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2013 Survey: Farmers & Ranchers Trust Experts, Neighbors, and Salesmen More Than Ag Media

The Legislature’s Executive Board will hear a report on the South Dakota Cooperative Extension Service tomorrow afternoon. Issue Memorandum 2017-02, prepared by Jeff Mehlhaff of the Legislative Research Council, includes results of a 2013 survey of 400 South Dakota crop and cattle producers on their perceptions of the Cooperative Extension Service.

Results of 2013 survey on SD Cooperative Extension Service, in LRC Issue Memo 2017-02, p. 5
Results of 2013 survey on SD Cooperative Extension Service, in LRC Issue Memo 2017-02, p. 5

The good news is that, in 2013, our farmers and ranchers put the greatest faith in scientists, including the experts at Extension. The bad news is that they didn’t trust their own specialized media. It would be useful for Extension to commission a survey update to see if the current anti-press and anti-science climate has affected these attitudes.

One Comment

  1. Adam 2017-08-27 23:47

    I think its the word “media’ that drove down that category in the polling results. You can bet these Ag folks consume their media, they just don’t want to admit it – kinda like “sins”

    Oh man, you wouldn’t want your neighbors finding out that you consume “media” LOL!

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