2005 Producer Grants Survey
In 1994, the Western Region’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (Western SARE) Farmer/Rancher Grant (FRG) Program was established to support farmers and ranchers seeking to test, adapt and adopt sustainable agriculture production or marketing approaches. Since its beginning, the program has funded nearly 300 projects throughout the West.
Western SARE program staff and Administrative Council, in cooperation with a research team in the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension Service, conducted a region-wide survey of FRG recipients and Technical Advisors to assess the reach and impact of the FRG Program. Specifically, the purpose of this study was to determine the impacts of these producer-led efforts on the grantee and the reach or diffusion of the grantees’ efforts to other farmers and ranchers in the general locale of the grantee. The primary research objectives were to:
1) Determine if farming behavior of grantees indeed changed as a result of participating in this grant program (Impact)
2) Determine what impact adopting the change may have had on some facet of the grantee’s farming operation (e.g., profitability, increase or decrease in labor or management) (Impact)
3) Determine how many other farmers or ranchers attended a field day tour or had personal visits with grantees (Reach)
4) Estimate how many of those visiting farmers or ranchers also tested or adopted a practice or technology (Reach)
5) Determine if changes in the grant-making, contracting or reporting process or requirements are necessary to make the program more user-friendly, based on the comments of grantees (Customer Service).
All FRG recipients and their Technical Advisors from the states of Alaska, Arizona, California,Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming and the protectorates of American Samoa, Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, and Palau were included as potential participants for this mail survey. The surveys were implemented from January through April 2005. One hundred forty-five (145) completed surveys were received from grant recipients, resulting in a 72% response rate. One hundred twenty-five (125) completed surveys were received from Technical Advisors, resulting in a 71% response rate.
