University of Wisconsin Industrial and Systems Engineering Department, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA.
J Agromedicine. 2009;14(3):324-35. doi: 10.1080/10599240903041950.
Little recent research is available about where specific types of farm managers search for information about better production practices. The objective of this study was to investigate what information sources managers used and how they rated the usefulness of each source. The authors administered mail questionnaires to probability samples from sampling frames they developed for four groups: dairy and fresh market vegetable producers from Wisconsin and berry and nursery producers from a multistate region. Questionnaire items asked operation managers to check off, from a list of information sources, those that they used in the last year to learn about new equipment or procedures to improve their operations and then to rate the usefulness of each source. In the last year, nursery, dairy, and berry managers most often used information from print media (63% to 84%), followed by other farmers (50% to 80%). Fresh market vegetable growers used conferences (60%) most often, followed by print media (41%). The information source rated most useful was "other farmers" for the nursery, dairy, and fresh market vegetable managers. Nursery and fresh market vegetable managers rated conferences as second most useful, whereas dairy managers rated print media second. Berry managers were not asked about usefulness. Farm manager information behavior exhibits some common features but is also specific to their operation type. Research and outreach efforts intending to communicate information to farm managers may be able to be more efficient at reaching and persuading their intended audience if they first investigate manager information behavior.
关于特定类型的农场管理者在哪里寻找有关更好的生产实践的信息，最近的研究很少。本研究的目的是调查管理者使用哪些信息来源，以及他们如何评价每个来源的有用性。作者通过邮件向他们为四个组（威斯康星州的奶牛和新鲜市场蔬菜生产者以及多州地区的浆果和苗圃生产者）开发的抽样框架中的概率样本发送了问卷。问卷项目要求运营经理从信息来源清单中勾选出他们在过去一年中用于了解新设备或改进运营程序的信息来源，然后对每个来源的有用性进行评分。在过去的一年中，苗圃、奶牛和浆果管理者最常使用印刷媒体（63%至 84%），其次是其他农民（50%至 80%）。新鲜市场蔬菜种植者最常使用会议（60%），其次是印刷媒体（41%）。苗圃、奶牛和新鲜市场蔬菜管理者认为最有用的信息来源是“其他农民”。苗圃和新鲜市场蔬菜管理者将会议评为第二有用，而奶牛管理者则将印刷媒体评为第二。浆果管理者没有被问到有用性。农场管理者的信息行为表现出一些共同特征，但也特定于他们的经营类型。如果研究人员首先调查管理者的信息行为，旨在向农场管理者传达信息的研究和推广工作可能能够更有效地接触和说服他们的目标受众。
