Social Work Commons^™

Smart Growth And Wisconsin Agriculture, Douglas B. Jackson-Smith

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Relatively low and volatile agricultural commodity prices have placed increasing pressure on the state’s farm sector in the 1990s. At the same time, an unusually robust non-farm economy has generated significant demand for rural housing and recreational land development. The result has been a dramatic acceleration in the rate of farmland conversion to non- farm uses over the last 15 years. Non-farm growth pressures have affected many other aspects of Wisconsin’s urban and rural landscape as well. To help communities grapple with these new challenges, the state legislature passed a new “Smart Growth” law in the fall of 1999 (1999 …

The Changing Face Of Wisconsin Dairyfarms: A Summary Of Pats Research On Structural Change In The 1990s, Douglas B. Jackson-Smith, B. Barham

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Medium-sized, diversified, family-labor farms1 have long defined the structure of dairy farming in “America’s Dairyland.” The red barns, silos, farm houses, and fields of hay, grain, and pasture associated with these operations have given rise to the state’s distinctive pastoral landscapes. As family businesses these farms have been successful enough to provide their operators with “middle-class” standards of living. Nationally, in the 20th century, Wisconsin’s dairy sector produced more milk and especially more cheese than any other state in the U.S. Among Wisconsin residents, much cultural pride stems from the state’s preeminence in dairying — car license plates bear the …

The Use And Performance Of Intensiverotational Grazing Among Wisconsin Dairy Farms In The 1990s, M. Ostrom, Douglas B. Jackson-Smith

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Growing numbers of Wisconsin dairy farmers have reported success using management intensive rotational grazing (MIRG) techniques that rely on pastures as the primary source of forage for their milking herds. The Program on Agricultural Technology Studies (PATS) has been tracking the use and performance of MIRG systems in Wisconsin since the early 1990s through periodic, large-scale, random sample surveys and on-farm interviews with Wisconsin farmers. Utilizing recent results from the PATS 1997 and 1999 Wisconsin Dairy Farm Polls, this report provides an important update to previous PATS reports. In our surveys, the dairy farmers who report utilizing pastures for forage …

Farming Inwisconsin At The End Of The Century: Results Of The 1999 Wisconsin Farm Poll, Douglas B. Jackson-Smith, S. Moon, M. Ostrom, B. Barham

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Farming in Wisconsin has undergone considerable change in the last few decades. U.S. Census statistics suggest that the state lost almost 13 percent of its farms and over 10 percent of its farmland between 1987-1997. The decline in farm numbers was particularly severe for mid-sized commercial livestock farms. During this period, the number of hog farms dropped by almost 60 percent, dairy farms fell by 40 percent, and farms with any harvested cropland declined by more than 20 percent (Buttel, 1999). Meanwhile, when dairy and hog farm number declines are removed from the equation, census results show that there was …

How Wisconsin Farmers Feed Theircows: Results Of The 1999 Wisconsin Dairy Herd Feeding Study, Douglas B. Jackson-Smith, J. M. Powell

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

The Wisconsin dairy industry has seen dramatic changes over the last 20 years (Jackson- Smith and Barham, 2000). Overall, dairy farm numbers have been cut in half since the early 1980s, and the average size of remaining herds has increased by more than 60 percent (from roughly 40 cows to over 65 cows per herd). Despite these changes, most dairies are still single-family businesses, relying on household members for virtually all their farm labor requirements (Buttel et al., 2000). In 1998, state statistics suggested that over 70 percent of Wisconsin dairy operations were milking between 30 and 99 cows, and …

A Profile Of Wisconsin's Dairyindustry, 1999, F. H. Buttel, Douglas B. Jackson-Smith, S. Moon

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

In the late winter and early spring of 1999, the Program on Agricultural Technology Studies (PATS)2 surveyed over 1,600 of Wisconsin’s dairy farmers. Because the sample was large, was drawn randomly from the Wisconsin Dairy Producers List, and yielded a relatively high response rate (50 percent), the results provide a scientifically reliable snapshot of the Wisconsin dairy farming sector as of the spring of 1999. This report provides an overview of the initial findings of the overall study. The emphasis of this report is on the characteristics of the Wisconsin dairy farming sector, and on the characteristics of the operators …

Management Intensive Rotational Grazingin Wisconsin: The 1990s, M. Ostrom, Douglas B. Jackson-Smith

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Growing numbers of Wisconsin dairy farmers have reported success using management intensive rotational grazing (MIRG) techniques that rely on pastures as the primary source of forage for their milking herds. The Program on Agricultural Technology Studies (PATS) has been tracking the use and performance of MIRG systems in Wisconsin since the early 1990s through periodic large-scale, random sample surveys of Wisconsin dairy farmers. This fact sheet incorporates recent results from PATS 1999 Dairy Farmer Poll into an overall summary of PATS grazing research.

Limitations Of Agricultural Land Useplanning Tools In Rural Wisconsin, Douglas B. Jackson-Smith, J. Bukovac

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Recent opinion polls suggest that farmland preservation is one of the most widely shared goals for local land use planning in Wisconsin. Although the state has long been a leader in the use of tax and zoning policy tools to protect agricultural lands from residential or commercial development, continued high rates of farmland loss have cast doubt on their effectiveness. This paper critically examines statistical evidence for the effectiveness of farmland tax credit and exclusive agricultural zoning policies in Wisconsin. Using data collected at the township level (the local unit of land use decision-making in most counties), and controlling for …

Overview Of Emerging Conflicts Over Agriculturalland Use, Douglas B. Jackson-Smith

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

I’d like to use my opening comments today to set the stage for the rest of the program. But first, a few words about my background. I’m a sociologist and an economist trained in the dynamics of change in the farm sector. I help direct a research and outreach unit called the Program on Agricultural Technology Studies that tracks the impacts of new technologies and public policies on farm families, and only came to the world of land use planning through the back door. Specifically, as we’ve worked with farmers across the state in the last five to seven years, …

Wisconsin Dairy Farmer Views Onuniversity Research And Extension Programs, M. Ostrom, Douglas B. Jackson-Smith, S. Moon

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Over the last decade, the Program on Agricultural Technology Studies (PATS) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has received a wide range of formal and informal comments from Wisconsin farmers regarding the direction of university research and extension programs. In an era of declining Extension budgets, increasing privatization, and a rapidly changing farm structure, the debate about where to focus scarce public resources takes on an added significance. Is there still an important role for land grant institutions to play in agriculture in the new century? If so, how can limited resources be targeted most effectively? What do farmers and other …

Explaining The Uneven Penetration Ofindustrialization In The U.S. Dairy Sector, Douglas B. Jackson-Smith, F. H. Buttel

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

One of the most dramatic trends in American farm-structural change over the past several decades has been the industrialization of livestock production. Many now expect that dairying in the United States will be the next major livestock sector to succumb to the industrialization trend. This paper utilizes a multidimensional definition of industrialization to critically examine evidence for and against the dairy industrialization hypothesis. The authors find that while there is a persistent trend toward larger units of production, and a geographical shift towards states with more industriallike farm operations, the penetration of industrial relations of production has occurred more slowly …

Manure Management Inwisconsin: Results Of The 1995 Wisconsin Farmer Poll, Douglas B. Jackson-Smith, M. Nevius, B. Barham

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Over the past 20 years, a significant amount of state and federal money has been spent researching the impacts of farming activities on water quality in Wisconsin. Manure and nutrient management practices have been identified as critical variables affecting the environmental performance of most farms in the state. To protect surface and groundwater resources, a number of technical and managerial solutions have been designed to minimize nutrient leaching and runoff from barnyards and farm fields. An impressive array of educational programs, financial subsidies, and regulatory incentives has been employed to encourage livestock producers to manage their manure in environmentally responsible …

Political, Economic And Social Dominance Of Major Cities In East Asia During The Twentieth Century, Michael B. Toney, Chalon Keller

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

One of the greatest shift in human societies has been the change from dispersed settlement patterns toward a complex urban pattern. Prior to the industrialization there were only a few urban places scattered throughout the world and none could compare with numerous cities of today with respect to size and complexity. In recent decades the growth of cities in Asia has been particularly remarkable as there has been an increase in the number of medium sized cities and the growth of a number of mega cities. This urbanization of the worlds population has corresponded with other fundamental changes in human …

Urban Pathology, Brian L. Pitcher

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Urban theorists have long debated to what extend and how the social problems of the city have been brought about or exaggerated in some consistent way by the urban environments in which they occur. This presentation reviews theories of urbanism, and the features of cities which contribute to the augmentation and control of various types of social pathology. Special emphasis is given to some types and patterns of urban unrest, and the structural characteristics associated with deleterious urban environments. Also included is perspective on the contested nature of social relations, the construction of perceptions of social pathology, and some overall …

Urbanization In East Asia: Retrospect And Prospect, Yun Kim, Byoung Mohk Choi

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

The purpose of this paper is to review the trend of urbanization and the growth of cities in East Asia and to discuss the social, economic, environmental, and physical implications accompanying the rapid urbanization and the growth of large metropolitan cities. The paper discusses the past trend and distribution of urbanization and the growth of large cities in East Asia in comparison with those of other parts of Asia and the world at large.
The urban structure and hierarchy, population concentration in primate cities, and rural to urban population redistributions are also discussed. In addition, the paper comments on various …

Wisconsin Agriculture In Historical Perspective:Economic And Social Changes, 1959-1995, Douglas B. Jackson-Smith

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Anyone who travels through the Wisconsin countryside and speaks with an average farm operator will quickly come to appreciate the acute sense of anxiety about the future of agriculture that permeates rural life in the state. Long hours, a lack of vacation time, declining commodity prices, and rising farm expenses have all contributed to a growing inability to find young people interested in taking over Wisconsin farm operations. The loss of farms - particularly dairy farms - in many regions of the state has placed stress on the economic vitality and cultural identities of rural communities that have traditionally depended …

Expansiontrends In Wisconsin Dairying: Evidence From The 1994 Atffi Dairy Farmer Poll, B. Barham, F. Buttel, J. Mcnichol, Douglas B. Jackson-Smith, S. Wood

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

For several years there have been growing concerns about the long-run decline of farm incomes and the future viability of the dairy industry in Wisconsin. These problems are sometimes attributed to declining milk prices, and indeed the average milk price per hundredweight received by Wisconsin farmers has declined by over 40 percent since 1980 when inflation is taken into account. But there is now little optimism that the long-term decline of milk prices can be reversed. There is virtually no chance that the 1995 Farm Bill will raise the federal support price for milk products, and if anything there may …

Getting In While The Going's Tough: Entry In Thewisconsin Farm Sector, Douglas B. Jackson-Smith

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

In recent years, there has been growing public attention to an apparent decline in the rate at which young people have been entering the Wisconsin farm sector. Interest in farm entry arises from a public policy concern that if too few young people enter farming in the coming decade, the viability of the Wisconsin farm sector in general, and the dairy industry in particular, could be threatened. A number of public and private initiatives to assist beginning farmers have been proposed, and a few programs including subsidized loans and planning for a computerized land-link system to match entering and exiting …

Socio-Demographic And Economic Factors Affecting Fertility In Rural And Urban Thailand, Pichit Pitaktepsombati

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The major purpose of this study is to measure the relationship between socio-demographic and economic factors and fertility of rural and urban women in Thailand, utilizing national level survey data collected in 1972 and 1973. Specifically, a regression model of fertility and socio-demographic and economic variables will be developed and analyzed. Also, a general comparison will be made between the results of the present study, based on the 1972 and 1973 surveys, with those from an earlier round of surveys conducted in 1969 and 1970.

Aging Of The Population And Its Socioeconomic Implications In Utah, 1900-2000, Vitis Smutrakalin

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this thesis is to examine how the age structure of Utah's population has changed since the turn of the century and how it is likely to change during the next quarter of a century. It is also to study selected demographic characteristics and special distribution of the aged population of Utah which are fundamental prerequisites to understanding the problems confronting Utah's aged. This study also analyzes some socioeconomic characteristics of the aged population. Some significant findings are inadequate income, inadequate housing, living arrangement, unemployability, etc.

Future growth of the aged population was derived from the projection of …

The Iranian Student In Logan, An Exploratory Study Of Foreign Student Social Experience And Adjustment, Ruth C. Busch

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The study to be reported in the following pages is an exploratory investigation of the social experiences, adjustments, and attitudes of Iranian students at the Utah State Agricultural College. It was devised as a preliminary, not a terminal, investigation. Two possible avenues of further research were considered when the scope of the study was delimited.

1. A study of the social experience and adjustment of all foreign students in Logan, irrespective of nationality.
2. A study of the social experience and adjustment of Iranian students--in the United States and after their return home--irrespective of school attended in the United States.

Both types …

Obligations Of Higher Education To The Social Order, Ernest A. Jacobsen

Faculty Honor Lectures

Search for truth is not limited to the discovery of facts. If wisdom is to result from such discovery, there must be parallel study in the realm of values. Lack of balance in these two aspects of research has tended to result in an enormous mass of information and in a marvelous productive power in our society with a lack of worthy ends toward which to direct and apply them. Wisdom is the product of information and values skillfully integrated.

When values are involved the principal data become the ideas and ideals of man. These must be extensively gathered, classified, …

Cultural Variations Of Child Rearing Practices Among The Mormons Of Brigham City, Utah, Nile D. Meservy

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The family is the basic institution of society. It is within the family that the individual develops his basic points of view and achieves a pattern of adjustment toward life.¹

One of the most strategic factors in the family setting, insofar as personality development is concerned, is the parental-child relationship. Although it is evident that this relationship plays a great part in the socialization of the child, much remains to be understood concerning the underlying conditions within the family that affect his relationship.

It is the view of this study that the parent-child relationship varies in nature from family …

The Relation Between Group Participation And Personality Adjustment Of High School Students In Piute And Kane Counties, Utah, John R. Christiansen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The emergence of modern concepts of personality and the study of processes involved in personality formation are relatively recent developments (14, p. 83). From these concepts and studies of personality has developed the theory that personality emerges out of the contact the individual has with his society and his culture. This theory does not discredit the importance of biological or hereditary background as an important condition or prerequisite for personality development, but it does hold that the social and cultural forces provide the stimulus and arranges the general patterns for personality formation.

The social and cultural forces operate in close …

Attitude Of Utah Farm People Toward The Extension Service In Utah, Stephen L. Brower

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Cooperative Extension Service in agriculture and home economics was established on a national basis in 1914 by the passage of the Smith-Lever Act. The act stated, in broad non-restrictive terms, that the major purpose of cooperative extension work was "to aid in diffusing among the people of the United States useful and practical information on subjects related to agriculture and home economics, and to encourage the application of the same." Thus the primary function of the Cooperative Extension Service in agriculture and home economics is education.

Family Problems In Brigham City, Utah, Dean M. Mcdonald

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Less than a century ago most primary functions of life centered in the family. One by one many of these functions have moved out of the home into the factory, the school, the church and the community. In the loss of functions which held the family together as a unit, disintegration set in and numerous evidences of family disorganization began to appear. Many people today, cognizant of the role which the family still plays in implementing personalities and in sustaining social stability, are nevertheless deeply concerned with increasing evidences of family disorganization.

Eight years ago the United States Office of …

Participation And Leadership In Voluntary Agencies At Plain City, Utah, 1947, Wade H. Andrews

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Plain City is a, rural village of 822 people (Sixteenth Census, United States, 1940) located on a fiat, plain area ten miles northwest of Olden, Utah, a city of 51,927 people (1946 survey of the Weber County-Ogden City Planning Commission).

Plain City was founded by Mormon pioneers in 1859 after the pattern followed in nearly all the early settlements of this area. The use of the square block on the basis of the four cardinal points of the compass was standard. Village living for all, farmers as well as non-farmers, was the accepted form of building new villages, towns or …

Uses Of Local And Outside Agencies By People Living In The Open Country Community Of Benson, Utah, Ezra Woolley Geddes

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Open country farming in Utah came late in the pioneer period having been preceded by compact settlement in villages. These villages were located on mountain streams near mouths of canyons on higher ground. Reasons for compact settlement were: (1) Early environment probably influenced many of the Utah settlers who came from New England were villages were patterned after the compact European agricultural village. (2) Compact settlement was basic to the plan for the "City of Zion" envisaged by Latter Day Saint leaders in 1833. In Utah, settlement in such villages resulted from adherence of members to precepts of L.D.S. Church …

The Northwestern Shoshone Indians, (A) Under Tribal Organization And Government, (B) Under The Eccleastical Administration Of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints As Exemplified At The Washakie Colony, Utah, Joshua T. Evans

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Northwestern Shoshone Indians is the tribe of Indians that inhabited the territory north of the Great Salt Lake comprising the northern part of Utah and the Southern part of Idaho. The Indians have loose boundary lines, yet we can definitely state that this tribe occupied the territory from the Weber river on the South to the Snake river on the North; from Bear Lake and Bear river on the East to Raft river and Goose creek on the West. Their confines would take in Weber, Rich, Box Elder, Cache, and part of Morgan, counties in Utah; and Bear Lake, …

The Relation Between Health Ratings Of Seventh And Eighth Grade School Children And Their Family Social And Economic Backgrounds, Brigham City, Utah, 1935-36, Ralph Jenson Jr.

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Especially during the last century the health of school children has been a problem of deep concern. Many physical examinations have been given by numerous organizations with the intention of discovering organic disorders that might be detrimental to a child's normal social life. As a result of such study, humanity has generally come to recognize the social and economic costs of ill-health and has embarked on remedial and preventive campaigns to improve the well-being of children. Foundations have been endowed. Free clinics have been established to serve those families whose incomes prohibit them from securing medical services otherwise; county, city …