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RCED-83-83 1 (1983-02-09)

handle is hein.gao/gaobabmvc0001 and id is 1 raw text is: UNITED S GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON, D.C. 20548 RESOURCES, COMMUNITY. AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT DIVISION B-199623 FEBRUARY 9, 1983 The Honorable John R. Block The Secretary of Agriculture Dear Mr. Secretary: 120543 Subject: Research and Extension Programs to Aid Small Farms (GAO/RCED-83-83) In a 1975 report to the Congress entitled Some Problems Impeding Economic Improvement of Small-Farm Operations: What the Department of Agriculture Could Do (RED-76-2, Aug. 15, 1975), we made several recommendations on steps that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) should take to assure that it establishes small-farm research and extension programs that are practical, beneficial, and cost-effective. Our review of Department actions to implement the recom- mendations in our report showed that research and extension serv- ices have been increased and data collection activities have been expanded since our 1975 report. However, USDA has not yet (1) developed data on overall costs a'nd benefits of small-farm extension activities or (2) adequately encouraged State extension services to establish procedures to identify small farmers most in need of assistance and to establish action plans to improve the participants' farming skills. The enclosure discusses extension service, research, and data collection activities initiated since our 1975 report and includes our observations on program benefits and weaknesses. We are recommending that the Administrator of the Federal Exten- sion Service work, cooperatively with the State extension serv- ices, to develop guidelines for carrying out special small-farm extension programs in a way that will provide meaningful techni- cal assistance to the maximum number of small farmers. We are also recommending that a mechanism be developed to collect cost and benefit information on the results of small-farm program activities. The Extension Service agreed with the thrust of our recom- mendations. The Administrator said that the Service plans to implement a new program accountability and evaluation system that it has been developing cooperatively with the States and (097686)

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