Effective Outreach for a new Wisconsin Agriculture: A Social Marketing Approach to the Environmental Management Needs of Hispanic and Women Farmers

Effective Outreach for a new Wisconsin Agriculture: A Social Marketing Approach to the Environmental Management Needs of Hispanic and Women Farmers

Summary

Census data from 2002 indicated rising numbers of Hispanic principal operators in Wisconsin. These numbers had not been reflected in the services provided by Extension, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), or Farm Service Agency (FSA). Through surveys, ground-truthing of census data, and exploring social networks we have been trying to locate Wisconsin’s Hispanic farmers to learn more about their information and assistance needs. Our initial results indicate that the Hispanic farming population is most likely smaller than 2002 census figures indicate. They are difficult to find, diverse in origin and farming practices, and inadequately supported by Extension and other farm organizations. Our research on women farmers is still in progress. We have conducted interviews, developed survey and interview tools, and administered a survey of women dairy and value-added/direct marketing farmers.

Objectives/Performance Targets

1. Build a contact list of Hispanic/Latino farmers and women in dairy and value-added agriculture in Wisconsin

   Create survey and interview instruments for each group and carry out surveys and interviews

   Identify and share information with a region-wide network of interest and policy-level support for a more diverse and sustainable Wisconsin agriculture.

   Conduct focus groups to identify appropriate communication and outreach strategies.

   Work with collaborators and farmers to develop prototype outreach strategies and materials to better reach diverse farming populations.

   Communicate the results of the research to established networks, including Cooperative Extension and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

Accomplishments/Milestones

1. Build a contact list of Hispanic/Latino farmers and women in dairy and value-added agriculture in Wisconsin.

The process for building a contact list of Hispanic farmers has involved several steps. Each of these steps is described below. Our methodology has been informed through consultation with Juan Marinez, who is a consultant to this project and has extensive experience locating Hispanic farmers in southwest Michigan and in identifying issues of importance to the Hispanic farming population throughout the U.S. We have also benefited from materials developed for a Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES)/SARE project, “Hispanic-Latino Farmers and Ranchers,” which was conducted from 9/2006 – 9/2007. That project interviewed small-scale Hispanic farmers in California, Missouri, Florida, New Mexico, Texas, and Puerto Rico.

Note that for the purposes of our study, we chose to exclude farm workers. Historically there has been a population of Hispanic farm workers in Wisconsin. These workers, up until the 1990s, had worked primarily in row crop production, specifically vegetable production for the canning industry. They were a combination of migrant laborers and those who had settled in the area. Since the 1990s, there has been a rapidly growing population of Mexican farm workers in Wisconsin’s dairy industry. Many large scale dairies are now dependent on this labor force. We did not include farm labor in our study, as other researchers are documenting their pathways and issues. We chose to focus on Hispanic farm owner/operators, as this is a group that is not well understood.
Contact List Building for Hispanic Farmers

1) Developing a list of organizations and agencies that work with Hispanic farm operators.

There are no organizations or agencies in Wisconsin that work specifically with Hispanic farm operators. There are Hispanic support agencies, as well as organizations charged with providing outreach and education to farmers. We met with representatives from the following organizations to explain our project and to identify contacts:

a) University of Wisconsin Extension: Because one of our target audiences is Extension professionals, and our goal is to assist Extension personnel in working with Hispanic farmers, we followed several strategies to reach Extension agents and to query them on their contact with Hispanic farmers. Twice, through the Extension list-serve, we sent out notices about the project asking for their knowledge of Hispanic farmers. We also spoke with the State Agriculture program leader about the program. Our Hispanic Outreach Specialist, Ms. Julia Reyes-Hamann, also contacted numerous Extension agents by phone for further discussions. These efforts yielded only two farmer contacts.

b) Department of Agriculture Outreach and Assistance Project, through the Wisconsin Farm Center: We are working in close collaboration with the Wisconsin Farm Center. They have two part time outreach coordinators for Hispanic Farmers (one of whom is also our own Outreach worker). As the Farm Center was having similar difficulties identifying Hispanic farmers, they shifted the scope of their work to include community gardeners.

c) Farmers’ Market Managers: Ms. Hamann collected the lists of farmers’ markets (compiled through regional ‘atlases’) and called all the market managers to ask them if they had Hispanic vendors at their markets. This effort yielded 3 farmer contacts. It is very possible that market managers withhold the names of their Hispanic vendors, due to disclosure protocols.

d) Growing Power: Growing Power is a Milwaukee-based non-profit organization involved in numerous farmer initiatives, including developing training programs and workshops for small scale growers. Growing Power has an initiative to work with Hispanic farmers; to date, they have located Hispanic gardeners and have not found an inroad into the Hispanic farmer population. This effort yielded one contact.

e) UMOS: UMOS is an organization that supports the Hispanic labor force, and works to move people up a ladder to more reliable, well-paying employment. The field staff of this organization work with farm laborers throughout the state, but have no contact with owner-operators. UMOS personnel were interested in opportunities for farm workers to become farm operators.

f) Centro Hispano: Centro Hispano is a service organization for the Hispanic community. They had no connections with any farmers.

g) UNIDOS: UNIDOS is an organization that focuses on domestic abuse. We contacted this group as we had personal connections with one of their employees, who was able to connect us with one farming family. This group has experienced severe budget cuts, and has since constrained their field operations dramatically.

h) Churches: We contacted churches when referred by a member of the community. These contacts lead us to one farmer contact.

i) Community garden organizations: These organizations were most fruitful for identifying Hispanic gardeners (employed elsewhere, gardening as supplemental activity). In the beginning of the project, we determined that gardeners are not our target population. However, toward the end of the project, we are expanding our field of inquiry to community gardeners, to see if this population has aspirations to own or manage land.
In summary, this systematic attempt to locate Hispanic farmers yielded very limited and random results. We have not identified any organizations or agencies that were able to help us to locate Hispanic farmers. It must be noted that we expected a great deal of hesitation to disclose names, due to the sensitive nature of immigration issues. Additionally, the Hispanic population is used to operating ‘under the radar,’ and even if they have documentation, they tend not to seek out assistance from official government agencies.

1) Survey of Hispanic Farmers sent through the Wisconsin Agricultural Statistics Service (WASS).

Our assumptions about the Hispanic farm population were based on data released from the 2002 Census of Agriculture. The census data for 2002 reported 523 farms operated by Hispanic owners in Wisconsin, and a total of 717 primary operators (the census collected data for a maximum of three operators per farm). Note that the 2007 Census of Agriculture cites 245 farms operated by Hispanic operators, and a total of 412 principle operators. We contracted WASS to send our survey of Hispanic operators to their list of operators (survey attached). Because of the timing of our request, we were able to use a list that included both 2002 and 2007 census respondents.

In trying to make sense of the difference between the reported number of Hispanic farmers and the number of actual farmers on the WASS list who were sent surveys, we learned that the Census of Agriculture adjusts their numbers in two ways: non-response adjustment and coverage adjustment. These two adjustments (formulas are developed nationally, not by state) resulted in reported increases of respondents by 5.4% and 69%, respectively.

2) Selected county list building through on-the-ground visits and collection of land-records lists.

Our outreach specialist, Ms. Julia Reyes-Hamann, selected several counties with high reported census numbers to conduct in-depth visits, in the hopes that this would result in more ‘snowball’ contacts. She arranged meetings with agriculture and Hispanic social service representatives in seven counties – Clark, Taylor, Outagamie, Sheboygan, Richland, Crawford, Lafayette – in an attempt to identify Hispanic farmers in these counties. She visited with Extension agents, dairy and meat processors, church representatives, Mexican markets, farmers’ markets, and other potential sources of contact. Through this process, she was able to identify only a few Hispanic farmers.

A second strategy for identifying Hispanic farmers county-by-county was through land records information. Ms. Hamann procured the land records lists for land zoned agricultural from 7 counties with high reported populations of Hispanic farmers (Clark, Eau Claire, Grant, Richland, Taylor, Trempeauleau, and Vernon) and systematically went through the lists to identify Hispanic sounding names. She then began calling the individuals on the list to determine if they were Hispanic farmers. To date, Ms. Hamann has talked with 17 Hispanic farmers by phone (most from the list, though several are from other contacts); she has followed up with 9 of these Hispanic producers with more complete interviews. The process of interviewing these producers by phone has been difficult, as many are hesitant to talk or unavailable. We have developed an additional survey instrument that will be sent to the rest of the Hispanic sounding names on the lists. We hope to collect qualitative information from these surveys that will enable us to tell a part of the story of Hispanic farmers in Wisconsin.

Our difficulty in locating Hispanic farmers leads us to believe that the 2002 census numbers were inflated due to adjustment calibration, and that the 2007 census numbers, recently released, provide a more accurate count. We are sending out a second survey to a small group of respondents using a non-probability sample, in order to find out more about the population and to test our methodology.

Contact List Building for Women Farmers

We decided to use the WASS list, once again, for the purpose of sending out surveys to women farmers. This seemed the most expedient way to gather information, in that WASS could sort their respondents by gender of primary operator and by farming sector. Although the census list may not be as complete as a combination of association and farm organization lists, the ability to sort out women as primary operators was critical for our purposes. This decision saved us time and resources, as building our own list would have also been cost prohibitive. Surveys were sent by mail to 1348 women farmers in January, 2009 (757 dairy producers; 591 value-added and direct marketing enterprises). We used a modified Dillman method with four mailings. Results have not yet been analyzed. We have received over 900 surveys back and expect to have a return response rate of over 67%, however many respondents indicate that they are not women farmers so our response rate of completed surveys will be smaller.

We have been identifying women for interviews in a variety of ways. First, the project coordinator attended the Value Added and Local Foods conference in Jan., 2008 and the Organic Farming Conference in Feb., 2008 and conducted preliminary interviews of 12 farmers at those conferences.

The project coordinator and women farmers research coordinator were part of the steering committee for planning a risk management conference for women farmers (Connecting Threads, Weaving the Fabric of Agriculture: A Conference for Women Farmers”). At that conference we were able to conduct 4 in-depth interviews, and distributed surveys to 25 women farmers. We were active on the planning team of the conference and as speakers on different topics during two sessions of the conference. During this experience, we met and networked with several women farmers and people who work with groups that serve women farmers. We were able to spread information about our project and locate women who were willing to fill out a survey or be interviewed. We have been collecting names of women farmers through our contact network, and also have included a question on the survey that asks whether the respondent would be willing to participate in an interview or focus group discussion. We created a tabletop display and also a full color brochure to advertise our project and our need to find women farmers. This brochure was distributed to over 100 attendees at the womens farming conference and will be distributed to 70 women at the Organic Conference in LaCrosse, WI February 27, 2009.

2. Create survey and interview instruments for each group and carry out surveys and interviews.

Surveys were developed by our project team, with assistance from the Evaluation Specialist for the Environmental Resources Center (ERC). The following surveys and interview instruments have been developed for this study:

a) First survey of Hispanic Farmers, sent out through WASS (kept intentionally short, in order to improve response rate). There were a total of 215 names on the list; from these, we received 62 responses (29% response rate). This survey focused on information needs and sources of information. Summary findings from this survey (full analysis to be included in the final report) indicate that:

1) Hispanic farmers consult with other growers, the Farm Service Agency, and farm supply dealers or producer coops for information regarding their farm.

2) Hispanic farmers seek information on sustainable/organic growing practices, environmental improvement and conservation, and marketing.

3) Hispanic farmers utilize farm magazines or newspapers and the internet as their primary avenues for information.

b) Second survey of Hispanic Farmers, which will be sent to people on selected county land records lists (agriculturally zoned land) with Hispanic sounding names, in order to get more information about farming practices and deeper ethnographies for these farmers.

1) Survey of Wisconsin women dairy farmers.

2) Survey of Wisconsin women farmers involved in value-added production and direct marketing.

3) Interview tool for Hispanic farmers.

4) Interview tool for short (preliminary) interviews of women farmers.

5) Interview tool for women farmers.

3. Identify and share information with a region-wide network of interest and policy-level support for a more diverse and sustainable Wisconsin agriculture.

Much of the work of phase one of this project (September, 2007 – January, 2009) has been on hiring outreach staff, developing research strategies, managing survey distribution, and conducting interviews. Analysis of the first survey of Hispanic farmers was shared with an ad-hoc minority farmers outreach and networking group. This group, comprised of individuals who are in some way involved in research, outreach, and assistance to support minority farmers, has met three times to discuss research and outreach needs of minority farmers. Participants in the networking group are from the University, the state Department of Agriculture, and non-profit farming organizations. During these meetings, we have shared results from research and project activities. At one meeting, Juan Martinez, from Michigan State, shared with us the results from his research and outreach activities in Michigan.
Discussions with the networking group have provided additional research directions and suggestions for improving outreach. At the conclusion of our research project, we will call together another meeting of this group – and invite a wider range of educators and others – to present the results of the research.

Project personnel were members of the steering committee for planning a risk management conference for women farmers, sponsored by the Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection (DATCP), Wisconsin Farm Center. The conference, “Connecting Threads, Weaving the Fabric of Agriculture: A Conference for Women Farmers” was held December 5-6, 2008 in the Wisconsin Dells. There were over 100 participants at the conference, which was the first statewide conference specifically held for women farmers.
Project staff developed a prototype of a toolkit for use by farm families as a planning and implementation aid in working toward environmentally managed farms. The toolkit, “Rapid Assessment Planning for On-farm Sustainability” was presented at two sessions at the womens’ farming conference Dec., 2008 (reaching 35-40 people). We hope to review, test, and modify this toolkit prior to making it available on our website. Additionally, project staff presented a workshop on “The Healthy Woman’s Toolbag” – appropriate tools and farm equipment for women in agriculture.

At the conclusion of this project, we will be publishing the results of our research and distributing this widely in Wisconsin and beyond. We intend to present the results of the research at at least one various conferences in the next year.

4. Conduct focus groups to identify appropriate communication and outreach strategies.

In progress. We will be conducting a short focus group of women organic farmers at the upcoming Organic Farming Conference (Feb. 27-28, 2009 in La Crosse, Wisconsin). This focus group will be used to determine specific information needs of organic farmers.

Following the analysis of survey data, we will conduct further focus groups.

5. Work with collaborators and farmers to develop prototype outreach strategies and materials to better reach diverse farming populations.

In progress. We will analyze our survey, interview, and focus group data to determine information gaps and the preferred methods of educational program delivery for the two farm populations under consideration in this project.
Outreach workers at the Wisconsin Farm Center of the Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection, we have learned of gaps in information delivery for both Hispanic and Hmong growers. Because the Hispanic farm population is varied and small, we cannot, as yet, pinpoint specific areas where there is greatest demand for information. However, the situation for Hmong growers is different. Hmong farmers tend to be concentrated in geographic areas near urban hubs; they also tend to focus on growing produce for direct market. The Hmong outreach workers have identified the need for culturally appropriate training materials on low-input production, direct marketing, and record keeping. We have been collaborating with the Wisconsin Farm Center in the development of proposals that would allow us to develop and deliver such educational programs.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

Impacts and Contributions of this project are not yet determined.

A preliminary impact is improved ability of the Wisconsin Farm Center to reach Hispanic producers with assistance and information. Our research work has identified Hispanic producers throughout the state. The outreach worker for our research project is also working for the Wisconsin Farm Center. She follows up with producers by delivering information and specific assistance, as needed. Thus far, through this project, Ms. Hamann has assisted 5 Hispanic producers through referral (business planning, animal health) and specific information.

Collaborators: