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This paper was presented at the Association for Education in Journalism and
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Elliott Parker
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THE UTILITY OF IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY'S
AGRICULTURE EXTENSION ONLINE RESOURCES TO IOWA FARMERS:
A USES AND GRATIFICATIONS PERSPECTIVE
Abstract
This study evaluated the utility of the Iowa State Agriculture
Extension website to Iowa
farmers. It determined the majority of farmers are not using the
website. Farmers reportedly rely
on, trust, and spend most of their free time reading farm
publications, watching television shows
and listening to radio programs about farming, talking to other
farmers, and attending seminars
or training sessions. They also tended to pay closer attention to
these sources than to online
channels.
Introduction and Statement of the Problem
Recently, many organizations, both public and private, have begun to
replace much of
their paper-based system for disseminating information with
electronic alternatives. An article
published on the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
website noted that the
agency's Economic Research Service (ERS) had decided to use a website
as its major means of
communication because its traditional paper-based system was
"resource-intensive and
somewhat cumbersome" (USDA, 2002).
It explains, "information delivered through the web held the promise
not only to
streamline information distribution, but also to improve customers'
access and to reach new
audiences that had never used ERS products and services" (USDA,
2002). The USDA claims
more than 80,000 people visit this site per month, and it had
received an overwhelming response
from trade groups, research institutions and agribusinesses. It
failed, however, to mention one
important audience segment it intends to serve: farmers.
There is no doubt many farmers have begun to use the Internet as a channel of
communication. In a preliminary review of literature about farmers
and their use of the Internet,
there is an overwhelming number of articles with headlines such as
"Internet Proves a Farm
Lifeline" and "Computer Savvy Livestock Producers Roam the Web" (Iowa
Farmer Today,
2002). One Northern Iowa farmer even told Iowa Farmer Today, an Iowa
farm publication, that
he does 99.9 percent of his business on the Internet and that he
depends on his computer as much
as he relies on his cell phone and tractor (Iowa Farmer Today, 2002).
On July 28, 2003, the National Agricultural Statistics Service
(NASS), a division of the
USDA, released an updated version of their 2001 study about farm
computer usage and
ownership. This updated study, which involved 26,400 farms throughout
the United States, was
USES AND GRATIFICATIONS IOWA FARMERS DERIVE FROM EXTENSION ONLINE SOURCES 2
conducted to provide estimates of farm numbers, crop acres planted,
grain storage, livestock
inventories and land values. The most recent survey (2003) shows 48
percent of farms in the
United States had Internet access and nearly 58 percent of farms had
access to a computer.
Iowa had 90,655 farms in 2002 (NASS, 2002). The USDA (2004) says a total of 63
percent of Iowa farmers had computer access and 59 percent owned or
leased a computer. Fortyfive
percent report having Internet access, and 38 percent of Iowa farmers
used their computers
for farm business.
In the same study, NASS tried to determine how farmers use the
Internet. It found nine
percent of Iowa farmers purchased agricultural inputs such as seeds,
fertilizer, chemicals,
veterinary supplies, feed, machinery, replacement parts, farm
supplies and office equipment from
the Internet. Nine percent of the Iowa respondents also conducted
agricultural marketing
activities, including direct sales of commodities, online crop and
livestock auctions, online
market advisory services, and commodity price tracking. Twenty-three
percent of those
surveyed accessed materials from the USDA website.
Although studies have concluded that a majority of Iowa farmers do
not have Internet
access, some organizations such as the USDA, the Farm Bureau, and
Iowa State Extension
continue to support the idea that farmers need to use the Internet as
a major farm tool. In January
2003, the USDA said it would make $1.4 billion in loans and loan
guarantees available to install
high-speed Internet access in rural areas. Tom Dorr, the USDA's under
secretary for rural
development and a former Iowa farmer said, "There is a lot of
interest and a lot of need, I think,
in rural America for the kind of technology everyone perceives as
being the key to activating a
lot of other opportunities." The typical cost of installing high
speed Internet access in rural areas
is about $2,000 per customer (The Des Moines Register, 2003).
USES AND GRATIFICATIONS IOWA FARMERS DERIVE FROM EXTENSION ONLINE SOURCES 3
This study focuses on an entity that supports the online drive: Iowa
State University
Extension. Iowa State was a trailblazer in the "extension movement."
As early as the mid
1800s, what was then known as the Iowa State College began to conduct
off campus "informal
educational activities" (mostly agriculture short courses) in order
to create a more "informed and
educated citizenry" (Extension, 2002). This effort was quite
successful, and by the early 1900s,
each county in Iowa was helping to fund extension work. In 1914,
Congress enacted the Smith-
Lever Act, which created a partnership between the USDA and land
grant colleges. The
Extension service then began to receive funding from three sources:
the states, the counties, and
the federal government (Extension, 2002).
Two of the key principles created to guide Extension work are "to
make the knowledge
base of the Land Grant University available to the people of the
state" and "to improve the lives
of people through education" (Extension, 2002). But, is the Extension
Service really
accomplishing its goals if only about 60 percent of Iowa farmers have
access to a computer and
less than half have access to the Internet?
This leads to the question at the heart of this study. Are online
communication channels
offered by the Iowa State Agriculture Extension as useful to Iowa
farmers as traditional
communication channels? Traditional communication channels are
defined here as interpersonal
communication that occurs between farmers and at seminars and
training sessions. They also
include the usual mediated communication channels, such as farm
publications, radio and
television. Online communication channels, on the other hand, are
defined as Internet-based
resources. In this study, it specifically refers to farming
information posted on the Iowa State
Agriculture Extension website. These resources are typically news
articles, farm publications, a
calendar, and links to field specialists and to other
agriculture-related websites.
USES AND GRATIFICATIONS IOWA FARMERS DERIVE FROM EXTENSION ONLINE SOURCES 4
The results of this study can serve as direct inputs to policy
making. How information is
delivered to and how feedback is solicited from farmers affect the
degree to which the Extension
service is useful to the state.
According to the Chronicle of Higher Education (2002), programs at
public colleges are
in danger due to dwindling state funds. Extension and outreach
programs are especially at risk,
because "they are not self supporting" (p. 22). The current Iowa
State Extension budget is about
$75 million, with about $25 million of that coming from the state
(ISU Extension, 2002). In the
past ten years, the funding the Extension service has received from
the government has remained
about the same, so the states and counties have had to increase their
funding in order to account
for inflation. Due to dwindling state budgets, the Extension Service
has been forced to look to
other sources for additional funding and to minimize its costs. One
solution is to charge for
some of its programs and services. The public services (such as
family development) it delivers
in places that are "economically depressed" are still being offered
free, but ISU Extension has
begun to charge fees of up to $20 for other programs such as 4H. It
has also begun to sell some
of its expertise to companies such as John Deere, and has abandoned
some other services such as
drafting environmental management plans for livestock farmers now
being offered by private
companies. These cutbacks have even caused some Extension workers to
worry they might lose
their jobs (Chronicle of Higher Education, 2003).
In another study, the 2000 Iowa Farm and Rural Life Poll conducted by
Iowa State
Extension to inform local, state and national leaders on the views of
farmers and how to better
respond to rural and farm issues, farmers were asked about their
favorite recreational and leisure
activities. While most watched television and read magazines and
books on a daily basis, only
about 14 percent of the respondents "played on the computer or other
electronic devices." About
USES AND GRATIFICATIONS IOWA FARMERS DERIVE FROM EXTENSION ONLINE SOURCES 5
46 percent said they never played on the computer or electronic
devices (ISU Extension, 2000).
This leads one to surmise that although the Internet is a valuable
tool for some farmers, the
majority still rely on interpersonal interaction and publications to
satisfy their communication
needs. With all of the logistical problems the Iowa State Extension
service is experiencing and
the documented limited farmers' access to the Internet, is the
funding and effort spent on
maintaining a website less than half of the farmers in Iowa use
really worth it?
Theoretical Framework and Literature Review
There are many reasons why people use the media. These reasons often
have to do with
their need to learn about things or themselves, to pass time, for
arousal, relaxation,
companionship or from habit (Greenberg, 1974). An individual is most
likely to use a
communication medium that is readily available, easy to use, and
successfully meets his/her
needs. If such is the case, how successful are Internet sources such
as the Iowa State Agriculture
Extension website in fulfilling farmers' communication needs?
The best answer to this question may lie within the framework of the uses and
gratifications theory. The uses and gratifications theory tries to
explain "how the media are
meeting our social and individual needs. The emphasis [of this
theory] is on an active audience,
deliberately using the media to achieve specific goals" (Tan, 1985, p. 233).
Uses and gratifications theory
Although uses and gratifications research dates back to the 1940s, it
was not until Elihu
Katz combined studies of audience effects with popular culture
studies in 1959 that this model
really began to take shape. The uses and gratifications theory
differed from many of the theories
of that period in that it rejected the assumptions of the
powerful-effects model and instead
"viewed the members of the audience as actively utilizing media
contents, rather than being
USES AND GRATIFICATIONS IOWA FARMERS DERIVE FROM EXTENSION ONLINE SOURCES 6
passively acted upon by the media" (p. 19). Therefore, the emphasis
of the theory was not on the
relationship between messages and effects, but rather on how the
audience uses the messages,
and how these uses "act as intervening variables in the process of
effect" (Katz, Blumler and
Gurevitch, 1974).
Katz, Blumler and Gurevitch (1974) explains uses and gratifications
as primarily
concerned with
the social and psychological origins of the needs, which generate
expectations of
the mass media or other sources which lead to differential patterns of media
exposure (or engagement in other activities), resulting in need
gratifications and
other consequences, perhaps mostly unintended ones. (p. 20)
Katz, Gurevitch and Haas (1973) suggest that audience needs fit into
five basic
categories: cognitive needs, which deal with strengthening
information or knowledge of the
environment; affective needs, which deal with strengthening
aesthetic, pleasurable and emotional
experiences; personal integrative needs, which deal with
strengthening credibility, confidence,
stability and individual status; social integrative needs, which are
related to strengthening
relationships among family, friends and the world; and escapist
needs, which are related to
people's desires to release tension and escape from their
environment. Lasswell (1948) states
that the media provide four basic gratifications to satisfy these
needs. They provide information
about the environment, they offer an escape or diversion from
reality, they offer their audience
members' personal identity, and they provide companionship.
Farmers and their Internet use
Farmers and their communication needs has long been a topic of
research. Tucker (1996)
emphasizes that the establishment and success of the National Project
in Agricultural
Communications (NPAC) in 1960 began to show researchers how valuable
agricultural
communication was especially to the farming community. The purpose of
NPAC, according to
USES AND GRATIFICATIONS IOWA FARMERS DERIVE FROM EXTENSION ONLINE SOURCES 7
Miller (1995), was "to study, stimulate and apply communication and
research knowledge to the
field of agriculture communication." Throughout this program, there
were a series of practical
publications that highlighted research findings and other topics of
study for agricultural
communicators. Several workshops were also held throughout the
country (Tucker, 1996).
Since that time, hundreds of studies have been performed in an effort
to decipher the
most effective communication channel with which to reach farmers.
Ford and Babb (1989)
sought to do just that. Their study, which was based on 2,537 mail
questionnaires that were
completed by farmers in Indiana, Iowa, Illinois and the Southeastern
part of the country, sought
to determine what communication channels farmers were using. They
found that farm
magazines, other farmers, and family/friends were the most frequently
used channels. Computer
databases and other network channels were shown to have little
importance to farmers and were
very sparsely used.
Kromm and White's (1991) study of irrigator's reliance on sources of
information for
water saving practices showed much the same results. They surveyed
1,750 irrigators in ten
counties in the leading irrigation states, and found the National
Soil Conservation Service,
university research stations, university extension services and
friends and neighbors as the most
popular sources for obtaining information about the availability and
practicality of specific
water-saving practices in their counties. In another portion of the
survey, irrigators were asked
to indicate their most reliable source of information on how to
effectively manage their water
use. They discovered that personal experiences, university extension
services, private
agricultural consulting firms, trade magazines and local ground water
or resource districts were
most often used.
USES AND GRATIFICATIONS IOWA FARMERS DERIVE FROM EXTENSION ONLINE SOURCES 8
Studies of farmers and their use of the Internet have become quite
popular in the past few
years. Raisch (2001) states that the rapid adoption of home computers
in the 1980s and 1990s
and the burgeoning Internet use in the 1990s have created a great
marketplace for information
and products. Vacek (1999) said the Internet is gaining acceptance
among farmers, especially
among those who are young and well educated.
In another study, Tucker and Napier (2002) tried to determine
farmer's preferred sources
and channels of soil and water conservation information. Their study
was based on the responses
of 1,011 farmers who completed questionnaires delivered directly to
their homes in three
Midwestern watersheds in Ohio, Iowa and Minnesota. Their respondents
report that they use the
Farm Service Agency, agri-chemical dealers and the Department of
Natural Resources'
Conservation Service most often as sources of conservation
information. They also found farm
magazines to be the most important communication medium for accessing
agricultural
information, but there was quite a difference among the watersheds in
terms of how channels
were ranked according to their use. In Ohio, farmers also liked to go
to farm shows and watch
television. In Iowa, they preferred listening to radio and attending
farm shows, and in
Minnesota, farmers liked on-farm tours and the radio. Not
surprisingly, electronic and computer
channels were used very little when compared with traditional
communication channels.
In July 2003, the USDA updated and released a new version of their
2001 study of farm
computer usage and ownership that said 48 percent of U.S. farms had
Internet access, and 58
percent of farmers had access to a computer. Thirty percent of the
respondents were using
computers for farm business. The study, which was based on survey
responses from 26,400
agricultural operations throughout the U.S., found six percent of
farmers using the Internet to
purchase agricultural inputs, to conduct agricultural marketing
activities, to access National
USES AND GRATIFICATIONS IOWA FARMERS DERIVE FROM EXTENSION ONLINE SOURCES 9
Agricultural Statistics Service reports, and another nine percent
used it to search for USDA
reports and other research materials. "It appears that computer
usage, ownership and Internet
access on farms have begun to level off" (USDA, 2003).
Zehr (2002), seeking to determine the communication needs and
behavior of Iowa apple
growers and cider producers, found that they were frequently exposed
to food safety messages in
every form of mass media, except for online sources. Respondents
reported they used
magazines, newspapers, radio and television to find food safety
information "once in a while,"
but they "hardly ever" used online sources to find this information.
Although the use of online
communication was low, Zehr did discover that respondents who used
the Internet paid "fair
attention" to the food safety information they found online.
The Internet as a supplement to traditional communication channels
The advent of the Internet did not automatically cause audiences to
shift to online
communication channels as the major source of information for any
number of functions.
According to Rupp (1996), although many companies are using an
Intranet or the Internet to
communicate with their employees, this might not be the most
effective means of
communicating with them. A study of 42 Fortune 500 companies found traditional
communication media still playing a major role in business. One of
the companies report that
almost half of its employees preferred written materials as a way to
receive information and
about 20 percent preferred face-to-face interaction. Only a small
percentage wished to receive
information from "high tech" resources. This strongly indicates that
this company should use
online sources only as a supplement to traditional communication channels.
Newspapers are also increasingly finding out that online
communications are only
supplementing, and not totally supplanting, traditional communication
media. A few years ago,
USES AND GRATIFICATIONS IOWA FARMERS DERIVE FROM EXTENSION ONLINE SOURCES 10
when Internet-based businesses first began to boom, online and print
divisions of newspapers
were almost always separate, and in competition with each other. The
online sources were often
more valued than the print version. However, when the economic and
technological bubble
burst, publishers discovered that print and online communication must
work together in order to
be successful (Morrison, 2003). They found older readers preferring
printed sources of
information, while younger readers preferred to view information online.
Based on the foregoing research literature, this study asks: What are
the mass media and
interpersonal communication habits of Iowa farmers? How many of them
are using the Iowa
State Agriculture Extension website? Do farmers who use the Iowa
State Agriculture Extension
website differ from those who do not in terms of demographic and
farming characteristics? What
are the channels of information farmers rely on for agricultural
purposes? What channels of
information do farmers trust the most? What gratifications do farmers
who use the website seek
and obtain?
Methodology
The data for this study were gathered through a statewide survey of
Iowa farmers. To
determine what questions to ask and the best way to ask them, four
Iowa farmers were
interviewed in an exploratory study. The interviews were conducted
with a convenience sample
of farmers from towns in southwestern Iowa. They lasted between 25
minutes to about an hour,
which allowed for a detailed discussion of the communication channels
they preferred and the
gratification they sought and derived from them. From the results of
these interviews, a
questionnaire was constructed.
USES AND GRATIFICATIONS IOWA FARMERS DERIVE FROM EXTENSION ONLINE SOURCES 11
As a pretest, this questionnaire was distributed to a convenience
sample of Iowa farmers.
It was revised following respondents' comments, and the final draft
was sent to a randomly
selected statewide sample.
Sample selection
According to the 2000 U.S. census, there are approximately 15,877
farmers in Iowa. For
this study, a random sample of subscribers of Iowa Farmer Today was
conducted. Such a
random sample helped to ensure that the responses were an adequate
representation of the
opinions of Iowa farmers, and it reduced sampling error. A sampling
frame of 1,000 subscribers
was obtained from Terry Reilly, associate publisher of Iowa Farmer
Today. From that list, 700
subscribers throughout the state were randomly selected. The sample
of Iowa Farmer Today
subscribers was used due to problems in obtaining a representative
sample. Iowa State Extension
claims it does not keep a list of the clients it serves, and for
privacy reasons, the USDA was not
legally able to provide the names and addresses of Iowa farmers.
Companies that sell research
samples were also contacted, however purchasing a sample of 1,000
names was quoted to cost
about $5000. A sample of Iowa Farmer Today's subscribers was provided
free of charge.
The questionnaire
The four-page questionnaire the farmers were asked to respond to had
three sections.
The first section measured frequency, exposure, and attention to
information sources regarding
farming. It asked respondents how often they used different sources
of communication, how
much attention they paid to farm information from each information
channel, and how much of
the content they used. Almost all of the questions in this section
were close ended. Respondents
were asked to circle the most appropriate response to each question.
USES AND GRATIFICATIONS IOWA FARMERS DERIVE FROM EXTENSION ONLINE SOURCES 12
To measure frequency, respondents were asked how many hours per week
they spend
using a particular information source. To determine how many hours
they use a medium each
week, they were asked to choose a response from a five-point scale
ranging from "none," "1 to3
hours" to "more than 10." Attention paid to a particular medium was
measured on a five-point
scale ranging from "none" to "very close." Exposure to source content
was rated on a five-point
scale from "all" to "none." In this section, farmers were also asked
where they receive the
majority of their information about farming. An "other" option was
added to this list in order to
see if there are sources of agricultural information they access
outside of those enumerated in the
list. Another question asked farmers to rank the channels and sources
of information they trust
the most. This question was used to decipher what sources and
channels farmers go to when
they need information concerning farming. The remaining questions in
this section asked about
computer and Internet knowledge.
The second section of the questionnaire asked what gratifications
farmers who use the
Iowa State Agriculture Extension web page seek and what
gratifications they obtain from using
the website. Again, most of the questions in this section are close
ended. The first two questions
in this section asked farmers if they use the Iowa State Extension
web site and how often they
use it. The responses to this item fall within a six-point scale,
ranging from "daily" to "less than
once a month." The respondents were asked what factors motivate them
to access the Extension
web page. Such motivations include: to find information, to entertain
one's self, to learn new
things, to relieve boredom, to exchange information, to help with
financial management, for
research purposes, and to find out what is happening in the field of
agriculture. Farmers were
asked to gauge their motivations for accessing the website by
indicating their responses on a
five-point scale, ranging from "strongly disagree" to "strongly
agree." The statements that were
USES AND GRATIFICATIONS IOWA FARMERS DERIVE FROM EXTENSION ONLINE SOURCES 13
chosen for this section were based upon audience needs assessments
suggested by Katz,
Gurevitch, and Hass (1973). These include: cognitive needs, affective
needs, personal integrative
needs, social integrative needs, and escapist needs.
Farmers were then asked what sections of the Extension web page they
access most
often, and what benefits they think they actually receive by visiting
the website. These were
generally a restatement of the motivations presented in the previous
questions, which were
intended to gauge whether farmer's needs are actually being met by
the Extension web page. On
a five-point scale, the responses to these questions also ranged from
"strongly disagree" to
"strongly agree."
The final section of this questionnaire was intended to collect
demographic information
such as race, income, education, age and gender and the county in
which they reside.
Results and Discussion
The questionnaire used to gather data for this study was mailed to
700 randomly selected
Iowa farmers who subscribe to Iowa Farmer Today. Reminder cards and a
second wave of
questionnaires were not sent due to the agreement with Iowa Farmer
Today, which specified that
the sample could be used only for one-time mailing. Two hundred nine
surveys were retuned. Of
those, two were not completed because the addressees were recently
deceased. Therefore, 207
useable questionnaires were received for a response rate of almost 30
percent. The final response
was received four weeks after the initial mailing.
Sample Demographics
Nearly 29 percent of the responses were received from farmers between
the ages of 45
and 54. Farmers between the ages of 55 and 64 comprised about 22
percent of respondents, and
USES AND GRATIFICATIONS IOWA FARMERS DERIVE FROM EXTENSION ONLINE SOURCES 14
19 percent were received from 65 to 74 year-olds. Thirty-five to 44
year-olds made up about 17
percent, and only small percentages were received from farmers
between the ages of 25 and 34
and those older than 74.
The majority of the respondents were Caucasian men. Men comprised
nearly 94 percent
of the respondents, while women accounted for only about five
percent. Ninety-five percent of
the respondents were Caucasian, and four percent were Native
American. There were no
responses from any other race categories.
About 39 percent of the respondents were high school graduates, and
about 33 percent
have had some college/vocational school/technical school experience.
Eighteen percent were
college graduates. Only small percentages of respondents did not
complete high school, attended
some graduate school, or obtained a graduate degree.
Twenty-five percent of the respondents earned between $40,001 and $60,000 from
farming before taxes in 2003, while 22 percent earned between $20,000
and $40,000. Nineteen
percent made less than $20,000, and 10 percent made between $60,001
and $80,000. Only small
percentages earned more than $80,000. The largest number of
respondents was from Sioux
County (5), with only small percentages received from each of the
other 98 counties in the state.
Ninety percent of the respondents grew soybeans, and almost 93
percent grew corn.
Fifty-nine percent raised hogs or cattle, and 23 percent farmed or
raised other agricultural
products such as alfalfa, hay, or sheep. A little more than 32
percent of the respondents have
been farming between 21 and 30 years. Twenty-nine percent have farmed
for more than 41
years, and about 21 percent said they had been farming between 31 and
40 years. Almost 13
percent said they had been farming between 10 and 20 years, and only
about five percent have
been farming for less than 10 years.
USES AND GRATIFICATIONS IOWA FARMERS DERIVE FROM EXTENSION ONLINE SOURCES 15
Fifty-seven percent of the respondents both owned and leased the land
they farm. Thirtythree
percent said they own the land they farm, and only about ten percent
leased their farm
exclusively.
These demographic characteristics mirror the results of the USDA's
2002 Census of
Agriculture. According to the census, the average age of the
principal farm operator in Iowa is
54.3 years, and about 84,451 of these are male, and about 6,204 are
female. An overwhelming
majority of operators, 124,932, are Caucasian, while 537 are Hispanic
or Latino, 116 are Native
American, 64 are Asian, 43 are African American, five are Native
Hawaiian or Pacific Islander,
and 86 are more say they belong to more that one race. The top crop
items for the state of Iowa
are corn for grain and soybeans while the top livestock inventory
items are hogs, turkeys, and
cattle. The average net income of operators in Iowa is about $31,592
(USDA, 2002).
RQ1: What are the mass media and interpersonal communication habits
of farmers?
Mass Media Exposure
A big majority, almost 61% of the respondents, said they spend
between one to three
hours per week reading farm publications, and another 27% spent
between four and seven hours
per week doing so. A few read longer, from eight to more than 10
hours per week. Only three
were non-readers of farm publications.
Radio listening is also very common to many of the respondents.
Almost 48 percent of
them said they spend between one and three hours per week listening
to radio programs about
farming, and almost 22 percent said they spend between four and seven
hours per week doing so.
Fourteen and one half percent do not listen to radio programs about
farming at all, while a little
more than 14 percent of the farmer-respondents cannot seem to get
enough radio, spending from
eight to ten hours or more per week listening to radio programs about farming.
USES AND GRATIFICATIONS IOWA FARMERS DERIVE FROM EXTENSION ONLINE SOURCES 16
Almost 60 percent of the respondents said they spend between one and
three hours per
week watching television programs about farming. About 28.5 percent
do not watch farm
television programs at all. A little more than seven percent spend
between four and seven hours
per week doing so.
A little more than half (57%) of the farmers said they do not access
websites about
farming at all. Of those who go online, eight spend between one and
three hours per week on
farming websites, and about two access farming websites between four
and seven hours per
week. The sample, therefore, was largely made up of non-website users.
Attention Paid to Mass Media
Almost 48 percent of the respondents said they paid close attention
to the articles they
find in farm publications, a little more than 34 percent paid some
attention to them, and 11
percent paid very close attention to the farm publications they were
reading. Only five percent
said they paid little attention to them.
Almost 38 percent of the farmer-respondents said they paid some
attention to radio
programs about farming, while almost 31 percent reportedly paid close
attention to them. Twelve
percent of respondents said they paid little attention to farm radio
programs, and ten percent said
they paid no attention at all to radio programs. About 15 of them
paid very close attention to
radio programs about farming.
Among television watchers, a little more than 34 percent said they
paid close attention to
television programs about farming, while almost 33 percent said they
only paid some attention to
them. Almost 26 percent paid little attention to them while eight
percent paid very close attention
to television programs about farming.
USES AND GRATIFICATIONS IOWA FARMERS DERIVE FROM EXTENSION ONLINE SOURCES 17
Among the web users, 38 said they paid some attention, 39 paid close
to very close
attention, and 122 said they paid little or no attention to websites
about farming. Figure 2 graphs
the general trend in the attention respondents paid to select mass
media channels.
Interpersonal Communication Habits
About 60.4 percent of the respondents said they spent between one and
three hours each
week talking to other farmers about farming, and about 22 percent
spent between four and seven
hours a week doing so. A little more than seven percent spent more
than ten hours a week
talking to other farmers about farming, and about six percent said
they spent between eight and
ten hours each week having interpersonal exchanges with other farmers
about farming.
Most of the farmers (almost 43%) said they paid close attention to
other farmers while
about 39 percent paid only some attention to them. Only about 7.2
percent paid very close
attention to other farmers when discussing farm matters with them.
About 39 percent of the respondents listened to almost all of what
other farmers had to
say to them about farming, and about 32 percent listened to more than
half of what other farmers
said about farming. A little more than 17 percent listened to less
than half, and about nine
percent said they listened to everything other farmers say to them
about farming.
Close to half of the respondents (45%) attended between one to three
agriculture-related
seminars or training sessions within the last year, while another 40
percent said they attended
none. Almost nine percent attended between four and seven seminars or
training sessions in the
past year, and only about two percent said they attended between
eight and ten seminars or
training sessions during the same time period.
Of those who attended seminars or training sessions, a little more
than 30 percent said
they learned "some," about 19 percent said they learned "quite a
bit," and a little more than four
USES AND GRATIFICATIONS IOWA FARMERS DERIVE FROM EXTENSION ONLINE SOURCES 18
percent said they "did not learn much" from these seminars or
training sessions. Only one
percent said they "learned an exceptional amount" from these conferences.
In summary, farmers tended to use farm publications and the radio
with more frequency
than they do television. In general, the data shows minimal use of
the Internet. The respondents
also report they pay more attention to farm publications and to radio
than any other
communication source, although they tend to consume more TV content.
Farmers reportedly
spent one to three hours per week discussing farming topics and
issues with other farmers, and
they closely listen to what other farmers have to say. More than half
of the respondents have
attended at least one seminar or training session within the last
year, and most said they learned
"at least some" at those events.
RQ2: How many farmers are using the Iowa State Agriculture Extension webpage?
Of the 207 useable questionnaires that were returned, only 47
respondents (22.7%) said
they have visited the Iowa State Extension website, while the
majority (153 or 73.9%), claim
they had never visited the website. This clearly shows the Extension
website as being highly
underutilized.
Almost 65 percent of the respondents reported having Internet access
in their homes. Of
those respondents, a little more than 45 percent had a dial-up
connection, almost 19 percent had a
high-speed Internet connection, and the rest were not sure what type
of Internet connection they
had. It is assumed those who have Internet access in their homes and
those with adequate
computer skills are more likely to visit the Iowa State Agriculture
Extension webpage.
RQ3: Do farmers who access the Iowa State Agriculture Extension
website differ from
those who do not in terms of demographic characteristics?
USES AND GRATIFICATIONS IOWA FARMERS DERIVE FROM EXTENSION ONLINE SOURCES 19
Demographic Characteristics
A chi-square test was performed to determine if website users and
non-users differ by
age. The Pearson chi-square results revealed the difference in age
between the two groups was
significant (x2 = 14.634; p = 0.012). Almost half of the respondents
between the ages of 25 and
34 said they have visited the Iowa State Agriculture Extension
website. Only about 30 percent of
respondents in the 35 to 44, 45 to 54, and 55 to 64 categories said
they have indeed used the
website, and after the age of 65, the number of farmers who have used
the Extension website
dropped off dramatically to about six percent (Table 1). The data
indicate, therefore, that
younger farmers are more likely to use the Extension website, and
website use decreases by age.
Table 1. Chi-square test showing difference between website users and
non-users by age
Case Processing Summary
ever accessed the
Extension homepage
by age
Cross Tabulation Count
yes ever accessed the
Extension
homepage by age
no
Total
Chi-Square Tests
Pearson Chi-Square
Likelihood Ratio
Linear-by-Linear Association
N of Valid Cases
USES AND GRATIFICATIONS IOWA FARMERS DERIVE FROM EXTENSION ONLINE SOURCES
Cases
Missing
Percent
3.4%
Total
N
207
Valid
Percent
96.6%
Percent
100.0%
N7
N
200
Total
47 3
Age
25 to 34 35 to 44 45 to 54 55 to 64 65 to 74 over 74
11 16 14 2 1
153
200
17
18
35
37
31
45
42
58
24
35
47
Asymp. Sig. (2-sided) df Value
0.012 5 14.634
0.004 5 17.556
0.001 1 10.255
200
20
Does website use differ by gender? A chi-square test was performed to
determine if there
is a gender difference between those who access the website and those
who do not (Table 2). No
significant relationship was found (x2 = .191; p = 0.662). That is,
the two groups (website users
and non-users) did not differ in gender. Gender, therefore, does not
have an effect on Extension
website use.
Do web users and non-users differ by race? A chi-square test of
independence was
performed to answer this question. Of the 198 who responded to the
question on race, 193 were
Caucasian and five were Native American. The Pearson chi-square test
showed no significant
difference (x2 = 0.040; p = 0.842) between the two groups in terms of
race (Table 3). That is,
Caucasians are as likely as Native Americans to use the Extension webpage.
Do the two groups differ in terms of education? A chi-square test of
independence was
also performed to answer this question. The results showed, indeed,
that those who use the Iowa
State Agriculture Extension website and those who do not differ in
terms of education (x2 =
25.320; p = 0. 000) (Table 2). That is, as education increases, so
does the likelihood of using the
website.
Table 2. Chi-square test showing website users and non-users differ
in terms of education
Case Processing Summary
Cases
Missing
Percent
3.4%
Valid
Percent
96.6%
N7
N
200 ever accessed the
Extension homepage by
education
Cross Tabulation Count
graduate
college some grad grad
school degree
Education
have not high some college/
completed school vocational or
high school graduate technical school
USES AND GRATIFICATIONS IOWA FARMERS DERIVE FROM EXTENSION ONLINE SOURCES
Total
N
207
Percent
100.0%
Total
21
16 17 7 1 yes ever accessed
the Extension
homepage
no 21
37
51
68
70
77
78
Total
Chi-Square Tests
df Value
5
5
1
25.320
24.881
23.630
200
Pearson Chi-Square
Likelihood Ratio
Linear-by-Linear Association
N of Valid Cases
Does income have an influence on website use? A chi-square test was
also performed to
answer this question. The results indicate that income has a bearing
on website use (x2 = 12.144;
p = 0.033) (Table 3). As Table 3 shows, website use drops as income increases.
Table 3. Chi-square test showing website users and non-users differ
in terms of income
Case Processing Summary
Cases
Missing
Percent
13.0%
N
27
Valid
Percent
87.0%
N
180 ever accessed the Extension
homepage by income
Cross Tabulation Count
Income
less than $20,000 - $40,001- $60,001- $80,001-
$60,000 $80,000 $100,000 $100,000 $20,000 $40,000
6 9 16 6 yes ever accessed the
Extension
homepage
no 12
21
34
50
39
45
31
37 Total
Chi-Square Tests
df Value
USES AND GRATIFICATIONS IOWA FARMERS DERIVE FROM EXTENSION ONLINE SOURCES
47 4 2
153
200
26
24
Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)
0.000
0.000
0.000
Percent
100.0%
Total
N
207
Total
over
42 2 3
138
180
16
18
69
Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)
22
0.033 5 12.144 Pearson Chi-Square
0.034 5 12.054 Likelihood Ratio
0.290 1 1.119 Linear-by-Linear Association
180 N of Valid Cases
In summary, web users and non-users differ in terms of age,
education, income, and years
spent farming. As age increases, the tendency to use the Extension
website decreases. It is no
surprise then that as the number of years farming increased, website
use also declined. As level
of education increases, the respondents' propensity to use the
Extension website also increases.
The reverse is true for income. As increases, website use is more
likely to drop. Therefore,
website users tended to be younger, have more education, have less
income, and have been
farming for fewer years than nonusers.
RQ4: What are the channels of information farmers rely on for
agricultural purposes?
The respondents indicated they relied most on newsletters, family and friends,
newspapers, and magazines for farming information. About 20 percent
of them ranked
newsletters as the source of information about farming they depend on
the most. Seventeen
percent said they depend on family and friends most for information
about farming. Fifteen
percent ranked magazines as their number one source; nearly eleven
percent said they depend on
newspapers, and nine percent said they depend on radio. Iowa State
Extension accounted for
about five percent of the first choices, while the Internet accounted
for only a little more than
three percent. A little less than three percent said they were most
dependent on television for
information about farming (Figure 1).
RQ5: What channels of information do farmers trust the most?
USES AND GRATIFICATIONS IOWA FARMERS DERIVE FROM EXTENSION ONLINE SOURCES 23
Twenty-eight percent of the respondents said family and friends were
their most trusted
source of information about farming. For about 16.5 percent, farm
publications were. A good
13.5 percent said Extension was their most trusted source of
information about farming. A few
(about 5.3%) said radio was their most trusted communication source,
while only about 2.4 said
it was television. Another 2.4 percent trusted the Department of
Natural Resources, and about
one half of one percent said the Internet is their most trusted
source of information about farming
(Figure 2).
RQ6: What gratifications do those who use the website seek?
Frequency of Website Use
Of the 207 respondents, 47 (22.7%) said they had visited the Iowa
State Agriculture
Extension website, while 153 said they had not. Of the few who
visited the webpage, about 16
percent said they did so once a month, another 4.3 percent said they
visited a few times per
month, one percent visited two or more times per week, one percent
said they visited daily, and
less than one percent said they visited the website once a week.
A little more than 12 percent of those who said they looked at the
Extension website said
they do so to read news items. Almost 12 percent said they looked at
Extension publications.
Only about 1.5 percent accessed the website's calendar, nearly 11
percent said they looked for
field specialists, and a little more than five percent said they
linked to the College of Agriculture.
A little more than two percent linked to the College of Veterinary
Medicine, and about nine
percent said they looked at the links to other agriculture-related
website. About one and one half
percent wanted to know about other things such as pest control.
USES AND GRATIFICATIONS IOWA FARMERS DERIVE FROM EXTENSION ONLINE SOURCES 24
Gratifications Sought
The categories for uses and gratifications questions were based on
the audience needs
assessments suggested by Katz, Gurevitch, and Hass (1973). Those
needs include cognitive
needs, affective needs, personal integrative needs, social
integrative needs, and escapist needs.
USES AND GRATIFICATIONS IOWA FARMERS DERIVE FROM EXTENSION ONLINE SOURCES 25
USES AND GRATIFICATIONS IOWA FARMERS DERIVE FROM EXTENSION ONLINE SOURCES 26
USES AND GRATIFICATIONS IOWA FARMERS DERIVE FROM EXTENSION ONLINE SOURCES 27
Of the respondents who said they have used the Extension website, an
overwhelming 87
percent somewhat to strongly agreed finding information about farming
was a motivation for
visiting the website. Sixty-eight percent of the website users
somewhat to strongly disagreed
entertainment was a motivation for visiting the website.
Almost 83 percent of those who use the website somewhat agreed
learning new things
was the reason why they used the website. Seventy-eight percent also
somewhat disagreed
relieving boredom was a motivation for visiting it. A little more
than 61 percent of website users
somewhat to strongly disagreed they use the website to exchange
information. Almost 56 percent
either somewhat to strongly disagreed they use the website for
financial management. Eightyseven
percent of those who access the website tended to agree research is a
strong motivation for
visiting the website. Almost 81 percent also somewhat to strongly
agreed finding news about
agriculture was a strong reason for doing so.
Because Extension's purpose is to educate the citizenry and it is one
of the farmer's most
trusted sources of communication, it is no surprise the vast majority
of farmers visit the website
to find information about farming, to learn new things, to do
research, and to find news about
agriculture.
RQ7: What gratifications do farmers who use the website obtain?
Of the respondents who said they used the Iowa State Agriculture
Extension website, 89
percent somewhat to strongly agreed finding information about farming
was a gratification they
obtained by visiting the website. Almost 77 percent of them somewhat
to strongly disagreed their
desire for entertainment was met by visiting the website.
USES AND GRATIFICATIONS IOWA FARMERS DERIVE FROM EXTENSION ONLINE SOURCES 28
About 77 percent of those who use the website somewhat agreed
learning new things was
a gratification they received by visiting the website. To many
(almost 79%), relieving boredom
was not one of reasons they access the website.
Almost 64 percent of website users somewhat to strongly disagreed exchanging
information was a gratification obtained by visiting the website, and
a little more than 55 percent
somewhat to strongly disagreed financial management was a
gratification they get from doing so.
A good majority of those who access the website (83%) tended to agree
that doing
research was a gratification obtained by visiting the website, and
almost 77 percent somewhat to
strongly agreed finding news about agriculture was one of the
benefits of visiting the Iowa State
Agriculture Extension website.
In summary, farmers visit the Extension website to find information
about farming, to
learn new things, do research, find news about agriculture, and to
help manage their finances.
The responses regarding gratifications obtained indicate those who
visit the website are indeed
obtaining the gratifications they seek. Except for exchanging
information with other farmers, the
respondents claim the gratifications sought in accessing the website
are the same as the
gratifications obtained in doing so. The results indicate that those
who use the Extension website
do so for highly cognitive needs. The escapist needs of relieving
boredom and entertainment
were never mentioned as reasons for going online, showing the lack of
diversionary motives in
using the Extension website.
Discussion and Conclusions
The results overwhelmingly showed the majority of farmers are not
using the Iowa State
Agriculture website. Indeed, only a small number of farmers in the
sample reported they use the
Internet for farming-related purposes.
USES AND GRATIFICATIONS IOWA FARMERS DERIVE FROM EXTENSION ONLINE SOURCES 29
The results of this study echo those of other studies that have
examined the preferred
sources of communication of Iowa farmers. In 1989, Ford and Babb
found farm magazines and
interpersonal communication channels were used most often, and
computers and other network
channels were rarely used. In 1991, Kromm and White conducted a study
of irrigators' reliance
on sources of information. Their respondents claim they viewed
personal experience, Extension
services, interpersonal communication, and trade magazines as their
most reliable sources of
information. In 2002, Tucker and Napier sought to determine farmers'
preferred sources of
communication about soil and water conservation. They found farm
magazines as the most
important communication medium for farmers, and in Iowa, farmers also
preferred radio and
farm shows. Again, in this case, electronic and computer channels
were used much less than
traditional communication channels.
The results of this study show farmers spending the majority of their
communication time
reading farm publications, watching television shows or listening to
radio programs about
farming, talking to other farmers or attending seminars or training
session. They also tended to
pay closer attention and consume more information from farm
publications, television, radio,
seminars or training sessions and other farmers than they do from the
Internet.
There may be several reasons for their choices. In this study, about
65 percent of the
respondents have Internet access at home, and of those, almost half
have a dial-up connection.
Dial-up connections in rural areas are often slow. It can take a long
time for a website to load,
and it can take even longer to download information from website.
Traditional communication
channels, such as farm publications, radio, and television allow
farmers to receive information
almost instantaneously.
USES AND GRATIFICATIONS IOWA FARMERS DERIVE FROM EXTENSION ONLINE SOURCES 30
Another reason farmers may be choosing traditional communication
channels instead of
the Internet is the absence of computer skills. It takes very little
skill to read a farm publication
or watch television or listen to the radio. Using a computer,
however, requires much more
training. This study found more than half of the respondents do not
believe they possess adequate
computer skills to fully exploit online resources. In general,
however, the findings of the study
provide evidence that farmers are most likely to choose traditional
communication channels
because they are more readily available, cheaper, and require much
less skill to use than the
Internet.
It was found that the vast majority of farmers are not using the
website. This is probably
also a result of the fact that farmers simply prefer traditional
communication channels to the
Internet.
Are Extension website users different from those who do not use it in terms of
demographic characteristics? The findings showed that as age
increases, the tendency to use the
Extension website decreases. It is no surprise then as the number of
years farming increased,
website use also declines. Personal computers are a fairly new
innovation, and older farmers are
probably not as familiar or experienced with computers as younger
farmers. As a result, they
choose not to use them.
As level of education increases, the propensity to use the Extension
website also
increases, but as income increases, the likelihood of website use
declines. Those who are more
highly educated have probably had more experience with computers and
see the advantages of
using them. The finding on income looks counter-intuitive, however.
Those with higher incomes
should find computer and Internet access more affordable.
USES AND GRATIFICATIONS IOWA FARMERS DERIVE FROM EXTENSION ONLINE SOURCES 31
In general, however, website users tend to be younger, have more
education, and have
lower income than non-users.
Farmers rely on newsletters, family and friends, magazines,
newspapers and radio for
information about farming. The sources they trust are family and
friends, farm publications,
Extension, the USDA, and radio. They trust television, the Department
of Natural Resources, or
the Internet, less. Farmers tended to rely on and trust the same
channels of communication, and
not surprisingly, they did not rely or trust on the Internet. This is
probably a result of the lack of
access and experience with online sources. The majority of farmers
report having access to farm
publications, family and friends, television, the USDA and Extension
for a good part of their
lives. The Internet has only become widely available and used within
the last decade. They rely
on and trust the source they have more experience with.
Those who visit the Iowa State Agriculture Extension website seek
information about
farming, want to learn new things, access it for research purposes,
and find news about
agriculture. The gratifications they sought were matched by the
gratifications they obtained in
visiting the website: finding information about farming, learning new
things, conducting
research, and finding news about agriculture. Because Extension's
purpose is to educate the
citizenry and because it is one of the respondents' most trusted
sources of information, it is no
surprise that the majority of farmers are using the website to
educate themselves about farming
and farm topics. The data show those who visit the website do obtain
the gratifications they seek
from it.
The results of this study show that respondents use the Internet to
"keep up" with current
events and issues about farming. If people indeed use different media
for different purposes, then
the reasons for using the Extension website are clear. The
respondents did not view the Internet
USES AND GRATIFICATIONS IOWA FARMERS DERIVE FROM EXTENSION ONLINE SOURCES 32
primarily as a "diversionary medium." They saw it more as content and
information-oriented.
Online sources are not accessed for ritualistic use, which deals with
entertainment to pass time
and relaxation. The reasons, however, do not support the phenomenon
of media substitution, said
to occur when two media are used for a similar purpose but one is
more accessible or seen as
better than the other for achieving this purpose. Clearly, in the
case of Iowa farmers, the Internet
has not replaced traditional communication sources.
The findings of this study provide evidence that Extension remains a
valuable service to
farmers. However, in the performance of its functions, it does not
have to abandon its use of
traditional communication sources to disseminate information. If
Extension continues to push the
idea of streamlining information by simply putting it on the web,
many farmers are going to be
left without the valuable agricultural information they are looking
for and need.
This study found those who use the web also use a variety of other
communication
sources, such as farm publications, radio programs and family/friends
to obtain information
about farming. This further supports the idea that the web is used
more as a supplement to
traditional communication sources rather than as a "stand alone"
source of communication.
Although computers and the Internet are becoming more popular in
farming communities, they
still are not as widely used or as trusted as traditional
communication sources. The results also
demonstrate the role of involvement in website use. Those who are
involved about agriculture
and farming issues are also active information seekers. They are
likely to search far and wide for
this information if they are rewarded for undertaking active search.
When the Internet really began to become popular in the nineties,
many thought it would
replace many of the more traditional sources of communication. This
prediction has not come to
light. Rupp (1996) studied 42 Fortune 500 companies and found the
majority of their employees
USES AND GRATIFICATIONS IOWA FARMERS DERIVE FROM EXTENSION ONLINE SOURCES 33
preferred to receive information from traditional or interpersonal
sources. Farmers are no
different.
Morrison (2003) found older newspaper readers preferred printed
sources of information,
while younger readers preferred to view information online. It is
very much the same in farming
communities. As the Internet stays around longer, it is expected
farmers will begin to trust and
rely on it much more.
The results of this study support the contention that website content
is more of a
motivation for visiting a website than recreational browsing. "There
is some preliminary
indication that site content may be more gratifying to Internet users
than the process gratification
of Web surfing" (Stafford, Stafford, & Schkade, 2004). In their 2002
study of uses and
gratifications of the Web for political information, Johnson and Kaye
also found people tended
to visit political websites for goal-oriented reasons rather than for
entertainment purposes.
These findings are further supported by the results of this study.
The majority of farmers
who visited the Iowa State Agriculture Extension website did so for
motivations such as finding
information about farming, learning new things, to do research and to
find news about the field
of agriculture. Few respondents said entertaining themselves or
relieving boredom was a
motivation for visiting the website. The motivations for website use,
therefore, are more
cognitive than escapist. The Extension website, to those who visit
it, is a veritable source of
agricultural information, and is not a tool for diversion. No one
also mentioned using it for
provisional companionship.
In general, however, the results point to the fact that, among
farmers, the Extension
website is still not a functional alternative to traditional media channels.
USES AND GRATIFICATIONS IOWA FARMERS DERIVE FROM EXTENSION ONLINE SOURCES 34
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