The key to sustaining the system was the recruitment and involvement of young farmers. Conclusions Advisory committees strongly influence decision making related to Extension programming, have limited influence on program acceptance, and are not considered to be an educational experience by members or agents. Committee members are strongly involved in advisement, have some involvement in legitimation and communication, but no involvement in interpretation related to the advisory committee process. In the advisory committee process of programming, members have strong involvement in implementation, weak in planning, and none in evaluation. Agents and committee members have a good working relationship.
Members perceive serving on the advisory committee as a positive experience.
Involvement is strong in some areas of the advisory committee process and nonexistent in others. The parish advisory committee process should continue to function but is in need of change. Recommendations Establish one parish advisory committee to cover all crops, not just cotton. The establishment of all-crop advisory committees will allow for the changing of the agenda from year to year to best fit the needs of parish producers. This can be accomplished by merging existing commodity advisory committees and meeting with one overall committee prior to the growing season to discuss commodity selections that best fit the market situation for the upcoming year.