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Educational Training Needs and Information Sources Preferred by New and Beginning Farmers and Ranchers in Alabama

Duncan M. Chembezi, E'licia Chaverest, and JaMarkus Crowell

Summary

To manage agricultural risk, many agencies and organizations offer a range of different strategies such as crop insurance, futures, options, forward contracts, etc., to farmers and ranchers. However, the adoption of these and other risk management tools by limited resource beginning farmers and ranchers has been slow. Previous research suggests that the slow adoption is related to lack of knowledge and understanding about these tools and/or strategies. In a survey of producers growing field crops in Indiana, Nebraska, Texas and Mississippi, Coble, et, al, (1999) found that less than 34% of the producers had attended any risk management training programs. Similarly, a survey of African-American farmers in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and Texas by Federation of Southern Cooperatives (2000) found that less than 44% of the producers had received such training. The low rate in this study was attributed primarily to the fact that many agencies including the land-grant institutions did not provide or give adequate technical assistance to farmers on crop insurance and other risk management tools. None of this research has, however, looked at educational training needs and information sources used or preferred by limited resource beginning farmers and ranchers as they employ these strategies. This study seeks to fill this void this gap and it assesses risk information sources preferences by socially disadvantaged beginning farmers and ranchers in Alabama.

Details

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