A RESEARCH PROJECT WAS CONDUCTED BY THE IOWA AGRICULTURAL AND HOME ECONOMICS EXPERIMENT STATION TO DETERMINE THE INFLUENCE OF AN INTENSIVE TRAINING PROGRAM FOR GENERAL MANAGERS OF LOCAL RETAIL FARM SUPPLY BUSINESSES DEALING IN FERTILIZER AND AGRICULTURAL CEHMICALS. CHANGES IN KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDES AND PERFORMANCE, INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT AND ACTIVITIES OF BUSINESS FIRMS, AND ECONOMIC RETURNS OF THE TOTAL BUSINESS AND OF THE FERTILIZER AND CHEMICAL DEPARTMENTS WERE ASSESSED. EIGHT TREATMENT (TRAINEES), TWO ALTERNATE TREATMENT, AND EIGHT CONTROL DEALERS PARTICIPATED. THE TRAINING PROGRAM, CONDUCTED BY IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY EXTENSION SPECIALISTS, CONSISTED OF A FIVE-DAY WORKSHOP FOLLOWED BY 16 MEETINGS DURING THE NEXT TWO AND ONE-HALF YEARS. DATA WERE COLLECTED THROUGH PERSONAL INTERVIEWS CONDUCTED BEFORE, DURING, AND AFTER THE TRAINING AND FROM BUSINESS RECORDS. ONLY 11 OF THE 73 DERIVED EMPIRICAL HYPOTHESES WHICH COMPARED TREATMENT AND CONTROL MANAGERS WERE STATISTICALLY SUPPORTED, POSSIBLY BECUASE OF THE SMALL SAMPLE SIZE AND PROBLEMS OF OBTAINING PRECISE MEASURES OF CHANGE. FIVE VARIABLES OF KNOWLEDGE, TWO OF ATTITUDES, 13 OF PERFORMANCE, FOUR OF BUSINESS FIRM MANAGEMENT, AND 14 IN THE AREA OF ECONOMIC RETURNS FAVORED THE TREATMENT GROUP. (THE DOCUMENT INCLUDES 129 TABLES AND A BIBLIOGRAPHY.) (AJ)