In California, particularly in southern California we are faced with a changing

composition of agricultural producers and commodities. These changes are brought

about by increasing competition for markets and resources, rapid population growth and

urbanization, rising land and water prices, and increasing regulatory pressures. Farms

have changed from conventional large to a diverse and dynamic industry composed of

numerous small-scale operations growing a diversity of crops. In southern California,

there are over 18,000 farms in the region according to the County Agricultural

Commissioner reports 40 percent of which having less than 10 acres, making the region

with the largest number of small farms in the United States. In addition to being small,

more than 200 crops are grown.

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Abstract

An agricultural survey to assess program needs of farmers in Riverside and San Bernardino

counties was conducted in 2004. Demographics, production systems, farm management methods, and

clientele issues and concerns were analyzed and program needs evaluated.

Etaferahu Takele is an Area Farm Advisor in Agricultural Economics at the University

of California Cooperative Extension, southern California region. She emphasizes in

production economics, decision-making at the farm level, integrated input

management, and risk management. She holds a M.Sc. in Agricultural Economics

and M.A. in Development and Environmental Economics. She is a member of the

American Agricultural Economics Association and Western Farm Management and

Marketing Extension Committees.

Peggy Mauk is the County Director and Subtropical Horticulture Advisor at the

University of California Cooperative Extension, Riverside County. She holds a Ph.D. in

Plant Pathology; Specialty: Citrus, avocados, and dates. She is a member of the

American Phytopathological Society, Pacific Division.

Ihab Sharabeen is a Staff Research Associate in Agricultural Economics at the

University of California Cooperative Extension in Southern California.

In this scenario, the viability and sustainability of agricultural

producers in the region depend on their creativity and risk

management capability. They must understand the economic,

marketing, and production risks affecting their operations. They

must acquire skills in the areas of business planning and

effective resource allocation. They must keep up with the

regulatory process and cope with rapid growth and urbanization.

They must know how to access and utilize information to make

decisions under uncertainty. And, most importantly, farmers

must be adaptive and responsive so that they take advantage of

business opportunities that may be present. Therefore, the Farm

Management Program in the University of California

Cooperative Extension is making an effort to address the

concerns and needs of such a diversified clientele.

Clientele needs and program priority are usually determined in

consultation with local commodity farm advisors as well as

feedback from evaluations at seminars and conferences. In

2004, using funding we received from USDA, and in

partnership with the California State University San Bernardino

(CSUSB), we conducted a survey of our clientele and their

needs. The purpose was for evaluating current programs to

determine if they met their needs and for developing future

programs to meet the needs and enhance the viability and

sustainability of our clientele. The following is the results and

the educational implications we gathered from the data.

Inland Empire Agricultural Survey

We mailed out 3,500 surveys to the farm clientele in the Inland

Empire of Riverside and San Bernardino counties. The number

of surveys included all those on our mailing list (2,433)

developed from the Agricultural Census in 2002 plus others

from our meeting sign-up sheets and program subscribers in

both counties. We received back 205 (about 6%) responses.

The survey questionnaire contained 45 questions and was

designed to gather information in the following categories:

1. Demographics (age, educational background, computer

skills, ethnicity, and non-farm income)

2. Production systems (farm ownership, crop type, methods

of farming, business organization, and land tenure)

3. Farm management (farm size, experience in farming, use of

farm labor, financial and marketing means, gross income,

and risk management strategies)

4. Concern areas (production, business, financial, post

harvest, and marketing)

5. Information sources (agencies, individuals and institutions,

and methods)

The responses were tabulated and summarized using

percentages. The percentages analyzed the relative frequency of

responses in each question. We also investigated if there were

differences in the responses between minorities (Hispanic,

African American, and Asian) compared to those of Caucasians

to help us identify if there were differences in program needs.

Following are the results from which we drew certain

conclusions for purposes of future program development and

delivery.

Educational Programs Identified

Overall, the results helped us to characterize our clientele and to

identify program needs. Most of our farm audience is aging,

average 55 (just about the same as in the 2002 Census with the

average age of the principal operator at 58 years old) with 75

percent over 50 years old, with an average of more than 30

years of experience and 77 percent with full land ownership.

These features indicate an overall stable nature of the

agricultural business in the Inland Empire. However, with about

half of the survey respondents being older and sole proprietor,

there may be a possible decline of generational farming trends.

Rising resource costs induced by increasing water and land

prices have become concerns of continuing agriculture in this

region. However, speculation of further increases in value of

land have on the other hand become the motivating factor for

holding land ownership and keeping the stability of the farm.

Therefore our risk management program would continue to deal

with irrigation efficiency and management as well as the

impacts of laws and regulations on water and land use for

agriculture.

Seventeen percent of the survey respondents indicated being in

a family owned business and most of them indicated not to have

family succession plans, providing us with an opportunity for

development and delivery of programs in business planning and

family succession training. The fact that most in this group are

minorities may require providing program translation or training

in another language. This will be dealt on an as needed basis.

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About 20 percent of the respondents are in organic, specialty

crops, and sustainable agricultural operations. Despite relatively

high input prices and national and international market

competition, specialty crops provide opportunities for profit.

However, there are also challenges as information is limited for

many of the crops. Risk management education will continue to

include production practices, harvesting methods and marketing

niches.

This program has in fact already begun in 2005. We provided

seven training sessions covering all the subjects mentioned

above. Also we have had the opportunity to explore local

marketing venues including the development of a co-op that

will bring locally grown fresh produce to distribute to agencies

that provide food and nutritional support to low income

residents. Local sale of produce through the co-op is expected

to reduce grower costs that would be incurred for shipping,

brokerage, and selling to a conventional market.

Our audience, across ethnicity, is characterized by a high

educational level and most using computers (78% of total

responses and 83% of minorities) in their farming operation

opens an opportunity for delivering programs and tools using

electronic systems compatible to Windows operating system

and software applications. In 2006-2007 we are planning to

conduct training and program dissemination of a budget

generator enterprise analytical tool. This project was funded by

the Western Region Risk Management Education Program. The

objective of this project is to equip growers with the ability to

develop in-house enterprise budgets and analyze cost-benefit

relationships of their enterprises so that they can increase their

risk management capability through cost management,

diversification, and selection and mix of profitable enterprises.

The results of the survey also confirmed that we have been on

target in terms of programs that we have been delivering to our

clientele. Our labor personnel management training programs in

both Spanish and English have had great success in the past.

Our survey showed that the majority of the respondents (80%)

indicated their dependence on hired labor and given that almost

50 percent expressed laws and regulations to be of primary and

secondary concern, the need for continued personnel and labor

management educational programs along with environmental

regulations and community development is obvious.

Many respondents reinvest private funds into their farming

operation. Borrowing, especially for most minorities, is from

private banks. It is likely that this group will benefit from

financial management education that would include investment

analysis and borrowing strategies and opportunities.

The following will be taken into consideration in our program

planning and delivery. Efforts must be made to schedule

meeting dates and times to suit our clientele. Most of the

respondents prefer Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday

mornings for educational meetings. Furthermore, choosing

seasons for meetings to avoid busy field work is also important.

Meeting location preferences for the Inland Empire included

Indio, Moreno Valley, and San Bernardino. We are particularly

encouraged by the fact that most participants (91%) do not

mind paying for lunch. This in fact will provide an opportunity

for our clientele to have time to discuss their questions in more

detail with the speakers and also to have time for networking

with each other. In fact, the lunch time can be used for

growers’ panels as about half of the farm operators expressed

interest in participating in a forum with others involved in

agriculture.

Special consideration requirements must be met even though

only three percent required special consideration to get

information or participate in meetings. It is important to have

Spanish language translation (only 2% indicated preference)

available at meetings. Labor management is an area where

continued education in Spanish has been in great demand.

Most growers indicated other farmers as the primary source of

information (Table 5) followed by Pest Control Advisors (PCA)

and University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE).

UCCE is also considered as the secondary source of

information by 20 percent of all respondents. Given that UCCE

provides information to PCAs and other farmers, we think that

its contribution as a source of information is more than the

percent indicated. Proportionally more minorities receive

information from UCCE (30%). Newsletters, friends/personal

contacts, and trade journal articles are considered as the primary

means of getting information (50%). Therefore, we will expand

the use of information dissemination through newsletters and

trade journals.