Many part-time and small scale farmers (PT/ST) have been facing problems in farming. To help solve these problems, this study was conducted to determine the farm management educational needs of PT/SF within selected Ohio counties. The following objectives were pursued: (1) To describe PT/SF on the basis of their demographic characteristics; (2) To determine the farm management educational needs of PT/SF in this study; (3) To determine the relationship between the demographic characteristics and the computed farm management educational needs of PT/SF studied; and (4) To determine if the farm management educational needs of PT/SF in non-commercial counties were significantly different from that of PT/SF in commercial counties. This study was a descriptive survey research. The target population was the PT/SF in selected Ohio counties. An appropriate sample (Elliott, 1980), for a 95 percent confidence level and a 5 percent margin of error was selected. The instrument used to contact PT/SF in this study was a researcher-developed mailed questionnaire which employed a summated (Likert-type) scale for the measurement of the perceived educational needs of farmers. Findings revealed the four most needed areas of farm management education by PT/SF in the study as being: (1) farm tax management; (2) marketing farm products; (3) determining farm insurance needs; and (4) farm recordkeeping.
Within these four categories of educational needs, the 12 most needed competencies were prioritized to include: (1) determination of how local inheritance tax is paid; (2) determination of when to market products; (3) filing of the appropriate tax forms; (4) analysis of methods of marketing products; (5) interpretation of market reports; (6) making a state income tax return; (7) comparison of storage cost with selling at harvest; (8) determination of how to report federal income tax; (9) determination of the appropriate tax preparatory procedures; (10) determination of what property to insure; (11) following product price trends; and (12) determination of the appropriate time to insure.
Findings also revealed that the majority of PT/SF were males who operated model farms of 50-150 acres for 11 or more years, and were between 35-44 years of age. They were high school graduates who had principally produced crops.