The purpose of this study was to determine the knowledge and perceptions of the animal, plant, environmental, and food sciences by the adult residents of Louisiana. This study was conducted using a survey research design. This survey utilized random telephone dialing techniques in order to survey 547 residents of Louisiana. The survey instrument consisted of fifty-five questions divided into three sections: demographic characteristics, agriculture knowledge, and perception of agriculture.
The overall mean agriculture knowledge score of adult residents of Louisiana for the twenty items included in the survey instrument equaled 13.60 (SD = 2.743) or 68%. Perceptions of agriculture results reported nine items classified in the agree category, six were classified neither agree nor disagree category, and five were classified disagree. Adult members of the general public of Louisiana have more positive perceptions of agriculture with regard to the Attitude toward Farming (M= 3.81, SD= .73) and Issues Related to Food Supply (M= 3.72, SD= .49). Eighteen significant correlations were reported between the knowledge and perception concept areas.
It is concluded that adult members of the general public of Louisiana have a moderately high level of knowledge with regard to agriculture. Adult respondents have the highest levels of knowledge in the Environmental Science. The perception concept areas Attitude toward Farming and Issues Related to Food Supply are more positive, while the perception concept areas Farming Practices and Food Prices are both ambivalent. Due to the reported relationship, an increase in agricultural knowledge may result in a more positive increase in perceptions of agriculture. The researcher recommends continuation and expansion in mass media promotion such as billboards, television ads, newspaper articles, web postings, use of YouTube, blog sites, and group networking sites. Similarly, the researcher encourages the promotion of agritourism endeavors, allowing perceptions to be made based on personal experiences. The researcher further recommends increasing publication of classroom agriculture education materials designed to reach various audiences and expansion to distribute materials to more educators at the school level. The researcher recommends continuation of universal agriculture educational programming such as FFA, 4-H, and general agriculture in university curricula.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LSU/oai:etd.lsu.edu:etd-07012009-150925 |
| Date | 08 July 2009 |
| Creators | Richard, Julie Baker |
| Contributors | Paul W. Wilson, Satish Verma, Michael E. Salassi, Michael F. Burnett, Krisanna L. Machtmes |
| Publisher | LSU |
| Source Sets | Louisiana State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-07012009-150925/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached herein a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to LSU or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below and in appropriate University policies, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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