Use farm assessments to identify pollution risks when the use of an assessment tool is likely to lead to cost-effective, voluntary actions to reduce those risks. Continue reading →
Audience: Farmers 
People who work on the land to grow and produce food, animal feed, or other consumer products; and business professionals who support agricultural production
Findings Navigation: Browse by Audience; Browse by Theme; Browse by Best Education Practice; Browse by multiple topics
Al-Jamal, M. S., Sammis, T. W., & Ball, S. T. (2001) Finding 2
Consider target audience issues such as time, skill, and direct experience with saving money over time Continue reading →
Napier, T. L., Robinson, J., & Tucker, M. (2000) Finding 2
Include environmental stewardship information shown to be significant in predicting farmer adoption of new practices:
- Information about soil and water conservation benefits to be derived from adoption of precision farming techniques
Napier, T. L., & Sommers, D. G. (1996) Finding 1
Assure that intervention programs are relevant to perceived needs of farmers, relevant to cultural milieu of subgroups, and relevant to specific environmental needs:
- Cultural and farm-structure differences must be considered when intervention strategies are developed to bring about behavioral changes among specific groups
- Potential Mennonite adaptors have to be convinced that adoption of conservation tillage will be profitable and not threaten the values of the collective group
Newton, B. J. (2001) Finding 4
Trusted individuals can deliver messages effectively Continue reading →
Bosch, D. J., Cook, Z. L., & Fuglie, K. O. (1995) Finding 3
Provide information, encouragement and cash incentives to participate in or practice a new technology, but keep in mind that incentives have a weak influence on adoption.
Sommers, D. G., & Napier, T. L. (1993) Finding 2
Pay attention to unique factors of cultural groups, but programs that focus on efficiency and productivity in decision-making are likely to succeed, whatever the social characteristics of the farm group Continue reading →
Al-Jamal, M. S., Sammis, T. W., & Ball, S. T. (2001) Finding 3
Emphasize one-on-one contact. This strategy correlates with farmer willingness to change practices, but adoption of a new technology requires more than a personal conversation and data about the specific situation Continue reading →
Salamon, S., Farnsworth, R. L., Bulluck, D. G., & Yusuf, R. (1997) Finding 1
For sustainable agriculture education, target families with one or more of these characteristics:
- Kin-mentor relationships that support the practice of sustainable agriculture
- An environmental or health problem which triggers interest or motivation
- Systematic on-farm experimentation o Value for prudence with resources.
Andersson, L. (2004) Finding 1
When using predictive models to aid farmers in making a nutrient application decision:
- confirm that predictive models have been tested with satisfactory results against field experiments.
- confirm that the models show detectable reductions of nutrient leaching, as a consequence of implemented remedies.
- provide results that consider the total environmental impact of a suggested measure, in order to show a more realistic evaluation of sources of nutrient load (e.g. provide results demonstrating the combined impact of all potential nutrients, rather than results predicting application impacts of one nutrient at a time).
- provide simulations that are based on a specific climatic variable, such as air temperature, rather than general seasonal timing (early fall).
- develop a system for presenting model uncertainties appropriate to use in stakeholder dialogues.
