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The need for an information development system for farmers is discussed in this paper. Issues and alternatives are described in terms of the research-extension-teaching trinity, extension services, role combinations, specialist advisor issues, innovations, research orientation, reward structures, and information services. Information gathered in the United States is presented along with information from other areas in the world. The author suggests that modernizing agriculture requires a specialized system which must provide for development, dissemination, and integration of new knowledge into individual farming operations; that the degree of functional differentiation and organizational specialization is related to the current state of agricultural development; that the utility of organizational arrangements in the system can best be judged in terms of the functional requisites that must be met; and that information systems require integration into the adopting situation. (PS)

A hierarchical system concerned with stratum at a given point in time was described in this study. Hypotheses were formulated concerning organizational or associational participation, religious preference, family decision-making, educational aspirations for children, and the assimilation of Negroes and Whites in the community. Survey data were collected from 116 respondents from a rural community in northeastern Louisiana. The conclusions indicated more differences in cultural traits between strata within the Negro and White groups than between corresponding strata of the 2 racial groups. White high school and elementary strata were found to differ on the basis of organizational and associational participation while the 2 Negro strata differed on both family decision-making and parental aspirations for children. It was further indicated that cultural pluralism or a difference in cultural traits does not exist when interracial stratum is held constant, although a small amount of social pluralism or institutional skin color distinction does. Further research was needed to validate the change in the relationship of the Negro subculture to the larger White culture. (HBC)

The economic effects of Government spending at public installations in rural areas was investigated. Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, was chosen because of its location in a low-income rural area with relatively high outmigration, a declining agricultural industry base, and few employment opportunities. All of the data relating to Government spending at the Fort were obtained through various personnel at Fort Wood, with the Comptroller's office furnishing the majority of the data. A mail questionnaire was used to determine commuting patterns of civilian employees. From a total of 362 persons chosen at random from mailing lists of employees supplied by the data processing office at Fort Wood, 190 completed questionnaires were returned. Specific topics discussed were the economy of the area; the population migration in Laclede, Miller, Phelps, Pulaski, and Texas counties; the military payroll, the civilian payroll, impacted area funds, and the retail sales taxes at Fort Wood; and the employment multiplier. Specific conclusions were discussed under each topic heading. (HBC)

How farmers evaluate farm information sources, the views they hold of sources, and the relationship of views held to the use made of them were studied. The research was undertaken from two different vantage points: (1) determining how farmers view farm information sources, and (2) determining how views of farmers about sources are related to the variables considered in the study. The semantic differential was used to assess views in both phases. In Phase I, three steps were taken to secure a diversity of farmer opinion: (1) As many item scales were sought as would be reasonably expected to relate to views held about farm information sources; (2) A wide diversity of farmers was chosen to give their reactions to such sources in terms of the scales selected; and (3) The farmers were asked to express their views about a representative range of sources from which they ordinarily obtain farm information. In Phase II, the general procedure was to have samples of farmers rate five of the eight designated information sources in terms of the 14 selected item scales. Some general conclusions reached are: (1) Farmers have characteristic ways of viewing farm information sources; (2) Utility practicality, affectivity, and accessibility views can be distinguished; (3) The farmers studied differentiated between classes of sources in terms of these qualities. (CK)

In this document, the use of medical services by families and individuals in 4 rural communities of south central Missouri is examined. The first section of the document provides a general description of medical-service usage and relates this to several socioeconomic variables. The other 2 sections consider the use of different professional types of practitioners and the more complex patterns of health-service use. Data were gathered in 951 personal interviews--which were generally with female heads of households--in a random sample survey in each of 4 communities. Some findings related to use of services were that (1) 9 out of 10 families had used a doctor during the survey year; (2) hospitalization was experienced by one-quarter of the families; and (3) the use of services in the area did not appear to differ greatly from national figures for populations of similar residential characteristics. Some findings related to use of different types of practitioners are that use of full-time specialists increased with age of family and income level and that use of osteopathic doctors was indistinguishable from use of medical doctors in terms of clientele. Yet, chiropractors did not appear to be used for selected self-diagnosed ailments. In examining the pattern of medical services, most families reported having a family doctor; however, families with and without family doctors did not differ appreciably on socioeconomic indices. (AN)

The report is on the socioeconomic condition of rural people within a selected area in the United States. The information was provided by 1,413 sample households in the rural areas of 125 counties in the Ozarks region of Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. The study included Whites, Indians, and Negroes within the region. Based on household size and income in 1965, 25% of the households were considered seriously deprived. Based on income alone, 44% were considered deprived, having earned less than $3,000. The people studied were grouped into 5 classes based on household size and income: (1) seriously deprived, (2) deprived, (3) marginal, (4) probably not deprived, and (5) definitely not deprived. The major characteristics associated with deprivation included advanced age, being the female head of a household, low levels of education, marginal farming, and physical disabilities. Sixty percent of the people with children at home stated that, in their judgement, their children would need to finish college. Because most household incomes are so low, a major tragedy in the Ozarks region may be the financial inability to support youngsters in reaching desired educational levels. (EJ)

The social implications of the changes in agricultural structures in rural America (i.e., the family farm structure in which labor, capital, and management are provided by the family; the corporate-integratee structure in which the capital is obtained through a formal contract with an agribusiness organization and the integratee furnishes the land, labor, and facilities; and the corporate-farmhand structure in which big corporations own the land and hire the labor) are examined. The community involvement of workers in the family farm structure is compared to that of workers in the corporate-integratee and the corporate-farmhand structures. In a county with a large number of contract poultry producers and only one major town, a random sample of 24 family farm units, consisting of 48 workers, and 28 owner-managers and 85 workers, which comprised the sample for the corporate-integratee and the corporate farmhand workers was used to measure dimensions of alienation and community involvement. Findings indicated that (1) the corporate farmhand workers were less involved in community activities than the corporate-integratee or the family farm workers; (2) the world perceptions held by the corporate-farmhand workers were more similar to those held by alienated persons; and (3) little difference existed between corporate-integratee and family farm workers with regard to community involvement. (NQ)