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Multimedia campaign for agricultural extension

I. Reeve1 and D. Lincoln2

1 Rural Development Centre, UNE, Armidale, NSW 2351
2 The Commongood Centre, 11 Crestview St, Kenmore, Qld 4069

Between August 1992 and April 1993, a multimedia promotional campaign was undertaken by NSW Agriculture with financial support from GRDC, AWB and John Deere Ltd to encourage wheat growers in the Northern NSW wheat belt to introduce dryland lucerne in rotation with wheat. The campaign included television commercials, a jingle, radio interviews, and articles in newspapers and grower magazines. The campaign publicised a 008 number that could be rung to obtain a free kit (the Lucerne Up kit) that contained a video, audio tapes and an Agfacts publication on lucerne. The evaluation of this campaign was undertaken by the Rural Development Centre.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The evaluation used pre-campaign and post-campaign mail surveys of Northern NSW wheat growers and of a control group of wheat growers in Southern Queensland. A total of 1593 growers were surveyed and a response rate of 22% obtained. Using a one page follow up survey, nonresponse bias was found to be minimal. A questionnaire was mailed to all who had requested the Lucerne Up kit and 200 responses were obtained — a response rate of 48%.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The evaluation showed that about one in six growers in Northern NSW knew of the Lucerne Up kit, about half of these obtained a kit and about half of those with the kit reported that they had already put some of the ideas in the kit into practice. The aspect of the campaign most frequently recalled by respondents was the television commercials (31%), followed by reports in newspapers and magazines (12%). It is likely that the prolonged drought has retarded the translation of these levels of interest into detectable increases in plantings. As shown in Figure 1, there was no increase in the proportion of Northern NSW growers planting dryland lucerne in 1993 that might be attributed to the campaign.

Figure 1. Proportion of wheat growers planting dryland lucerne 1991-1995.

The figures for the intended 1995 plantings suggest that, with an improvement in seasonal conditions, the adoption of dryland lucerne rotations will be greater in northern NSW than in Queensland. This may be attributed, at least in part, to the campaign.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The evaluation of the campaign was funded by Incitec Ltd.

REFERENCES

1. Reeve, I., Lees, J., Price, I. and O'Donnell, L. 1995. Evaluation of the 1992-93 Promotional Campaign. Report to NSW Agriculture. The Rural Development Centre: Armidale. 22 pp.

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