SSCA Member Survey Results

By Blair McClinton, P.Ag.

SSCA Assistant Manager

The SSCA sent out a mail survey to its active members in late January asking them to prioritize SSCA's activities in the event of program cuts. There was a good response to this survey with over 28% of the members surveyed responding. We would like to thank everyone who took the time to participate in this survey.

We identified eight activities within the survey and left space for members to add additional activities. The eight activities listed are:

1. Annual direct seeding conference
2. Regina direct seeding field day
3. Seager Wheeler direct seeding field day
4. Local information meetings (25-50 people)
5. Local field tours of farm operation (10-20 people)
6. Local tour of SSCA established plots (25-100 people)
7. Dealer sponsored meetings with SSCA presentations (50-200 people)
8. Kitchen Table Meeting (5-15 people)

A numerical ranking system was setup to analyze the results. The results were scored on a scale of one to ten (Table 1) where the highest ranking received the highest score (i.e. rank 1 = 10 points). No response was scored as zero. Since only eight activities were listed, a score of 3 would typically be the lowest rank unless additional activities were added.

Table 1. Scoring system to analyze survey results.

Table 2. Ranked scores for the different activities listed in order of highest to lowest priority.

An average score was determined for each activity (Table 2). The results of this survey clearly show that our members rank the annual conference as our highest priority. The differences between the other activities are not as great reflecting the variability in our member's views. However, it appears from this simple analysis and from evaluating the distribution of the responses, that local information meetings, tours of SSCA-seeded plots and presentations at dealer meetings were ranked medium to high priority. On the other hand, local field tours (half-ton tours) and kitchen table meetings were ranked low.

The results for the two large field days show two schools of thought, either high priority or low priority. When these field days are ranked high, they tended to be given either the 2^nd or 3^rd highest ranking (behind the conference). However, when they were ranked low they tended to be ranked 7^th or 8^th (lowest ranking). The responses for the Regina field day show that greater proportions of the members rank it high than rank it low while there is a relatively even split in opinion on the Seager Wheeler field day. However, 75% of the respondents rated both field days the same, either both high or both low. In this subset, member's opinions were split down the middle on whether these are high or low priority events. Of the remaining 25% of responses, 18% rated the Regina day high and Seager Wheeler day low, and 7% rated the Seager Wheeler day high and the Regina day low. This could be interpreted as meaning that they support large field days but only find them valuable if they are held at the 'right' location. If this is the correct interpretation then around 63% value field days and 37% don't value them, indicating a medium priority item.

Unsolicited Notable Comments (#times mentioned in brackets)

Several members ranked or commented on other activities. The most common themes given priority are informing members through the newsletter (7), web site (1) and mail (1), and information/lobby on the carbon issue (10). In addition several mentioned the need to develop low-input/cost management systems (4).

Some other items mentioned were: retain all staff, keep all activities, increase memberships, fall seeding, eliminate the conference because its too expensive.

There were also several comments that it was difficult to prioritize our activities either because they were not familiar with all of them or because they felt all activities had value.

Conclusions

Based on the good response to the survey, it is fair to say that our membership values our activities and is concerned about the SSCA. With our provincial events, the conference is highly valued while the large field days were valued less. With our regional activities, activities that involve larger groups, like tours of SSCA plots, information meetings and dealer meetings were given a higher priority than smaller activities like kitchen table meetings and half-ton tours. Since several members took the effort to mention the newsletter, we should consider it a priority to keep our members informed through the newsletter and web site. For the same reason, the carbon issue should also be a priority.

The survey results are being incorporated into our future program plans starting in April.