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
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.
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.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 109 Document Number: D10972
Notes:
6 pages., Electronic ISBN: 978-1-4799-8439-8, 2015 7th International Conference on Communication Systems and Networks (COMSNETS), Climate change is now more visible in the form of frequent changes in the weather patterns leading to severe drought or floods. It endangers the food security, especially shrinking of cultivable land and increasing population. Agricultural Research Institutes are working on new cropping patterns, new heat and flood tolerant varieties and cultivation practices. However in the absence of sound knowledge extension system the results of such massive and costly research do not reach its end users, in this case farmers, on time. This research paper talks about the, National Agricultural Innovation Project (NAIP) pilot conducted to develop strategies to enhance Adaptive Capacity to Climate Change in vulnerable regions in India. As part of this research, extensive field demonstrations and data analysis were done to demonstrate how Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can play a crucial role in establishing a two way connect between the Research Lab and the end users of research. While Agricultural research can focus on identification of current and future risks to livelihoods due to climatic variability and development or identification of regional climate specific crop varieties and crop practices, the IT and ICT can work jointly to use the outcome of such research to spread awareness and promote the use of such varieties and practices in adaptation by farmers and other stakeholders through an ICT platform.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 166 Document Number: D08514
Notes:
Story 13 in Clare Pedrick, Web 2.0 and social media: a life-changing pathway for agricultural development actors. Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation, ACP-EU, Wageningen, The Netherlands. 66 pages.
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: 151 Document Number: D06780
Bu Zhong (author), Fan Yang (author), Yen-Lin Chen (author), and College of Communication, Pennsylvania State University
Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and Education, College of Agricultural Sciences, Pennsylvania State University
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
2015
Published:
Elsevier
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 16 Document Number: D10462
10 pages., Via online journal., Agricultural extension systems often fail due to inadequate knowledge of farmers’ information needs and sharing strategies. This study aims to meet an urgent need of studying information needs and sharing strategies among vegetable farmers and vendors in Chengdu, China, whose results might be used in building a center of agricultural information disseminating vegetable production and marketing information. The findings disclose interesting differences between the farmers and vendors regarding their willingness to join such a center, information needs, sharing strategies and preferred information sources. Ample evidences justify the construction of the proposed center of agricultural information, which should not only empower the vegetable farmers and vendors but also enhance the efficiency of the existing vegetable supply chain and food security. Cross-discipline research involving both agriculture and communication scholars, like this, should shed more insights on working out strategies to cope with agricultural challenges.
