Procedures and practices used in successful young farmer programs in the United States--developing a model for providing adult education in agriculture

Purpose. The main purpose of this study was to determine the most effective procedures and practices used in successful local young farmer programs. Another purpose was to develop an adult agricultural education program strategies model that can be used by agricultural educators.Methodology. A descriptive survey was administered to young farmer program advisors from the top 20% of the local young farmer programs in states.The data were collected through a questionnaire. The first section assessed the degree of use and the effectiveness of methods used pertaining to each of the following constructs: (a) recruiting members, (b) planning instruction, (c) providing instruction, (d) planning the activities of the association, (e) implementing the activities of the association, and (f) performing the advisor's role. The instrument also asked for the opinion of the advisors regarding selected statements about the young farmer program. The third section of the instrument was designed to gather selected demographic data.The instrument was pilot tested for clarity and examined for validity and reliability. Frequencies, percentages, measures of central tendency, measures of variance, measures of association, t-tests, ANOVA, and chi-square were the statistics used. Since no significant differences between the respondents and non-respondents were observed, the results obtained from the respondents were generalized to the accessible sample.Major findings and conclusions. (1) Advisors with more teaching experience tend to have a higher opinion of the importance of the young farmer program. (2) Advisors of successful young farmer associations working more hours with the young farmer program each month tend to have a higher opinion of the importance of the young farmer program. (3) Advisors of successful young farmer associations generally used procedures and practices they rated the most effective. (4) Advisors of successful young farmer associations nationwide use a variety of strategies for managing the young farmer association. (5) Procedures and practices rated the most effective and useful were included in a model for adult agricultural education programs.U of I OnlyETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permissio