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Dairy-related Extension programming is important in many states, but the economic impact of such programming has received little attention. We examined the impact of Know Your Numbers, an educational program offered by the Penn State Extension Dairy Team. Using follow-up evaluation data and the economic impact tool IMPLAN, we estimated that the program had a total financial impact of $9.5 million and an employment impact of 69 jobs in 2014. The overall financial impacts of the Dairy Team, given its abundance of other programming, likely are significantly higher. Our approach for estimating the economic impact of an Extension program can be used by others to understand and demonstrate the value of their work.

The common wisdom in many growing communities is that newcomers demand more services than do long-term residents. Dissimilar attitudes toward local services can have important effects on local government activities [...]

The applicability of the concepts of interdependence, rules and property rights in examining rural development can be seen in analyzing land use conflicts between farmers and their non-farming neighbors. The consideration of the concept of interdependence and its consequences allow economic analysts to focus on and fully understand the kinds of rules and institutions which have substantial impact on economic and behavior and can therefore determine effective policy alternatives.

The appropriate methods to preserve agricultural land are subject to ongoing debate. One agricultural land preservation technique that is becoming increasingly common is the purchase of conservation easements (also known [...]

As communities and agriculture change, the juxtaposition of farming and other rural activities has become a battle-ground over water and related nutrient management issues, odors, insects, and other community impacts [...]

Agriculture's status as one of the nation's most hazardous occupations has been an impetus for a reexamination of the federal role in agricultural safety and for various proposals to make farming safer. During the 1970s congressional debate and farm group testimony that led to agriculture's current exemption from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's enforcement efforts, regulation foes made use of the 'Agrarian Myth.' The myth portrays farmers as the bedrock of democracy, suffering so that society may prosper and living a natural life away from the artificiality and evils of cities. Despite the inaccuracy of its images, the myth is a potent symbol in American culture, and its influence could arise again in current policy debates. This paper examines specific issues that may be obscured by the myth but that must be addressed in any agricultural safety policy debate. It then recommends that responses to agricultural safety be carefully considered and that value judgments about what the issues are, who would benefit, and who would bear the costs be explicitly discussed during debate. (Am J Public Health. 1994;84:1171-1177), Policies designed to lower injury and death rates in agriculture should be carefully designed to specify who is covered, what goals are desired and who will pay for implementation of new regulations. In 1976, agriculture was exempted from the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970. The act outlined federal safety guidelines designed to protect all employees. Agricultural interests seeking exemption from the act based their appeals on the myth of the American farmer as honest and self-reliant and as doing a hard, tiring job. Because of this myth, many believe society owes a debt to farmers. However, while injury and death rates have declined dramatically in fields such as mining and construction they have dropped only slightly in agriculture. It appears that it is time to reassess the need for federal regulation of farm safety policies.

A contrasting trend of population growth in different rural communities is creating problems for appropriate local government response. The population surge in one community and the decline in another has generated differences including population size, age profiles and state law applications. Thus, the development of research and extension results is hampered. Fiscal impact analysis must therefore be considered carefully to promote related policies.

Survey responses from 228 Pennsylvania extension staff revealed time- or travel-related reasons inhibited inservice participation. They preferred regional locations over any other, though they were receptive to having some inservice programs delivered using distance education technologies. A pilot test of quarterly satellite inservice programs was undertaken as a result. (SK)

Pennsylvania extension educators (n=228) find it increasingly difficult to participate in inservice education, desire more distance delivery and an active voice in program planning, and would like inservice to be integrated into their plan of work. Past inservice experiences lacked quality in content and instruction. (SK)

Farming is associated with high rates of fatal accidents, 50 percent of which involve tractors. Roll-overs account for more than half of tractor accidents. Deaths resulting from such accidents may be prevented by the use of roll-over protective structures (ROPS), which prevent tractor drivers from being crushed when the tractor overturns. ROPS became available in the 1960s but were not included as standard equipment until 1985. The National Coalition for Agricultural Safety and Health has put forth a proposal to offer farmers incentives to install ROPS for five years and to require ROPS on all tractors after 10 years. The cost-effectiveness of this policy was assessed in relation to the potential economic costs of each life saved. The number of tractors in New York without ROPS, the retirement of such tractors, and number of lives saved with the installation of ROPS on all tractors, were assessed. The costs of mandatory installation of ROPS was estimated to be $511,136 per life saved and $253,254 per life saved for every $1 million spent each year to enforce mandatory ROPS installation laws. Although a mandatory policy for installing ROPS on all tractors would be expensive, the policy and the need for and cost-effectiveness of enforcement should be considered. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Much of the public interest about the recent boom in shale natural gas development is due to expectations that the activity generates significant economic benefits within host communities, such as increases in employment and compensation. Numerous studies have examined the economic impacts of this activity and generally find mixed results; some studies find such impacts, while other studies find little evidence of an economic boom. An equally important, but much less frequently asked question is what portion of employment and compensation benefits from shale gas development stays local. Sociological literature on uneven development and economic literature on the natural resource curse provide reasons to be skeptical and suggest that these benefits are distributed unevenly and are often dispersed to recipients outside of the community. In this case study, we compare federal and state employment, compensation, and business data from four Pennsylvania counties experiencing rapid Marcellus Shale development to consider what portion of these benefits stay within their respective counties and what is awarded to out-of-county recipients. We then draw on focus group data for individual community leader accounts of how benefits are distributed and the possible mechanisms that explain the trends identified in the employment, compensation, and business data. Our findings suggest that a substantial portion of employment and compensation benefits associated with natural gas extraction have gone to out-of-county recipients, suggesting much more limited direct benefits for residents than previously described in economic projections. We conclude that this outflow of benefits is a form of uneven development that may partially explain the natural resource curse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nonfarming neighbours are complaining against the on-farm composting facilities at mushroom farms in suburban areas, Pennsylvania. The complaints lead to municipal ordinances restricting agriculture, changes in farm enterprises and abandoning of cultivation. The composting operations require large, flat open areas and heavy machinery to turn the windrows. The machinery generates noise and runoff is produced by the windrows. Larger farms get more complaints than smaller ones. The productive output of the farms and density of surrounding homes are the other causes of complaints.

This study examines the impact of Marcellus shale development on Pennsylvania (USA) residents’ income, as reported on state tax returns between 2007 and 2010, and pays special attention to the distribution of these economic impacts across residents within Pennsylvania counties. The analysis shows that Marcellus development has had a positive effect on taxable income of local residents and that the increases in lease and royalty income going to mineral right owners exceed local employment and compensation impacts in high drilling activity counties. This suggests that focusing on employment effects from such activity, as has been done in much recent economic research, misses an important potential impact on resident income. In addition, because land ownership is highly concentrated, it means local economic benefits of unconventional drilling are heavily concentrated among a small percentage of the population, potentially raising equity issues about the distribution of costs and benefits from such activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the challenges and opportunities for local governments in the U.S. of conventional oil and gas development through hydraulic fracturing or fracking. Topics discussed include social and economic impacts of the infrastructure and service requirements for a fracking operation, such as leasing, seismic testing, civil works, and water acquisition and disposal. Also mentioned are local control and coordination, as well as local capacity, and planning for the long term.

Communities experiencing rapid growth due to energy development ('boomtowns') have reported positive and negative impacts on community and individual well-being. The perceptions of impacts vary according to stage of energy development as well as experience with extractive industries. Development of the Marcellus Shale provides an opportunity to examine these impacts over time and across geographic and historical contexts. This paper describes case study research in Pennsylvania and New York to document preliminary impacts of development occurring there. Cases vary by level of development and previous extractive history. The study finds that, in areas with low population density, higher levels of development lead to a broader awareness of natural gas impacts, both positive and negative. Participants draw from the regional history of extraction to express environmental concern despite direct, local experience. Our findings suggest the need to track these perceptions during development, and as individuals and communities react and adapt to the impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes at the rural/urban interface are presenting new challenges for many mushroom farms, who increasingly find themselves the subject of public complaints from nonfarming neighbors. Identifying the type and extent of neighbors concerns is important for farmers and local officials to respond appropriately. This study examined neighbors' perceptions of mushroom farms in Chester County, Pennsylvania, the nation's most productive mushroom producing area. Telephone interviews with 601 neighbors found about 23 percent of neighbors reported having a concern. Odors were the most common concern, held by 14 percent of respondents (and being 36 percent of all concerns). Neighbors were less likely to have concerns if they were aware of the mushroom farm before moving to the area, and more likely to have a concern if the farm changed operation after they moved. (Ed. Note: Data provided in this analysis of neighbors' attitudes are valuable to operators of composting facilities.) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines mushroom growers' indications that on-farm composting is a major source of complaints from nonfarming neighbors. Size of farm and number of homes nearby as factors determining number of complaints received.

Understanding the reasons people move to rural communities is important if communities intend to use in-migration as away of revitalization. This study uses the experience of three non-metropolitan counties in Pennsylvania to explore which community characteristics have the greatest influence on people's decisions to move to rural areas. Personal characteristics affected how in-migrants evaluated prospective rural residential locations. Higher income in-migrants placed a high priority on job opportunities, housing quality, a short commute to work, quality of schools, and low local taxes. Lower income in-migrants were more likely to value a location near family and friends. Ability to own a home, housing costs, and local taxes also were important. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The objective of this research is to examine the influence of income and type of insurance coverage on the use of health services among the nonmetropolitan elderly. A model of health service utilization is used as the foundation for examining this issue with data from a telephone survey of a randomly selected sample of residents from four nonmetropolitan counties in Pennsylvania. Results indicated that those elders with Medicaid coverage were less likely to visit a doctor than respondents with private insurance or Medicare only, even after controlling for income and other relevant factors. Further, lower income respondents with Medicare were less likely to visit the dentist than those with private insurance (Medicare does not cover dental care). In contrast, neither income nor insurance predicted hospital use. As such, the health and dental care needs of many lower income nonmetropolitan elders may potentially be going unmet. In general, findings highlight the continued relevance of economic barriers to the use of such services among the nonmetropolitan elderly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT: Farm tractor rollovers account for one quarter of all fatal farm injuries, but their economic impact has not been studied previously. This study surveyed surviving family members of people killed between 1985 and 1987 in New York farm tractor rollovers and found the average expected income lost by each death was $243,615 (response rate=46%, N=12). Fatal farm tractor rollovers may cost New York more than $2 million a year in lost income. Nonfarmers account for 33 percent of these rollover deaths. These nonfarmers were not on a farm and were not doing farm work at the time of the fatal injury. Policy responses to the dangers of farm tractors should consider the risks to nonfarmers and should be cognizant of the costs that could be averted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT: Economic conditions in farming have been a common thread in explanations of agriculture's high rate of occupational injuries and death. If prices were higher or the farm economy were stronger, it is said, farmers could afford to be safer. However, could afford to be safer does not mean that farmers would be safer. This study examines the question of whether higher farm product prices could be expected to reduce agricultural injury rates. The critique includes a statistical model relating prices and acres per worker to non-rollover fatal farm injuries, using national data from 1969 to 1987. Contrary to current arguments, the model shows that higher prices historically are associated with higher fatality rates, suggesting that increased prices serve as an incentive for working harder and that the state of the agricultural economy is not a good explanation for high injury rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT: There is always a trade-off in occupational safety policy between the right for one person to make decisions and the right for others to avoid the consequences of that person's decisions. This conflict has driven the federal response to agricultural safety. Agriculture was an integral part of the original Occupational Safety and Health Administration bill, but farm owner and farm group lobbying contributed to the granting in 1976 of an exemption for all farms with 10 or fewer workers. Finding a proper balance between farm owners' and farm employers' interests is important, but copying the federal response to safety in other occupations will not lead to resolution. Comparing current federal safety expenditures on different federal occupational safety programs, such as to mine safety, slights fundamental differences between agriculture and other occupations, and improperly implies that agriculture is being discriminated against by federal safety efforts. The rights issue and the unavoidable value judgments they entail cannot be ignored. Because the people who would be protected by regulations are also largely the people who would be restricted by those regulations, the decision to create mandatory safety rules in agriculture is much more difficult than in other occupations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dairy-related Extension programming is important in many states, but the economic impact of such programming has received little attention. We examined the impact of Know Your Numbers, an educational program offered by the Penn State Extension Dairy Team. Using follow-up evaluation data and the economic impact tool IMPLAN, we estimated that the program had a total financial impact of $9.5 million and an employment impact of 69 jobs in 2014. The overall financial impacts of the Dairy Team, given its abundance of other programming, likely are significantly higher. Our approach for estimating the economic impact of an Extension program can be used by others to understand and demonstrate the value of their work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The national Extension oil and gas initiative centers on a network of Extension educators working on or interested in oil and gas development, a communications strategy that allows network members to exchange Extension information, a comprehensive inventory of Extension activities and resources, and national meetings at which network members can identify and share resources and optimal ways to engage constituents. Our work suggests that the need for relevant training and programming will continue as Extension faculty anticipate increased community demands surrounding oil and gas development. The network is open to all Extension faculty interested in the topic of oil and gas programming in communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents an evaluation of the pilot program called, The Future of Agriculture in Our Community, developed by Penn State Cooperative Extenstion in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, for communities to assess and improve the local agricultural business climate. Condition of the agricultural sector in the county; Evaluation of program goals; Lessons for program development.