EMPHASIS FOR FARM BUSINESS MANAGEMENT IN VOCATIONAL AGRICULTURE AS PERCEIVED BY EDUCATORS AND FARM CREDIT BANK PERSONNEL

The purpose of this study was to empirically compare the emphasis which should be given to secondary school vocational agriculture program competencies in farm business management education as perceived by educators and farm credit bank personnel or bankers.;There were 299 random sample subjects from educators (three subgroups) and bankers (two subgroups) who were chosen as knowledgeable persons to provide the recommendations needed to design and implement vocational agriculture programs. There were 231 returns (77 percent). Subjects answered nine biographical questions in Section I of the questionnaire and rated a 0-5 emphasis domain scale, 26 listings of seven composite program units and subunits for vocational agriculture and business for Section II. The units were from Standard Terminology for Curriculum and Instruction in Local and State School System (1970). Educators rated the current and future emphasis sections of the questionnaire, while the bankers rated only the future emphasis. Three null hypotheses are developed. (1) There was no difference in perception for future emphasis to be given to secondary school farm management education in Pennsylvania and the United States between educators and bankers. (2) Educators' and bankers' perceptions regarding the emphasis of farm management education and production agriculture competencies were not influenced by sex, age, membership in agricultural organization and previous production agriculture experience. (3) Management education competencies were not perceived to be more important than production agriculture competencies by educators and bankers.;The three null hypotheses, tested at .05 level of significance with Wilks' Criterion, Pillai's Trace, Hotelling-Lawley Trace, the Student-Newman-Keuls tests (SNK) and Fisher's Least Significant Difference test (LSD) for multiple means comparison, were significant and not rejected.;The SNK and LSD tests indicated significant differences in 16 composite and subunits for main group effects and significant differences in 20 composite and subunits for subgroup effects. Collectively, farm management units were rated higher than production agriculture units. Bankers rated farm business management units significantly higher than educators, while educators rated production agriculture units significantly higher than bankers. The study indicated that farm management competencies required more emphasis in future secondary school vocational agriculture.