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This research examined how the North Carolina A & T State University Cooperative Extension program has helped limited-resource farmers realize economic, environmental, and social outcomes through its 1890 Extension education program. Since1990, there has been little research on recent contributions of 1890 Extension programs for this audience. This inquiry described educational collaborative efforts among the North Carolina A & T Extension program, North Carolina State University (NCSU), other 1862 land-grant universities, community-based organizations, and government agencies providing nonformal education and services to limited-resource farmers. Personal interviews were conducted with two Extension specialists, one associate, two agents, and two agricultural and natural resource technicians. A focus group was conducted with nine limited-resource farmers.The findings revealed that the Farmers Adopting Computer Training (FACT), Plasticulture, and Pastured-Swine programs have helped enhance limited-resource farmers' economic, environmental, and social outcomes. In addition, the participants confirmed caring, trust, and relationship building as qualities that encouraged their participation. However, participants indicated that scheduling Extension programs that conflict with planting and harvesting season and programs that do not address farmers' needs and issues prevent their participation in Extension programs. Furthermore, North Carolina A & T Extension programs involved farmers in program planning through advisory committees and mentoring other farmers. Participants indicated that NC A & T collaborates with North Carolina State University, community-based organizations, and other government agencies to meet the needs of limited-resource farmers.The data suggest that the following improvements and changes for the North Carolina A & T Extension program: (a) use the outcome-based evaluation approach to evaluate Extension programs, (b) provide training for Extension faculty on program planning models, (c) continue the FACT, plasticulture, and pastured-swine production programs, (d) educate faculty in other schools and colleges at NC A & T State University about Extension programs, and (e) develop joint programs with other schools and colleges at North Carolina A & T State University. / Ph. D.

The growing popularity of farmers' markets coupled with a high percentage of produce-related foodborne outbreaks highlights the need for an emphasis on food safety within these markets to protect farmers, patrons and local economies. The number of farmers' markets registered in the United States has almost tripled in the last 15 years. Fresh produce constitutes the majority of food sold at farmers'markets. Between 1998 and 2008, raw produce accounted for almost half of the 4,589 foodborne illness outbreaks linked to a specific commodity. This research was conducted to identify practices at farmers' markets which may contribute to an increased risk of contamination, assess the microbial quality of produce sold at farmers' markets, as well as to develop a food safety management plan template for market managers to utilize to build their own food safety plan. Using an observational data collection method, risky food safety practices were identified at Southwest Virginia farmers' markets. While market managers and vendors in three of the five markets observed had formal food safety training, numerous risky food safety behaviors were still observed including temperature abuse, cross contamination opportunities, and poor personal hygiene and sanitation. Additionally, the microbial quality of produce from Southwest Virginia farmers' markets was compared to produce sold at retail using culture based microbiological plating and molecular methods. Total aerobic bacteria and coliforms were enumerated, and the presence of Escherichia coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella spp., Staphylococcus aureus and generic E. coli were determined. A significantly greater quantity of total aerobic bacteria was isolated from farmers' market leafy greens, onions and tomatoes when compared to a retail grocery store (P=0.0011, P=0.0395, and P<0.0001, respectively). Additionally, one or more target pathogen was isolated from 28 farmers' market samples and 16 retail grocery store samples. The observed risky food safety behaviors along with the bacterial data collected emphasize the need for a pathogen reduction focus on fresh produce not only at farmers' markets, but also with growers and other retail outlets. To help promote proper food safety practices at farmers' markets, a farmers' market food safety management plan (FSMP) template was developed to address the top five risk factors contributing to foodborne illness as identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The FSMP was evaluated for practicality and feasibility through interviews with market mangers in North Carolina and Virginia. Most market managers (66.7%) agreed that the FSMP was practical for their market while only 33.3% agreed that they could implement the plan immediately. Revisions suggested to the FSMP will be made and it will be made available in Virginia and North Carolina in spring 2016. / Ph. D.

In many countries, including Turkey, agriculture is a major component of the rural population income, and in these rural areas women are the cornerstones of the agricultural production. Resources, especially water, land, livestock, crops, and knowledge about agricultural production are crucial for preserving the livelihoods of most of the world's rural families. Access to, control over, and management of these resources determines which farming activities are pursued, what goods may be produced, and whether the lives of rural households are enhanced or diminished. Yet, gender influences who has access to these resources and what level of access they have. Although women work in the fields, the homes, outside the farm, and at the markets, their male counterparts often maintain control of the decision making over the household and its economy. Thus, women, more than men, bear the burdens - physical, psychological, social, moral, economic, and legal- of these gender inequalities. Previous studies focused on the women farmers' unpaid work in agriculture and household duties, their access to technical information, credit, extension services, critical inputs such as fertilizers and water, and marketing around the world including Turkey. However, there are not many studies addressing the Turkish women farmers' gender inequality positions from a feminist standpoint lens. Drawing on the feminist standpoint theory, the purpose of this study was to explore the gender inequality experiences of women farmers on small farm practices in Turkey. Utilizing qualitative methods through the lens of feminist inquiry as a methodological approach, this study explored several aspects addressed by research questions associated with social positions: gender division labor; women's work in agriculture and household; decision making dynamics of rural families; accessing resources and knowledge; agrarian change; and effect of gender on small farm practices from Turkish women farmers' standpoints. Feminist standpoint data were collected through 23 individual in-depth interviews, and five focus group sessions with women farmers in their villages, located in southern region of Konya province, in Turkey. Data were analyzed thoroughly following the constant comparative method by using the computer software, Atlas.ti. Initial codes used in data analysis were based on concepts and themes drawn from both the literature and theoretical framework. The results demonstrated that there are gendered roles and responsibilities on small farm practices; women participants carry out both farm and household tasks, and in this sense bearing a heavier workload burden than men. Moreover, women's work in agricultural production, subsistence production, providing care for family members, or work in the extended family house, is invisible. The results also highlighted that these rural women's formal education level is low and they lack access to extension education services. Further, they lacked decision making power, compared to their husbands, on household resources and income on these small farm practices. Additionally, this study pointed out that there is an ongoing depeasantization in these rural villages and the migrating rural women hold unemployable positions in the cities due to their limited skills and poor education background. This study concludes with recommendations for individuals, community organizations, Turkish government agricultural policy makers, and extension education systems to better assist these women in their work. / Ph. D.

The problem involved in this study was that of selecting and developing a record keeping system for students of vocational agriculture to use in their supervised farming programs. The study was made in Montgomery County, Virginia. It involved the close cooperation of the Montgomery County Agriculture Teachers Association, which is composed of teachers from the Riner, Shawsville, Christiansburg, and Blacksburg Agriculture Departments. Through this study it was hoped that a more effective system of record keeping could be provided for supervised farming programs of students enrolled in vocational agriculture. After two years of work with different types of records and record books, the record book developed was adopted by the Montgomery County Agriculture Teachers Association. This book was first used for keeping supervised farming records during the calendar year 1955. The Montgomery County Teachers felt that the record book satisfactorily met all the criteria they bad previously set up for keeping farm records and recommended it for continued use in their classes of vocational agriculture. In March, 1958, after three years use by vocational agriculture students in Montgomery County, teachers of the four agriculture departments were asked to evaluate die record book. The record book scored high on all evaluations. Teachers found the book helpful tn their teaching for tbe following reasons: 1. The record book aided them in effectively teaching farm record keeping. 2. Students showed more interest in record keeping. 3. Supervised farming programs were strengthened. / Master of Science

Providing improved access to farmers markets and other local food outlets for low-income audiences is an increasingly popular nutrition intervention strategy to promote consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables and address obesity. The USDA encouraged more farm to fork initiatives and efforts to connect low-income populations with fresh and healthy, local foods through farmers markets through the implementation of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Nutrition Education (SNAP-Ed) provisions of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. The purpose of this research was to assess the perceived barriers to farmers market access and strategies for overcoming those barriers for low-income individuals and families participating in Cooperative Extension nutrition programming. Data collection procedures included a survey of SNAP-Ed and the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) program assistants, focus group discussions with SNAP-eligible individuals, and a photo elicitation study with mothers of young children. Results from these studies provide insight on how to structure program assistant trainings to encourage the inclusion of an optional farmers market orientation lesson in SNAP-Ed and EFNEP curricula; low-income individuals' perception of healthy food, access to and perception of local foods, benefits and barriers to shopping at farmers markets, and the impact of local foods on diet quality; and how to address perceived barriers through Cooperative Extension nutrition programming for the SNAP-Ed and ENFEP target population of SNAP-eligible mothers of young children. Working with farmers markets is an opportunity to form greater synergy between the arms of Extension (Family and Consumer Sciences, Community Viability, Agriculture and Natural Resources, and potentially 4-H) related to supporting local food systems while forming collaborative relationships with local farmers markets and community members. / Ph. D.

This thesis explores constraints to the development of markets for high quality cacao in Ecuador. It focuses on the role of market level constraints, particularly the transmission of quality incentives along the marketing chain and their effects on farmers' incentives to invest in quality production. Chapter 1 introduces the reader to the problem, demonstrating that Ecuadorian farmers are not responding to international incentives to produce high quality cacao, and outlines the objectives, hypotheses, and structure of the thesis. Chapter 2 provides background to the market, detailing Ecuador's role in world commodity and high-value cacao markets and gives a detailed description of the cacao market in Ecuador. Chapter 3 uses a subsector analysis to develop and test hypotheses that specific market level constraints, such as transaction costs, market power, and institutional constraints, impede the transmission of incentives to produce quality to farmers. The subsector analysis failed to support the hypotheses that intermediaries are able to exert market power but found that transaction costs and weak institutions presented significant constraints to the transmission of quality incentives. Chapter 4 examines the determinants of farmers' market channel choice and the prices that they receive. In addition to determinants that are commonly found in the literature, such as the characteristics of the transaction and farmer's characteristics, hypotheses testing of quality incentives makes a unique contribution. Analysis of survey data of Ecuadorian farmers found minimal transmission of quality incentives to farmers—only the cultivar Nacional as a quality indicator was found to affect the farmers' market channel choice out of six indicators selected to represent quality. The quality indicators selected were pre- and post-harvest practices, variety, having received technical assistance, credit, belonging to a cacao association, and discounts at sale by the buyer. Also, pre- and post-harvest practices, having received credit, and belonging to a cacao association out of similar quality indicators were found to affect the price paid to the farmer. Finally, Chapter 5 summarizes the main points discovered through the research, discusses policy implications, and proposes further research needs. / Master of Science

A major thrust for vocational education in the 1980s is the collaboration of schools with industry and other sectors of the community. The Building Our American Communities (BOAC) program was initiated in 1971 by the Future Farmers of America to involve agriculture students in their communities. Considerable financial and human resources have supported BOAC program operations for the past 13 years, yet there is a lack of knowledge as to who has been participating in the program, what resources have been utilized, and what outcomes have resulted. The purpose of the study was to examine the BOAC program by describing community development activities, BOAC projects, and characteristics associated with selected students and advisors who participated in the 1983 BOAC program relative to their FFA chapter, school, and community contextual situations with respect to program inputs and anticipated outcomes. The first four levels of Bennett and Nelson's (1975) evaluation hierarchy used by the Cooperative Extension Service served as a theoretical frame of reference for the study. The population for this descriptive study included the 48 students and 46 advisors who attended the 1983 National Conference on Community Development. Three survey instruments were developed by the researcher. One for students and one for advisors elicited background and participation information. The third instrument was used to gather participants' FFA chapter, school, and community data. BOAC program statistical reports were also used as a data source. The data were analyzed using descriptive techniques. Two major findings of this study were: 1. Benefits to FFA members and vocational agriculture programs represented the major program outcomes. These outcomes were increased citizen participation, increased human relation skills of members, and increased public awareness of the vocational agriculture program. 2. Students and advisors involved numerous individuals and groups in their projects which primarily improved the following community sectors: school/education, civic facilities, agriculture, and recreation. The BOAC program should be viewed as an excellent teaching tool for involving students in their communities. Future studies, using this one as a baseline data source, need to be conducted to determine BOAC program effects on program participants and nonparticipants. / Ed. D.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Geography / Bimal Kanti Paul / Farm-to-school (FTS) programs are promoted as direct-marketing opportunities for farmers. As such, they are regarded by advocates and state and federal agencies as a pathway to rural economic development. The implementation of FTS food procurement poses significant challenges, however. Farmers make decisions regarding whether or not to market products to schools after learning about the program and considering an array of signals from multiscalar policies and governance structures. Research to date has left a gap in understanding farmers’ agency as it relates to governance structures and policy signals. This research on farmers’ engagement with the Oklahoma FTS Program contributes evidence to bridge this gap by examining the experiences not only of producers who participated in a FTS program but also of those who ceased participation or who chose not to participate. Employing a phronetic approach to social science, this explanatory, sequential, mixed-methods case study obtained quantitative and textual data from a mail survey, as well as data from two stints of qualitative fieldwork, in fall 2011 and fall 2012, which involved semistructured interviews and participant observation. Archival research completed the study methods used to gain a deeper understanding of farmers’ perspectives, practices, values, and experiences that informed their decisions to participate or not in a top-down-administered FTS program. Data collection was driven by the concept of farmers’ engagement. As such, eight categories of farmers’ engagement with the Oklahoma Farm to School Program emerged. This research answers these value-rational questions (Flyvbjerg, 2001): (1) Which farmers gain, and which farmers lose, by which mechanisms of power? (2) Is this desirable? (3) What should be done? Results provide evidence of geographically uneven development of a FTS program and incompatibilities between small- to midscale farming and the structure and governance of federal child-nutrition programs.

Thesis (MSc. (Geography)) -- University of Limpopo, 2018 / In spite of the widespread scientific debate on the impacts of climate variability, not much is known about smallholder farmers’ perceptions towards climate variability and the impacts thereof on their agricultural practices. This is especially true for smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa in general and South Africa in particular. Literature contends that an understanding of the farmers’ perceptions of climate change and variability is indispensable for effective policy formulations and adaptive strategies. This current study posits that discrepancies between farmer perceptions and climatological evidence will negatively impact on farmer adaptation options and outcomes. The objectives of the study were to; (1) assess climate variability in Molemole Local Municipality, Limpopo Province, (2) investigate farmers’ perceptions of climate variability, (3) compare farmers’ perceptions of climate variability with climatological data and (4) appraise farmers’ adaptive strategies to climate variability. A total of 125 farmers from Botlokwa Village participated in the study. The village was selected because it is the largest village in the municipality and it comprises mainly of rural farmers that are involved in rain-fed subsistence agriculture. In addition, the village receives limited government intervention and is in close proximity to a functional climate station (Polokwane Airport Weather Station). Based on purposive sampling, focus group discussions and a three-part closed ended questionnaire was administered to the farmers. Mean annual temperature and rainfall data (30 years) was used to assess climate variability in the study area. Farmers’ perceptions to climate variability was assessed using descriptive statistics based on summary counts of the responses with Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) program. Logistic regression analysis was used to compare differences in perception (mean responses). Comparison of farmers’ perceptions of climate variability against climatological evidence was restricted to mean annual temperature and rainfall data over the past 5 – 10 years). To appraise farmers’ adaptive strategies, the Adaptation Strategy Index (ASI) and the Weighted Average Index (WAI) were employed. vi Farmers’ perceptions of climate variability were consistent with recorded meteorological data. Based on the ASI and WAI computations, use of indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) and crop management approaches were highly important adaptation strategies while the use of insurance and subsidies were least employed by the farmers. The results from the study also showed that the age of the household head, gender, level of education, farming experience and access to information on climate variability were crucial factors in influencing the likelihood of farmers to perceive climate variability. Given the overwhelming dependence on IKS for weather forecast, and adaptation to climate variability, it is recommended that IKS take centre stage in government initiatives and policies on climate change and variability, especially for smallholder farmers in rural settings. Sensitisation on the use of technology such as cellular phones to receive weather forecast is also recommended.