Educational Outreach Programs for Women: Improving Farm Women’s Proficiency in Farm Business Management 2008 National Women in Agriculture Educators Conference Oklahoma City, Oklahoma April 1, 2008 Presented by Lynn Hambleton Southern Illinois University at Carbondale Graduate Student

Female Principle Operators Characteristic Percentage Change Number237,819209, % Acres59,383,55750,975, % 2002 US Census of Agriculture

The Rise of Women’s Involvement in Agriculture Educators began to notice the increase in women’s involvement on the farm in the 1980’s. At this time, farm sales and real- estate values plummeted. In light of this farm crisis, more women became active participants on the farm. Empirical evidence suggests that women’s involvement increases when farm size gets smaller and profitability diminishes. Barry and Yoder, Carmen Albright, 2006.

Research Hypothesis Successful business women have access to current technology, training and other educational programs. -SK Teo 1996 This research hypothesizes that Annie’s Project—Education for Farm Women is improving farm women’s skill sets in five areas: Production, marketing, financial, legal and human resources.

Who was Involved in the Study? 190 Illinois farm women who participated in Annie’s Project between 2004 and 2007 were resurveyed in this study. The response rate was nearly 50 percent.

Demographics

What Tools Did We Use? A baseline farm risk management survey is administered during first session. –There are 49 questions that address all five categories of risk as defined by the USDA (production, marketing, financial, legal and human resources) The same questionnaire was mailed to the women at least six months after completing the class.

Percentage Change in ‘Yes’ Responses by Risk Category and in Total Risk Category Pre-test % Yes Post-test % Yes % Change Production47.63%52.81%5.18% Marketing26.58%35.33%8.75% Financial56.74%72.32%15.58% Legal50.96%64.67%13.71% Human Resources 49.21%59.67%10.46% All Categories48.57%59.49%10.92%

Why the Differences? Women are more likely to be involved in bookkeeping duties while men usually manage production tasks. Simpson, This explains why the percentage change in ‘yes’ responses for the production category is considerably less than the others.

Observations: Northern – 52 Central – 71 Southern – 67

Percentage Change in ‘Yes’ Responses when Compared by Region RegionPercentage Change Northern7.92% Central12.89% Southern10.20% Overall10.60%

Percentage Change in ‘Yes’ Responses when Compared by Years Experience and Acres Operated ComparisonPercentage Change Years Experience10.36% Acres Operated11.18%

Percent Change in ‘Yes’ Responses for Selected Questions Question Pre-test Percent Yes Post-test Percent YesDifference M13 - Marketing plan 10.00%22.80%12.80% F21 - Balance sheet 55.80%77.20%21.40% F23 - Income statement 43.20%68.50%25.30% F33 - Comfort with debt level 66.30%84.80%18.50% L35 - Next generation plan 45.30%64.10%18.80% H42 - Life insurance 90.50%95.70%5.20% H48 - Will 70.00%76.10%6.10%

Z Test of Proportions Our z statistic falls well beyond the shaded area, meaning the proportion of ‘yes’ responses will differ significantly 95% of the time. z = 12.13

Z Test of Individual Means Again we found that 95% of the time the mean number of ‘yes’ responses for the post-test will significantly differ from the pre-test. z = 6.73

Regression Analysis Much like this explanatory variable, the other variables explain very little about the percentage change in ‘yes’ responses.

Thank You! Questions? Lynn Hambleton Ph: (618) Major Professor: Dr. Jeffrey Beaulieu Department of Agribusiness Economics Mail Code 4410 Southern Illinois University Carbondale Carbondale, Illinois 62901