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When Jeff Sharp and his team of researchers at Ohio State set out to determine the public’s perceptions of agriculture, they weren’t sure what they’d find. Their study would be the first time Ohio’s viewpoints on agriculture and farmers had been looked at in-depth.

"In taking a look at how Ohioans view agriculture, we didn’t have good, baseline data," said Sharp, an assistant professor of rural sociology at The Ohio State University in Columbus. "A lot of audiences will find this data (from the survey) useful, especially as we begin to hear more about that rural-urban interface."

What the rural sociologists found is that Ohioans are losing their connectedness to the farm – which didn’t come as much of a surprise, Sharp said. But what was eye-opening was the extent of that connection.

"We found a lot more people are connected to agriculture," Sharp said. Of those responding, 24 percent had parents that owned or operated a farm and 49 percent had grandparents that owned or operated a farm. "A large proportion either grew up on a farm or had parents or grandparents involved in agriculture."

However, that connection to farming through family history was much more likely for older respondents. The implication is that the strength of support and good will of Ohioans toward agriculture could diminish as that generation passes on unless agriculture finds new ways to develop links between nonfarmers and farming, he said.

The study, an Ohio Survey of Food, Agriculture and Environmental Issues, was mailed to more than 7,300 Ohio residents last summer; more than 4,000 surveys were returned for a response rate of 56 percent.

Although it’s rather early to draw many conclusions from the data, Sharp said the baseline information is useful today and will help track Ohioans’ opinions in the future.

One result released by Ohio State recently is that more than 70 percent of Ohioans who say they are familiar with issues pertaining to large-scale poultry and livestock facilities are concerned that the farms pose a threat to Ohio’s water and stream quality.

According to the survey, one-third, or 1,267 respondents, said they were familiar with large-scale poultry and livestock facility issues. Of those, 71 percent agreed or strongly agreed with the statement: "Large-scale poultry and livestock facilities pose a serious threat to water and stream quality in Ohio." In addition, 59 percent agreed or strongly agreed that the facilities "are a threat to rural quality of life."

Sharp presented initial findings of the study at a conference in mid-December. He added the large scale-poultry and livestock issue currently appears to be a regional concern, with nearly 56 percent of central Ohioans and 43 percent of northwest Ohioans reporting they were familiar with the issue compared to 25 percent of northeasterners and 27 percent of southwesterners indicating they were familiar with the issues.

Not surprisingly, respondents’ views of the livestock issue and other agricultural issues were often colored by how closely linked they are to farming, Sharp said. For example, people with farming parents or grandparents tend to be more trusting of farmers and generally have more positive attitudes toward agriculture, Sharp said.

"One of the messages to be drawn from this research is that, yes, indeed Ohio is an agricultural state with many Ohioans having farming roots, but we also see that agriculture is changing and some of that change can be controversial because it isn’t consistent with the way it used to be," Sharp said.

Other raw information gathered from the survey included:

• Nearly 56 percent believe Ohio’s more productive farmland should be preserved for agriculture
• 59 percent said they trusted Ohio farmers to protect the environment; however, 29 percent of those respondents were "undecided" on that issue
• 8 percent strongly agree that environmental protection laws regulating farming are too strict
• 69 percent occasionally or frequently purchase food items at a farmer’s market or roadside stand
• Nearly 81 percent prefer to purchase food produced locally
• Almost 52 percent are undecided that food produced in Ohio is safer than food produced in other states
• More than 62 percent strongly disagree or disagree with the statement: "Imported food is as safe as foods produced in the United States."
• 5 percent believe that food produced on a family farm is not as safe as food produced on a corporate farm
• As far as biotechnology is concerned, 59 percent of respondents were undecided about the impact biotechnology has on the safety of the food supply, and 62 percent were undecided that biotechnology in agriculture has had a positive impact on the environment
• Nearly 40 percent believe food in the United States is not as safe as it was 10 years ago
• About 50 percent believe that humans have too little respect for the quality of life of animals and that more regulations are need to protect farm animals.

What’s the next step for Sharp and his team? They’ll study the data and start looking at how to interpret and use the numbers. Even so, Sharp’s been able to draw some conclusions.

"Although we are not able to determine the trend without data from more than one year, I am concerned that the trend may be negative and that agriculture may begin to lose some of the social capital that leads nonfarmers to trust farmers to do the right thing," Sharp said.

Increased education about agriculture and more networking between farmers and nonfarmers may be one way of reducing concern about agricultural practices and building trust of farmers.

The mail survey was supported by funds from Ohio State’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences and its outreach and research divisions, Ohio State University Extension and the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center.