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2. Farmer field school and farmer knowledge acquisition in rice production: Experimental evaluation in China
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Mingliang Guo (author), Xiangping Jia (author), Jikun Huang (author), Kumar, Krishna (author), Burger, Nicholas E. (author), and Center for Resources, Environment and Food Security, China Agricultural University center for Chinese Agricultural Policy, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences RAND
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2015
- Published:
- Elsevier
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 16 Document Number: D10463
- Journal Title:
- Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment
- Journal Title Details:
- 209: 100-107
- Notes:
- 8 pages., Via online journal., We collaborate with the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) and conduct a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to examine the effects of farmer field schools (FFS) on the knowledge acquisition by farmers in rice production in Anhui, China. The intensification of China’s agricultural production has raised widespread environmental concerns. Lack of advisory services to increase awareness and knowledge has been found to be the primary constraint to improving farming and environmental outcomes. However, training millions of small farmers is a significant challenge. To impart the knowledge of sustainable and low-carbon farm management, the MOA recently piloted a FFS program through its public extension system. A participatory approach to rural advisory services, FFS was initiated by the Food and Agriculture Organization during the late 1980s in Asia, and at present is being practiced in more than 90 developing countries. However, the effectiveness of the FFS program has not been conclusively demonstrated, and the results of previous impact evaluations have varied greatly according to evaluation methods. A major drawback of previous studies has been selective participation in the program, leading to biased estimates of program effects. We use an RCT to overcome these problems. The results are heterogeneous: FFS effectively improved farmers’ knowledge of pest management and agro-environment; however, we find no effects on nutrient management and cultivation knowledge. Furthermore, the effects were smaller for female and old participants. Being a “best-design” approach of agricultural extension initiated by FAO, FFS faces challenges to be “best-fit” in China, where urbanization and agricultural transformation are emerging.
3. Farmers and climate change: a cross-national comparison of beliefs and risk perceptions in high-income countries
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Prokopy, Linda S. (author), Arbuckle, J.G. (author), Barnes, Andrew P. (author), Haden, V. R. (author), Hogan, Anthony (author), Niles, Meredith T. (author), and Tyndall, John (author)
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2015
- Published:
- Springer
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 18 Document Number: D10507
- Journal Title:
- Environmental Management
- Journal Title Details:
- 56:492–504
- Notes:
- 13 pages., via online journal., Climate change has serious implications for the agricultural industry—both in terms of the need to adapt to a changing climate and to modify practices to mitigate for the impacts of climate change. In high-income countries where farming tends to be very intensive and large scale, it is important to understand farmers’ beliefs and concerns about climate change in order to develop appropriate policies and communication strategies. Looking across six study sites—Scotland, Midwestern United States, California, Australia, and two locations in New Zealand—this paper finds that over half of farmers in each location believe that climate change is occurring. However, there is a wide range of beliefs regarding the anthropogenic nature of climate change; only in Australia do a majority of farmers believe that climate change is anthropogenic. In all locations, a majority of farmers believe that climate change is not a threat to local agriculture. The different policy contexts and existing impacts from climate change are discussed as possible reasons for the variation in beliefs. This study compared varying surveys from the different locations and concludes that survey research on farmers and climate change in diverse locations should strive to include common questions to facilitate comparisons.
4. Grower communication networks: information sources for organic farmers
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Crawford, Chelsi (author), Grossman, Julie (author), Warren, Sarah T. (author), and Cubbage, Fred (author)
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2015-06
- Published:
- Extension Journal, Inc.
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 32 Document Number: D10604
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Extension
- Journal Title Details:
- 53(3)
- Notes:
- 14 pages., Article #:3FEA9, via online journal., This article reports on a study to determine which information sources organic growers use to inform farming practices by conducting in-depth semi-structured interviews with 23 organic farmers across 17 North Carolina counties. Effective information sources included: networking, agricultural organizations, universities, conferences, Extension, Web resources, personal experience, books, organic buyers/certifiers, and consultants. Results suggest that grower-to-grower networking is a highly effective information-seeking behavior for organic growers. Recommendations for Extension personnel include reshaping educational programing for organic growers to include peer-to-peer information sharing, as well as increased investment to graduate and undergraduate programs that train future Extension agents in organic production approaches.
5. Identifying agriculturists' online communication tool training needs
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Meyers, Courtney (author), Shaw, Kelsey (author), Irlbeck, Erica (author), Doerfert, David (author), Abrams, Katie (author), and Morgan, Chris (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2015
- Published:
- USA
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 153 Document Number: D06851
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Applied Communications
- Journal Title Details:
- 99(3) : 6-20
6. Managing weather and climate risks to agriculture in North America, Central America and the Caribbean
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Shannon, Harlan D. (author) and Motha, Raymond P. (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2015-12
- Published:
- International: Elsevier
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 162 Document Number: D07947
- Journal Title:
- Weather and Climate Extremes
- Journal Title Details:
- 10: 50-56
- Notes:
- full text
7. Using a team survey to improve team communication for enhanced delivery of agro-climate decision support tools
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Prokopy, Linda S. (author), Hart, Chad E. (author), Massey, Raymond (author), Widhalm, Melissa (author), Klink, Jenna (author), Andresen, Jeffery (author), Angel, James (author), Blewett, Thomas (author), Doering, Otto C. (author), Elmore, Roger (author), Gramig, Benjamin M. (author), Guinan, Patrick (author), Hall, Beth L. (author), Jain, Atul (author), Knutson, Cody L. (author), Lemos, Maria Carmen (author), Morton, Lois Wright (author), Niyogi, Dev (author), Power, Rebecca (author), Shulski, Martha D. (author), Song, Carol X. (author), Takle, Eugene S. (author), and Todey, Dennis (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2015-09
- Published:
- USA: Elsevier
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 160 Document Number: D07789
- Journal Title:
- Agricultural Systems
- Journal Title Details:
- 138: 31-37
8. Utilization pattern of communication sources among the farmers of Manipur
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Hanglem, Amita (author), Saravanan, R. (author), Pradhan, K. (author), and UBKV, Coochbehar, India.
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2015
- Published:
- India: Society of Extension Education
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 162 Document Number: D08057
- Journal Title:
- Indian Research Journal of Extension Education
- Journal Title Details:
- 15 (1): 31-34