By J. Scott Angle | [email protected] | @IFAS_VP
We want every farmer, rancher, forester and fisher to know our name. Even better if they know how we can help.
Nearly all of you do. In a survey of Farm Bureau members, 86 percent of you who responded said you were aware of UF/IFAS.
I know you get a lot of surveys, so I want to thank you for thousands of responses to the Optimizing IFAS survey in fall 2025.
As the title suggests, we’re trying to be as effective as possible. To do that, we need to hear from you.
Your responses will help us reach the other 14 percent. We want to reach all Farm Bureau members, not just those who already know us. And for those of you who do know us, we want you to know us better.
We have great science to share. But we need your trust first. We’re surveying you now because we’re seeing the reports of declining trust in higher education (along with so many other institutions). We’re gratified to see strong agreement (4.33 on a 5-point scale) across all agriculture stakeholder groups for the statement, “I trust that IFAS Extension delivers information that is accurate….”
Trust will be even more critical as we move into an era in which we’re providing you with digital and AI tools. So, Optimizing IFAS is not the only survey we’ve been circulating among Farm Bureau members lately.
Dr. Jae Ahn’s survey this fall is asking you how you use these new technologies, how risky you consider them, and what kinds of data privacy safeguards you’d like to see.
That survey started, in part, as a response to Farm Bureau President Jeb Smith’s call for closer attention to data security. We established a Strategic Working Group on Data Use & Privacy nearly a year ago. President Smith spoke. We acted.
What’s great about the Optimizing IFAS survey is that it can help inform a conversation going forward. Dr. Ricky Telg and his team at the Center for Public Issues Education, who developed and administered the survey, call it a “feedback loop.” I call it stronger two-way communication.
We’ve always valued the conversations on the tailgate of a pickup truck, between the rows and in the barn. But those conversations are hard to quantify.
That feedback loop? Building new ways for us to hear from you and vice versa means we don’t have to wait for the next time we’re out on your farm to get your input.
We know every minute you spend on a survey is time away from farm and family, so we’re grateful to the Florida Farm Bureau Federation for sending out several surveys – not just the Optimizing IFAS one – to its members.
Optimizing IFAS is one of the most strategic listening campaigns we’ve ever undertaken. At the heart of that campaign is hearing the voice of agriculture – the Florida Farm Bureau Federation.
J. Scott Angle is the University of Florida’s Senior Vice President for Agriculture and Natural Resources and leader of the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS).
