Cooperator Demographics

Forage Biotechnology Group. In a previous article, I described our plans to establish a team of scientists and support staff to try to enhance forage resources for Southern Oklahoma and Northern Texas. That program is coming online. We recently hired the forage breeder, Dr. Andy Hopkins, to be responsible for assessing and developing forage germplasm and varieties. Andy is originally from Missouri where he obtained his B.S. degree. He obtained M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Nebraska working for Dr. Ken Vogul followed by a post-doctoral position with Dr. Charles Taliaferro at Oklahoma State University. We're very happy to have someone with Andy's breadth and abilities to lead the breeding program for this biotechnology group.

Cooperator Demographics. In recent years we have seen an increase in the number of cooperators seeking assistance (Figure 1). We began to collect and analyze data on all new cooperators in 1988. While cooperator numbers have increased, we also have seen slight increases in total new acreage assigned to our specialists over the same time period (Figure 1). In 1996, we were fortunate to add a fourth team of specialists to help provide assistance to both new and old cooperators.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture conducts census studies of all farmers every five years. Although our own database provides little information directly comparable to Census statistics, one measure we do have in common is the number of acres each farmer/rancher operates. The distribution of Noble Foundation cooperators by farm size (Figure 3) provides an interesting comparison to that for all 46,358 farmers within the 100-mile radius (Figure 4).

As you can see in Figure 4, 58% of the farmers in the service area farm less than 180 acres. That compares to 23% of the Noble Foundation cooperators who farm that same size farm (Figure 3.) Those who farm or ranch in excess of 1,000 acres make up only 8% of the region's producers, while 35% of the Noble Foundation's database manage more than 1,000 acres. While the 946 Noble Foundation cooperators represent only 2% of the region's farmers/ranchers, they manage approximately 6% of the region's 17 million acres in farms.

In order to serve an increasing number of clientele, we expect to conduct fewer informal tours of our research and demonstration facilities in the future. Instead, we are planning more structured tours to larger numbers of people but fewer times during the year. Additionally, we have begun providing some of our cooperators with more intensive educational programs on subjects that require more depth.

As an example, last year we initiated grazing schools for cooperators who needed to better understand resource inventories; how forage plants grow; how animals interact with forage plants; and how to better manage both their forage and animal resources. We also conducted intensive marketing and financial recordkeeping schools. Those intensive subject matter schools can and probably will be expanded to other topics in the future.