THE PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY IS TO ESTIMATE THE MANPOWER REQUIREMENTS FOR THE NATION FOR 144 REGIONS THE TYPES OF SKILLS AND WORK ABILITIES REQUIRED BY AGRICULTURE IN THE NEXT 15 YEARS, AND THE TYPES AND AMOUNTS OF EDUCATION NEEDED. THE QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS IS BEING MADE BY METHODS APPROPRIATE TO THE PHASES OF THE STUDY--(1) INTERRELATIONS AMONG REGIONS, COMMODITIES, AND SECTORS, DETERMINED BY INPUT-OUTPUT MODEL APPLICATION, (2) SPECIFICATIONS FOR EACH REGION AND ITS PRODUCTS BY THE DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATION OF A MATHEMATICAL PROGRAMING MODEL, (3) ESTIMATION OF MANPOWER REQUIREMENTS FOR DIFFERENT CLASSES OF WORKERS BY ESTIMATION OF TIME-SERIES REGRESSION EQUATIONS, (4) ESTIMATION OF MIGRATION FROM FARMS, (5) MEASURE OF MARGINAL PRODUCTIVITY OF VOCATIONAL AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION BY THE DERIVATION OF FUNCTIONS INCLUDING VARIABLES REPRESENTING TYPES AND AMOUNTS OF TRAINING, AND (6) CONVERSION OF ESTIMATES INTO MANPOWER NEEDS AND TRAINING REQUIREMENTS BY USE OF GENERAL QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS. IMPORTANT PROGRESS HAS BEEN MADE ON FOUR PHASES OF THE STUDY AND ALLOWS SPECIFICATIONS OF THE FUTURE STRUCTURE OF AGRICULTURE AND LABOR DEMAND BY REGIONS. PRESENT PROJECTIONS SHOW AN EVENTUAL DOMINATION OF AGRICULTURE BY TWO- AND THREE-MAN FORMS, WITH A MANAGER AND ONE OR TWO PERMANENT HIRED PERSONNEL, WHO WILL REQUIRE DIFFERENT KINDS OF VOCATIONAL AGRICULTURE TRAINING. FOR THE PROJECTED LARGE-SCALE SPECIALIZED UNIT IN PARTICULAR SECTORS OF AGRICULTURE, THE REQUIRED LARGER FORCES OF MORE TYPICAL LABOR AND SUPERVISORY AND MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL MAY BE BEST TRAINED BY INTENSIVE SHORT COURSES. PRELIMINARY FINDINGS INDICATE THE POTENTIAL USEFULNESS OF THESE ANALYSIS METHODS FOR OTHER VOCATIONAL AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION NEEDS. FURTHER PROGRESS ON ESTIMATES AND PROJECTIONS FOR AGRICULTURE WILL BE CONTINGENT ON THE COLLECTION OF SUFFICIENT DATA. THIS REPORT APPEARS IN "APPENDIX OF FINAL RESEARCH REPORTS FOR PROJECT IN RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IN VOCATIONAL AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION, NON-METROPOLITAN AREAS" (ED 001 069) WHICH SUPPLEMENTS VT 001 546. (JM)