Service Learning Project, PSM program
Posted by Rebekka Rieder on February 21, 2007
Technology Transfer among Agricultural Interest Groups
Communication among Oregon farmers, research scientists, county extension personnel, and the agricultural business industry affects sustainable conservation land management practices. I will be analyzing how effective the current communications framework is among these different groups.
In addition to the Service Learning Project, I did a group project for my communications class during the fall 2006. We proposed for our Communications and Science project, to examine communication involving technology transfer of conservation practices between researchers and farmers in the southern Willamette Valley of western Oregon. Since soil erosion and fertilizer runoff can potentially affect water quality in several Willamette Valley watersheds, implementation of certain conservation practices, such as buffer zones or grassed waterways, within and boarding agricultural fields is one approach in limiting contamination of intermittent and perennial streams.
There are several economic and environmental incentives to entice farmers to set aside a portion of their agricultural land for conservation purposes. One such economic incentive is to participate in Federal conservation programs that support such activities. However, we were unaware if farmers actually understand how these Federal programs can benefit them, both economically and environmentally, and whether they had knowledge of how to apply for these programs.
Therefore, our project objectives included interviewing local grass-seed farmers to see if they were aware of different conservation practices. Also, we interviewed local scientists and university extension personnel to see how they convey scientific information to farmers and their recommendations they had help communicate this information to farmers.
From these data, we gained information on whether sustainable and conservational land management practices were occurring, and whether there is a communication barrier between farmers and scientists. We were be able to identify and make personal recommendations on the current situation. The goal was to identify how to bring scientific information to the farming community.
For results and summary see the PDF attachment
