Evaluation of a Five-Year Demonstration Farm Program in Two Pennsylvania Counties.

This analysis of the impact of a result demonstration educational program was made in an effort to achieve the following goals: (1) identification of the objectives of the educational program; (2) description of the program; (3) assessment of awareness of the program by target clientele; (4) measurement of the amount of change that takes place; and (5) determination of the amount of observed change which can be attributed to the action-educational program and what can be attributed to other known factors. This study is unique in two aspects: (1) the sample of interviewed farmers is one of the largest of any employed in demonstration farm research and represents the universe of dairy farmers in geographical areas immediately surrounding the demonstration farms; and (2) data were collected at two points in time--a benchmark survey of surrounding farmers was completed prior to the beginning of the educational program, and a terminal survey was conducted after the end of the program. The report contains the following chapters: I. Introduction; II. Review of Literature; III. Methodological and Theoretical Orientations; IV. Collection of Data; V. Program Inputs; VI. Methodological Tools; VII. Changes in Practices Adopted; VIII. Dairymen's Knowledge of the Program; IX. Relationship of Program to Change in Practice Usage; X. Summary and Conclusions; and XI. Bibliography. (DB)