MO-Unctstef Firming, Saturday, May 13, 2000 Students Learn About Agriculture While Assisting With Campaign To Reward Dairy Farming Stewardship JAYNE SEBRIGHT Lancaster Farming Staff UNIVERSITY PARK (Centre Co.) Rewarding envi ronmental stewardship of dairy farmers is almost as difficult as increasing ag awareness of con sumers. A project led by Ann Major, assistant professor of communi cations at Penn State, does both. Students in Major’s Commu nications 473 have been working with the Rodale Institute’s Dairy Network Partnership (DNP) to research and develop ways to educate consumers about environmental problems in the Chesapeake Bay area. “The project started in June 1998,” said Major. “My area of research is in environmental public opinion, and I worked with Chris Novak from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection on a project in 1997. When Les Lanyon, professor of agronomy at Penn State, read about the project, he contacted me to work on the “Chesapeake Milk” project.” To prepare students to work on the “Chesapeake Milk” project. Major had a student de velop an extensive website with materials on agriculture and sustainability during the summer of 1998. “The kids coming into this class have little understanding about the environment and es pecially about the dairy indus try,” said Major. “They have no concept of milk other than the fact that it’s available at the gro cery store.” As part of the project, classes in both the fall and spring of 1998 and 1999 researched con sumer interest and developed media kits to launch “Chesa- peake Milk,” which bears the Environmental Quality Initia tive (EQI) label. In the fall, students in Com munications 473, which is a cap stone class taken during the senior year, created four projects focusing on “Chesapeake Milk.” The first was to design focus groups to help the DNP test the “Chesapeake Milk” campaign, which returns a portion of the profits from that milk to farmers who are involved in environ mental stewardship. The second group designed environmental education mate rials to be taken into elementary schools. The materials included a video highlighting dairy farm ing and nutrient runoff, as well as classroom activities and a field trip to a dairy farm. Similar materials for adult groups were prepared by a third group of students. The materials target groups such as the Women’s League of Voters, PTA groups, and environmental groups. A fourth group of students de veloped a media directory for the campaign that listed all en vironmental and business re porters in eastern Pennsylvania, Maryland, and northern Vir ginia. In the spring of 1998, the stu dents held the focus groups to research the “Chesapeake Milk” message. Five separate focus groups were held, and key findings were that very few con sumers had any idea that there was a problem with nutrient runoff from dairy farms. “Consumers in the focus groups did not connect dairy fanning with environmental issues,” said Major. “Once they read the materials on the milk carton, they said they would be interested in donating a nickel from their milk to reward farm ers for environmental steward ship.” After the focus groups were completed and the materials were finished, Major’s class de livered the materials to Lori Sandman, who is the project di rector for the Dairy Network Partnership. According to Sandman, the students’ contribution to the project was invaluable. “It was fantastic to work with them,” said Sandman. “We’re a non-profit organization with a small staff, and we couldn’t have accomplished all of the necessary work on this project without the help of the stu dents.” Students in Major’s spring 1999 class updated the media kit and conducted more focus groups. They also developed an in-store survey, which was re fined by students in Major’s fall 1999 class. Leon Weber from Rodale In stitute administered the survey and determined whether con- SS Perkins Sales & Service NEW & USED DIESELS Starting at 10 HP • Diesel Rebuilding • Twin-Disk Clutches LK SMUCKER REPAIR 125 LEACOCK ROAD GORDONVILLE, PA 17529 Location: Peters Rd. & Leacock Rd., 3 Miles South of New Holland 717-355-2606 sumers would be willing to buy “Chesapeake Milk” at a higher price if they knew the extra prof its went to environmental stew ardship. Weber also conducted a farm stead survey with farmers who participated in the Environmen tal Quality Initiative. These farmers had to adhere to envi ronmental guidelines in order to market their milk as “Chesa peake Milk.” “Three-quarters of the farm ers surveyed made changes to protect water quality during the previous year,” said Weber. “However, most of the changes required small amounts of time and money. It’s clear that the farmers in volved in this project are motivated by more than just the prospect of a premium for envi ronmental stewardship,” said Weber. “More than a third of the farmers who made improve ments already qualified for the Environmental Quality prem ium before making the improve ments.” According to Major, her spring 2000 Communications 473 class has put the “Chesa- & peaks Milk” project on hold. “We haven’t gotten any new assignments from the DNP,” said Major. “They usually call or email us about the project when they want us to do some thing.” The test market for “Chesa peake Milk” was for one year through December 1999. Major is not sure whether the milk is still available at grocery stores. “One thing that is for sure is that my students learned invalu able information about agricul ture and the environment,” said Major. “In the evaluations, stu dents said how much they learned and how this class will always impact their food pur chasing decisions.” It amazes Major that Penn State does not offer one under graduate course in agriculture that all students in the Univer sity are required to take. “They slip through without knowing anything about agri culture,” said Major. “My class had the good fortune in the fall to visit Penn State’s dairy center. Many of the students were never near a cow before then.” FARM BUILDINGS MEED PAINTING? 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