Dave Varner
University of Nebraska
Lincoln, Nebraska
Acreage and Small Farm owners constitute a rapidly growing population nationwide. This is a working, mobile, nontraditional Extension audience. They are demanding convenient access to information, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day that will improve their quality of life. This trend demands changes in the way Extension's information and educational programs are presented to this audience. University of Nebraska Cooperative Extension has recently unveiled three technology oriented program delivery methods including the (1) NUFACTS Information Center, (2) "Part-time Farming" video tape series and (3) Acreage and Small Farm Insights Home Page on the Internet World Wide Web (WWW).
NUFACTS Information Center
The NUFACTS Information Center debuted July 1, 1996, as a part of Cooperative Extension's continued commitment to meet Nebraskan's information needs in a timely and efficient manner. It was also designed to handle routine caller inquiries to allow Extension staff more time for focused, program development and delivery. NUFACTS uses telephone technology to make educational information available to Extension clientele via prerecorded voice messages or fax-back documents 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Information available via the NUFACTS Information Center was developed by an Extension team comprised of over 50 Extension Educators and Specialists. Lincoln's KFOR Radio on-air personalities were contracted to record NUFACTS voice messages. Primary funding sources included grants from the City of Lincoln, water quality and integrated pest management project grants, and Federal part-time farming funds.
The NUFACTS Information Center houses 450 voice messages approximately two minutes in length and approximately 425 Extension publications that are available via fax-on-demand. All voice messages were professionally recorded through a partnership with a local radio station for about $3,000. Additional investment included faculty and staff time, which involved identifying script title, writing scripts, reviews, marketing, etc.
Ongoing expenses include marketing, which includes an annual update of the catalog of titles and promotional brochure as well as postage, and the staff time required to maintain the fax-back portion of the NUFACTS system. Currently, publications are added and deleted from the system as they are published and become out-of-date respectively. Fax-back documents are scanned into the system using internal resources.
NUFACTS is only in its infant stage. However, the following numbers indicate to some degree the impact the system has had during July through September 1996.
NUFACTS handled 5,326 calls during its first 3 months.
Over 7,800 NUFACTS messages have been accessed as of September 30, 1996.
This leveraged Extension personnel time by more than 1,312 hours or over 164 days during this 3 month period. Essentially, NUFACTS leveraged Extension's outreach efforts by 2.75 full-time positions over this time frame.
Over 460 NUFACTS fax-back documents were requested and delivered.
Considering printing costs, postage, and staff time to retrieve, package, and mail these items, this constitutes a savings of approximately 10 days of support staff time and $924 in direct printing and mailing expenses.
Forty-eight percent of NUFACTS inquiries occur outside of normal Extension office business hours--evenings and weekends. The NUFACTS Information Center, in fact, receives calls 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
NUFACTS callers during the month of August represented 118
Nebraska communities and 10 other states. The NUFACTS Information Center Committee plans to implement a Hispanic version of the NUFACTS Information Center in the spring of 1997. You can try the NUFACTS Information Center by calling 1-800-832-5441.
"Part-time Farming" Video Series
A five-part video series entitled "Part-time Farming" was designed to focus on the basics of production agriculture in the following: (1) Field Crops; (2) Forages; (3) Farm Management; (4) Livestock, Poultry and Horses; and (5) Specialty Enterprises. This video was developed to address common questions asked by the part-time and small farmer. This video series will be placed in video rental stores, Extension offices, on the Internet and also be a "for-sale" item. The cost is $15.95 (payable to Lancaster County Cooperative Extension) and can be obtained by writing "Part-time Farming," 444 Cherrycreek Road, Lincoln, Nebraska 68528-1507.
Acreage and Small Farm Insights on the World Wide Web
An "Acreage and Small Farm Insights" Internet World Wide Web (WWW) Page was developed to offer small farm and acreage owners yet another way to access University of Nebraska Cooperative Extension resources. In fact, this WWW page is a clearinghouse of information and educational resources from across the Nation. It offers users the opportunity to access a multitude of Land-Grant University publications, interact with faculty via e-mail and link to other sites of interest. In the near future, audio, video and home-study course materials will be added to this WWW site http://ianrwww.unl.edu/ianr/lanco/ag/acreage/index.htm. for further information call: Dave Varner at 402-441-7148.
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