Findings from this research have implications for communication practitioners and agricultural conservation
professionals disseminating information in the three study watersheds. The variability observed
among farmers’ information-use patterns across the three areas casts suspicion on the existence of the
proverbial “general” farm audience and strongly suggests that broad-based information appeals may be
ineffective for audiences distributed over large geographical areas.
Conservation information campaigns are likely to be more successful if targeted to the interests and characteristics of specific audience segments with specific informational needs.