Performing Department
JSRI
Non Technical Summary
The Julian Samora Research Institute (JSRI) at Michigan State University and Michigan Food and Farming Systems (MIFFS) are partnering on "Latino Farmers and the Adoption of Technology (LAFAT)" project, a pioneering, bilingual integrated project (Research, Education, and Extension) aimed at integrating small-scale Latino farmers in Southwest Michigan into the agricultural industry through research, Extension activities, and educational workshops centered on the adoption of appropriate agricultural technology. The project aligns with the AFRI RFA Strategic Goals 2, 4, and 7, and is submitted under the Small and Medium-sized Farms Priority Area of the Agriculture Economics and Rural Communities Program. It promotes diversity and inclusion by focusing on underserved producers and will include a focus on the impact of the SARS-CoV2 pandemic (COVID-19) on farmers. The proposed budget allocates funding as follows: approximately 35% research, 50% Extension, and 15% education. The adoption of appropriate technology will assist small-scale Latino farmers improve their profitability, sustaining their farming operations, strengthen local food systems, and contribute to farmers' and their communities' quality of life.Our project is framed within the social capital paradigm. While there are many definitions of the concept social capital depending on the disciplinary perspective, in its simplest form it consists of relationships within networks that facilitate cooperation among the members. It is embedded in networks that can have both strong and weak ties among members and across networks themselves.
Animal Health Component
40%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
20%
Applied
40%
Developmental
40%
Goals / Objectives
Goal 1. Produce knowledge on how social capital motives among Latino farmers influences and facilitates their adoption of appropriate production technology as a key step toward improving their financial viability, and study how the SARS-CoV2 pandemic impacted their operations (Research).Goal 2. Facilitate the adoption of appropriate agriculture technology among small-scale Latinos farmers as a key step toward improving their financial viability, and study how COVID-10 impacted their operations. (Extension).Goal 3. Explain, demonstrate, and offer opportunities for small-scale Latino farmers in Southwest Michigan to learn personal computer skill sets, financial analysis, and about agricultural technologies, how they work, and how they can enhance productivity and efficiency (Education).
Project Methods
The proposed research component will examine the social capital motives these farmers have relative to adopting new and appropriate technologies and how their social capital influences and affects the adoption of new and appropriate technologies. The research will be based on focus groups and a survey of producers; data to be analyzed using AtlasTI and Stata software. The Extension component will familiarize project participants with the different technologies and their uses appropriate for sustainable, small- and medium-sized farms and their uses. The education component will teach them how to use personal computers, how to do farm financial analysis, and the steps in applying for credit. A big recruitment push will be made on a face-to-face basis, visiting farmers to promote interest in participating in the project to set expectations and discuss the advantages of their participation in this project for their agricultural operations. The selected participants will complete project forms, including an agreement committing to participate in all project activities and the informed consent form. As part of the project's activities, participating Latino farmers will complete a questionnaire asking about their knowledge, perceptions of, and motives related to the adoption of new and appropriate production technologies and the importance they give to their social and business relationships for their farming operations. We will also use a field instrument to evaluate, check, and assess the performance of the different crops in the high tunnel hoop, which will include the best practices in sustainable irrigation and types of fertilizers and their uses. We plan to develop an instrument to monitor on a weekly basis the development of the different crops. Additionally, we will have participants evaluate the utility of the field and demonstration site visits, as well as the workshops on computer function and financial analysis and credit applications. Finally, we will use a mixed methods approach and appropriate statistical techniques to shed light on the factors that influence the adoption of appropriate agricultural technologies. We expect to learn if increased understanding of how such technologies can improve farm productivity and profitability contributes to their adoption. Analyses will involve a mix of statistical approaches, including descriptive statistics, factor analysis, logit, and spatial econometrics using SPSS Statistics software. These will allow us to examine key relationships among the variables and identify those with the greatest influence on motives.The Research ComponentThree questions that must be addressed to identify the role of social capital in technology adoption in agronomics include: first, who is within a producer's social capital network? second, how well do they know and trust one another--what is the strength of their social capital? Third, how does the distribution of social capital influence the relative importance of the grower's technology adoption motives?Social Networks StudyWe will follow a methodology similar to that of Richards, Hamilton, and Allender (2014), who analyzed how a consumer's decision to try a novel product is influenced by their social networks. To measure the strength of social ties prior to and following the project, we will ask participants to identify how strong they consider their ties with one another. One core issue with many social network studies is that popularity with one's peers is not the same as influence on one's peers (Banerjee et al., 2014). As such, we will ask a battery of questions designed to measure the trust between individuals in each treatment.Online StudyWe will conduct two online studies in which participants are asked to visit a webpage where they will choose between producing in hoop houses and open fields and/or acquire standard agriculture equipment or small equipment more suitable to their size of operations (i.e. a tractor with 60 hp vs. small tillers). Upon collection of these data, participants are then provided information about what their news sources recommend. They are then given the opportunity to update their decision.The Extension Component The experiential learning and Extension component of this project will utilize an agriculture demonstration plot on the property of Lake Michigan College (LMC), a community college in South Haven, Michigan, where a hoop house will be erected. It will be used to demonstrate production of different vegetables (tomato, diverse types of peppers, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, and greens) and fruits (cantaloupe, watermelon, cucumber, and others). The hoop house will have electrical and water supply services and appropriate drainage to facilitate production and demonstration processes. The site will engage both farmers in the area and students at LMC. Additionally, we have established relationships with seed and fertilizer dealers who are willing to describe their products at the demonstration site. We will also rent and demonstrate at key stages of the production processes appropriately sized equipment for use on small and medium sized farms from the Van Buren Conservation District in Southwest Michigan. MIFFS will lead delivering outreach to the Latino farming community in MI. Filiberto Villa Gomez, Director of MIFFS Spanish Speaking Farmer Network, Agricultores Latinos Unidos, is a boots-on-the-ground, technical assistance provider who has identified over 634 Latino owned farms in Michigan and has been working to develop and solidify trusted relationships in the community for over 15 years. One-on-one interactions and use of multiple methods of communication are absolutely crucial to engage Latino farmers (Lopez Arizpa, 2007; Martinez, 2011). One-on-one recruitment and consistent interaction will be the primary outreach strategies for this project. MIFFS will also work with members of Agricultores Latinos Unidos to develop a phone tree system to assist with disseminating information in a community that is not always able to make full use of internet technology. Social media and digital technologies are widely utilized by younger generations of Latino farmers, providing an opportunity to encourage adoption of newer technology through facilitation of interactions between younger and older farmers, with younger farmers acting as technology ambassadors. MIFFS will leverage social media and digital networking platforms, such as Basecamp to engage younger Latino producers. MIFFS will also further develop and utilize an online training resource repository or Recursos en Español (https://www.miffs.org/recursosenespanol); resources created through this project will be housed at the MIFFS website to expand the potential reach of the project beyond Michigan through a National alliance of other Latino and immigrant farmer training organizations.?The Education Component The education component will teach participants the importance of social capital, how to use personal computers, how to do farm financial analysis, and the steps in applying for credit. Producers have asked for support in developing computer skills, including the use of Excel for recordkeeping. Workshops will be conducted annually in one of the computer labs at Lake Michigan College. A workshop will be provided to producers so they can assess the financial well-being of the operations and consider the adoption of appropriate technology. This, too, will be delivered in at Lake Michigan College. Finally, we will present the steps required in applying for credit. We will have bankers located in South Haven, Michigan deliver presentations on applying for credit. We will also invite presentations by FSA and other USDA agencies on achieving sustainable operations.[1] The are small networks organized along "communities of origin."