the first time included landscape businesses. Herbaceous perennials, shade trees, deciduous shrubs, and flowering bedding plants together accounted for half of all landscape sales; 3/4 of all products were sold in containers. However, landscape only firms sold a higher percentage of deciduous shrubs compared with landscape/retail/grower firms. Landscape businesses diversified their sales methods as they diversified their businesses to include production and retail functions. Landscape businesses spent, on average, 5.6% of sales on advertising, yet large landscape companies spent two to three times the percentage of sales on advertising compared with small- and medium-sized firms. Advertising as a percent of sales was three to four times higher for landscape/retail/grower compared with landscape only or landscape/retail firms; most respondents used Internet advertising as their primary method of advertising. The top three factors influencing price establishment in landscape businesses were plant grade, market demand, and uniqueness of plants, whereas inflation was ranked as the least important of the nine factors provided. A higher percentage of small and medium-sized firms perceived last year’s prices as more important in price establishment compared with large firms. A high percentage of large landscape companies said the ability to hire competent hourly employees was an important factor in business growth and management, but this was true only for about half of the small and medium-sized landscape companies.
James F. Evans Collection, Development reporting in 14 rural Georgia weekly newspapers is examined, and the extent and manner of development news in these newspapers are compared with results from previously published studies of development news in other countries. The data indicate that the rural Georgia newspapers tend to devote less space to development news, to emphasize physical facilities development more and to quote or portray government sources less. These results are interpreted as indicating a need for more attention to development communication in local media in rural areas of the United States. (original)
Paper presented at the "Meeting on Environmental Legislation and its Effects on Weed Science," 1988 January 18-20; Tulsa, OK; AGRICOLA IND 89009907., Georgia peanut farmers worried about the EPA's decision to suspend dinoseb, a herbicide that farmers used for the past 40 years. Farmers were critical of a task force's recommendation to ask for an emergency exemption -- Section 18 -- for Gramoxone, instead of fighting for dinoseb. The paper presents a case study of how weed specialists with the Georgia Extension Service worked with the state's news organizations through Extension Service editors to produce stories about their decision, including before and after stories with a farmer who feared that his peanuts were killed by Gramoxone. The case points out how a close working relationship between weed specialists and news editors can enhance educational efforts on a sensitive issue.
Dorroh, Margaret Wyss (author), Hanson, Charlene M. (author), Hodnicki, Donna (author), Ryan, Rebecca (author), and Georgia Southern College, Statesboro, GA.
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
1986
Published:
USA: [Burlington, Vt.] : Journal of Rural Health.
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 84 Document Number: C05293
