Resource information
Since 1994, urban-absentee landowners have dominated rural landownership in Texas. This landownership change has created potential environmental problems associated with natural resource management. Few of the new landowners have any formal training in the basics of the soil-plant-animal interface. The solution may be to develop a vehicle that provides the new class of landowners with basic information regarding natural resource management. Faculty members from the Texas A&M University (TAMU) Agricultural Research and Extension Center-Overton (representing both Texas Cooperative Extension and the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station and having department affiliations with Soil and Crop Sciences, Animal Science, and Agricultural Economics) developed the Pasture and Livestock Management Workshop for Novices. The main goals in developing the program were to: (i) provide basic information regarding management of soil-plant-animal resources; and (ii) introduce the workshop participants to the educational resources available to them through the land-grant university system. To determine effectiveness of the program, pretests and posttests were administered to the workshop participants. To date, pretest scores have averaged 63.8 (D average), whereas posttest scores have averaged 80.3 (B average). Exit surveys were also conducted to determine the attitude of the workshop participants regarding the overall quality of their experience. The popularity of the workshop is such that, since the inception of the first workshop (2001), subsequent workshops have been booked nearly 1 year in advance. Given the combination of learning environment, mix of classroom and field laboratory exercises, and nonthreatening scientific presentations, we have little doubt that the Pasture and Livestock Management Workshop will continue to be a popular program with urban-absentee landowners.
