The University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) is conducting an online agronomic survey to help gain a better understanding of the needs and challenges of agricultural production. The questionnaire is seeking input from growers, consultants, and any allied industry members involved in field crop production in California. The online survey will remain available until Friday, August 21.
“We at this point in time, don’t know enough about what our clientele need from us and the questionnaire is a tool that we’re using to assess those needs,” said Nick Clark, Agronomy and Nutrient Management Farm Advisor covering Fresno, Kings, and Tulare Counties. “It can help tell us whether or not we’re on target with our efforts. It can tell us where we’re missing key issues. It can tell us where we’re off base. Essentially, it’s a tool that gives us information straight from our clientele that helps us improve our service to them.”
All of the responses are completely anonymous, and all answers will be kept confidential. The questionnaire should only take between 15 to 20 minutes to complete. The results of the agronomic survey will be shared in an aggregate form through reports and presentations. Clark noted that the agronomy program team responsible for the survey includes a wide variety of university personnel involved in research and extension. UCCE is asking for participation so that it can better serve the agricultural industry.
“We felt it was important to do this now because everybody’s working with less and less resources these days, the university is not immune to that trend. But we all recognize that issues in agricultural production are becoming more and more complex,” Clark explained. “This was sort of our way of coming up with a benchmark activity that was going to help us get a foothold in these trends so that we can move forward recognizing that we’ve got less resources, that our clientele have less resources, and that things are not getting easier to deal with.”
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