Sustainable Agriculture Training Provided by Extension Agents and Specialists
*Results from states with fewer than 20 responses are marked with an asterisk.Most respondents provide training or information to farmers related to sustainable agriculture practices at least monthly.
Overall, 80% of respondents reported providing sustainable agriculture training and information to farmers and consumers daily, weekly or monthly. This statistic becomes a little less frequent in 1890 Land Grant schools: 23% of 1890 Land Grant schools reported providing training and information annually or never, compared with 19% of 1862 Land Grant schools.
When looking at the age of extension agents and specialists, personnel in their 30s are more likely to provide daily, weekly or monthly training and information than other age groups, followed by personnel aged 60 and older. Personnel in their 40s are the least likely to provide daily, weekly or monthly training and information.
Agents and specialists with the least job experience are the least likely to provide regular sustainable agriculture training.
With regard to job experience, those least likely to provide regular training and information have less than one year of experience: 32% report providing training and information annually or never. The personnel most likely to provide daily, weekly or monthly training and information are those with 36 to 40 years of experience.
Respondents from half of the states surveyed reported high rates of providing regular sustainable agriculture training and information.
Respondents in five states reported high rates of providing sustainable agriculture training and information on a daily, weekly or monthly basis: Kentucky (86%), Virginia (86%), Missouri (87%), Alabama (87%), and Georgia (88%).
The topics that respondents are providing training on with the least frequency:
Utilizing drone technology
Agroforestry
Sustainable agriculture topics that extension agents and specialists reported providing the least frequently include utilizing drone technology (86% report providing this training annually or never) and agroforestry (87% report providing this training annually or never).
The topics that respondents are providing training on with the most frequency:
Integrated pest management
Soil Health
Crop rotation and diversification
Integrated pest management, soil health, and crop rotation and diversification are the topics that respondents reported providing information about most frequently (56% to 62% reported that they provide this information daily, weekly, or monthly).
Sustainable Agriculture Training Received by Extension Agents and Specialists
Most respondents receive training or information related to sustainable agriculture practices annually.
More than half of all respondents reported being very or extremely interested in receiving training in the following topics:
Integrated pest management
Soil Health
Crop rotation and diversification
Integrated crop and livestock systems
Economics of sustainable agriculture
Cover cropping systems
Marketing of sustainable agriculture
Sustainable grazing and foraging
The topics that respondents are least interested in receiving training on include:
Grass-fed livestock
Agroforestry
The topics that respondents reported highest in the “not at all interested” category included grass-fed livestock (21%), and agroforestry (21%).
Applying and Marketing Sustainable Agriculture Techniques
The majority of respondents believed that full-time farmers in their area were applying sustainable agriculture concepts between 16% and 30% of the time
The majority of agents and specialists from Georgia and Louisiana, however, believed that full-time farmers in their area were applying sustainable agriculture concepts > 60% of the time, while those in South Carolina believed full-time farmers were applying the concepts < 5% of the time.
Most respondents reported working with farmers who are using their sustainable agriculture practices as a selling point.
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