The trend in civic engagement, shown by membership records of organizations,

 has declined by roughly 25 to 50% over the last three decades. There are many reasons

 why social capital has eroded: time pressures, economic hard times, residential mobility,

 surbanization, movement of women to the paid work force, disruption of marriage and

 family times, the electronic revolution and other technological changes. A social trend

 which influences social capital and coincides with the downturn in civic engagement is

 the breakdown of the traditional family unit. Since the family is a key form of social

 capital, its eclipse is part of the explanation for the reduction in joining and trusting in the

 wider community (Scheufele & Shah, 2000).

 Married men and women do rank higher on measures of social capital. Men and

 women, divorced, separated, and never-married, are significantly less trusting and less

 engaged civically than married people. Married men and women are a third more

 trusting and belong to about 15 to 25% more groups than comparable single men and

 women. Women belong to fewer voluntary organizations then men and older people

 belong to more organizations than young people (Scheufele & Shah, 2000).

 Social capital is features of life, networks, norms, and trust that enable

 participants to act together to more effectively pursue shared objectives (Scheufele &

 Shah, 2000). It has been shown that a greater number of social ties increased the

 likelihood that a group will be more successful in organizing for concerted action

 (O'Brien, Hassinger, Brown & Pinkerton, 1991). Social capital is important when

 discussing agricultural organizations as social capital has strong influences in these

organizations.