Strategies for enhancing university extension's role as an agricultural information source

In this article, we identify factors contributing to the low use of Extension as an information source for farm management decisions and make recommendations for how to increase use of Extension in the context of midwestern row crop agriculture. Results from our mixed-methods analysis show that conservative recommendations, declines in public funding, and the perception of "cutting-edge" private sector information contribute to low use of Extension. We recommend changes to Extension at system and ground levels that could potentially increase its use among farmers. As many of the issues facing farmers and Extension span the nation, our findings and recommendations likely apply to a number of geographic and agricultural contexts.