Media Preferences of Selected North Carolina Farmers.

Nearly all burley tobacco farmers in the mountains of North Carolina are small or part-time farmers who have limited time for seeking information. Although they desire accurate, user-friendly, timely, and relevant information, their willingness or opportunity to spend time in face-to-face contacts or grower meetings is becoming severely limited. These farmers seek and use information at nontraditional times and locations. A research project sought to determine the feasibility of using selected distance education delivery methods to meet the informational needs of burley growers for controlling three insect pests of burley tobacco. These delivery methods were as follows: a fact sheet, a fact sheet plus an audiocassette, and the extension bulletin, "Scouting Tobacco." Twenty growers of burley were randomly selected from a list of 97 growers with 10 or fewer years of experience obtained from a county office and interviewed personally. The study showed that 17 of the 20 farmers involved in the research preferred the fact sheet and audiocassette combination for gaining the needed insect information. Age, education level, or size of farming operation generally had no influence on the farmer's preferences. Knowledge gained by the farmers increased substantially via this preferred combination of delivery methods. (Contains 13 references.) (KC)