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Vol. 7 No. 1 & 2

Engagement and Outreach with Amish Audiences

Submitted
August 11, 2010
Published
2010-08-11

Abstract

The Amish are a religious subculture who make their living mainly from small diversified livestock farms and small businesses. Water quality problems occur on many Amish farms. With a USDACSREES grant, the Ohio State University Extension (OSUE) began teaching and engaging 240 Amish families in three communities to encourage using best management practices (BMPs) to improve water quality. Education techniques included farm visits, newsletters, educational meetings, soil and manure testing, demonstration plots, well testing, and stream monitoring. OSUE professionals also worked to increase Amish awareness of food
preservation and food safety issues. Outcomes included a gain in knowledge, changes in attitudes, adoption of certain BMPs (75% to 90%) to improve water quality, and increased awareness of food preservation and food safety issues. This paper outlines the techniques OSUE used to engage this unique audience.