<p>&nbsp;            <b>TABLE OF CONTENTS&nbsp;</b></p><p>ABSTRACT...............................................................................................................................i&nbsp;</p><p>ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................................ii&nbsp;</p><p>TABLE OF CONTENTS..........................................................................................................iii</p><p>LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................................iv</p><p>LIST OF FIGURES...................................................................................................................v</p><p>

Chapter 1

: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND ....................................................... 1&nbsp;</p><p>1.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................1&nbsp;</p><p>1.2 Background to the study ...................................................................................................2&nbsp;</p><p>1.3 Problem statement ............................................................................................................5&nbsp;</p><p>1.4 Objectives of the study .....................................................................................................7&nbsp;</p><p>1.5 Research question .............................................................................................................7&nbsp;</p><p>1.6 Justification of the study...................................................................................................7&nbsp;</p><p>1.7 Organization of the study .................................................................................................8&nbsp;</p><p>

Chapter 2

: LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................. 10&nbsp;</p><p>2.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................10 <br></p><p> 2.2 Overview of Saskatchewan agriculture ..........................................................................10&nbsp;</p><p>2.2.1 Crop production .......................................................................................................10&nbsp;</p><p>2.2.2 Animal husbandry....................................................................................................11&nbsp;</p><p>2.3 Background of Market Prospects ...................................................................................12&nbsp;</p><p>2.4 Review of relevant literature ..........................................................................................13&nbsp;</p><p>

Chapter 3

: DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYTICAL METHODS USED................. 21&nbsp;</p><p>3.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................21&nbsp;</p><p>3.2 Theoretical framework ...................................................................................................21&nbsp;</p><p>3.3 Sampling and data collection methodology....................................................................22&nbsp;</p><p>3.4 Data analysis...................................................................................................................23&nbsp;</p><p>3.5 Variable specification and expected relationship ...........................................................23&nbsp;</p><p>3.6 The econometric model ..................................................................................................26&nbsp;</p><p>3.7 Conceptual framework of the probit model....................................................................27&nbsp;</p><p>3.8 Model estimation ............................................................................................................28&nbsp;<br></p><p> 3.8.1 Maximum likelihood estimation ..............................................................................28&nbsp;</p><p>3.8.2 Marginal probability effects.....................................................................................29&nbsp;</p><p>3.9 Summary.........................................................................................................................30&nbsp;</p><p>4.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................31&nbsp;</p><p>4.2 Descriptive statistics of relevant variables .....................................................................31&nbsp;</p><p>4.2.1 Farmer/operator age .................................................................................................31&nbsp;</p><p>4.2.2 Gender......................................................................................................................31&nbsp;</p><p>4.2.3 Educational attainment.............................................................................................32&nbsp;</p><p>4.2.4 Farm ownership .......................................................................................................33&nbsp;</p><p>4.2.5 Gross sales for the previous year .............................................................................33&nbsp;</p><p>4.2.6 Farm experience.......................................................................................................34&nbsp;</p><p>4.3 Analysis of Market Prospects.........................................................................................35&nbsp;</p><p>4.3.1 Number and frequency of view................................................................................35&nbsp;</p><p>4.3.2 Evaluation of Market Prospects...............................................................................38</p><p>&nbsp;4.3.3 Test of independence between gross sales, education level and information sources ...........................................................................................................................................40&nbsp;</p><p>4.3.4 Ranking of market information sources...................................................................42</p><p>&nbsp;4.4 Empirical modeling ........................................................................................................43</p><p>&nbsp;4.4.1 Human sources of information.................................................................................45&nbsp;</p><p>4.4.2 Traditional sources of information...........................................................................48&nbsp;</p><p>4.4.3 New media sources of information ..........................................................................49 <br></p><p>

Chapter 5

: SUMMARY, CONCLUTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS .................... 52&nbsp;</p><p>5.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................52&nbsp;</p><p>5.2 Summary.........................................................................................................................52&nbsp;</p><p>5.3 Conclusions ....................................................................................................................53</p><p>&nbsp;5.4 Recommendations ..........................................................................................................54&nbsp;</p><p>5.5 Limitations of the study..................................................................................................54&nbsp;</p><p>5.6 Suggestions for future research ......................................................................................55&nbsp;</p><p>REFERENCES......................................................................................................................... 56 Appendix A: Descriptive statistics of farmers evaluations of market prospects information ..............................................................................................................................................60 Appendix B: Test of independence between farm size (gross sales) and information sources ..............................................................................................................................................64&nbsp;</p><p> Appendix C: Test of independence between education and information sources................67&nbsp;</p><p>Appendix D: Results of logit model estimation ...................................................................72&nbsp;</p><p>Appendix E : Survey questionnaire ......................................................................................75 <br></p>