A long-term project entitled Agricultural Manpower Needs in North Dakota examined current and projected agriculture manpower needs in the state. Objectives of the project were to develop a methodology for obtaining and interpreting agricultural manpower needs data for North Dakota, to determine emerging employment trends and identify emerging occupations in agriculture, and to determine training needs for projected agricultural employment in the state. Included among the project activities were investigation of a method for estimating and projecting manpower needs from published data sources and implementation of surveys to gather data from agribusiness firm managers concerning employment totals, replacement needs, and preferences for training and experience. Researchers concluded that while published data sources such as County Business Patterns and the National Manpower Study can be used to help estimate manpower needs in agriculture, these published data sources have a variety of limitations. For instance, categories used in these data sources are sometimes difficult to match with business organization patterns, and data are often dated. Recommendations called for direct surveys of agricultural businesses to gather manpower data and for regional/national planning and coordination to improve the effectiveness of such research. (MN)