Larry K.
McMullen, swine field specialist
Situation
Every farm family desires to have financial, family, and personal affairs that
interact to create a high plane of quality of life. But low commodity prices,
demanding work schedules, and the need to make “ends meet” puts a
tremendous social pressure on our rural farm families. This was especially evident
with the 1998 “low hog price” era. Because of this tremendous stress,
family issues, and relationships began to emerge and the lack of an acceptable
quality of life standard was emerging.
Response
Upon recognizing the lack of acceptable quality of life standards in farm families,
a group of multi-discipline extension professionals in the former east central
extension area formed a quality of life committee in 1999. Various ideas and
suggestion came forth from this committee to help stressed families. But it
was not until 2001 that any funding could be obtained to work directly with
farm families. In 2002, a federal grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental
Health Services Administration (SAMSHA) was received by Iowa State University
Extension to Families for Rural Outreach. From this grant, funding was obtained
to develop a Quality of Life Team (QL Team) to work one on one with farm families
in the East Central Iowa Extension Area (11 counties). This funding continued
for 2003 and 2004 and the QL Team expanded into 23 counties due to Extension
re-alignment of regional areas. The QL Team consisted of ISU Extension Staff
who were available to family farm operations that needed assistance in reorganizing
their farming operation to generate more profit and/or create a higher quality
of life standard for the family members. Generally three to five Extension staff
would be assigned to a farm family based on the commodity enterprises and social
needs of the family. The process would involve an initial meeting with the QL
Team to determined needs and potential scenarios for quality of life improvement
and then a second meeting with a farm financial associate to generate a Fin-Pack
for determining an economic base line for the farm and to evaluate the new suggested
alternatives. The team would then meet a third and/or fourth time to implement
the new direction of change for the farm family. Considerable one on one specific
enterprise technical exchange of information was made with each client. With
this funding the Southeast Iowa Quality of Life Team was able to function for
farm families from 2002 to 2004 with Larry McMullen, ISU Swine Field Specialist
as the Quality of Life Team coordinator.
Impact
Over the course of the three years, the Southeast Iowa Quality of Team served
34 farm families. To service these families, the ISU Extension staff involved
represented Ag Field Specialist representing Farm Management, Crops, Swine,
Beef, and Horticulture, Family Life Field Specialist, Family Resource Management
Field Specialist, County Extension Education Directors, and Farm Financial Planning
Associates. Approximately 3.5 team visits were made with each client, which
represented 30 to 50 hours of total extension staff time advising the client.
In 2002, 11 clients were served with 15 staff members. In 2003, 14 clients were
served with 27 staff members and in 2004, nine clients were served with 19 staff
members. At the end of the QL Team process, clients were asked to return an
evaluation of the QL Team process. With a 70 percent return rate, the overall
evaluation rating for the QL Team was 60 percent “A”, 33 percent “B”
, and 6 percent “C” ratings. Of those clients reporting, an estimated
value that the QL Team brought to the farming operation was an average of $8,300.
This ranged from $500 to $29,000 per client.
Numerous comments were received about the QL Team, the following are typical
examples: “They helped us tremendously, showed us alternatives, didn’t
condemn us for our mistakes, showed us ways as to not repeat our mistakes and
how to get them corrected.” – “A great gathering of people with
superior knowledge of their area of expertise.” - “They were all great
listeners and I felt very comfortable talking to them” – “The
program came at a time (death of spouse) when we were very unsure as to what
to do next. We didn’t know what steps to take to keep the farm or even
if it could be done. We are very grateful for the Quality of Life Team and the
help they’ve given. They took the information that we had and broke it
down so that we could devise a plan to proceed. Thank You !”
Unless a new grant is found, this will be the last year for the Quality of Life Team in the Southeast Iowa Extension Area.
Page last updated:
July 8, 2006
Page maintained by Linda Schultz, lschultz@iastate.edu
