15 pages, Farmers are invited to tell stories about their farms, especially about their farm’s origin and history. However, some farm stories go untold, are uninvited, or become obscured, including stories of farm closures. With this case study, we invite journalists and academics to provide further opportunities for farmers to tell their own closure stories. Written by the farmer and her CSA member and friend, who researches farmer communication, this case study calls on farmers to tell their farm-closure stories in the complicated and robust ways such stories deserve. We draw on academic and public scholarship about farm closures and farmers’ disclosures to feature how one farmer decided to end her farm and farming career. We chronicle her decision-making process and her strategies to communicate the closure of her farm, as well as analyze themes from how audiences reacted to her news. We also offer a range of reasons for inviting such telling of complex closure stories.
National Pork Board (author) and Lessing-Flynn (author)
Format:
Online document
Publication Date:
2015
Published:
United States: Public Relations Society of America
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 8 Document Number: D10300
Notes:
3 pages., Via Silver Anvil Awards., Consumers have questions about how pigs are raised, and no one knows the answers better than pork producers themselves. Activist groups against pig farming have become increasingly active on social media, where the voices of pork producers were relatively silent. As the connection between pork producers and the food industry, the National Pork Board recognized the potential damage this could cause to the pork industry’s reputation. The #RealPigFarming campaign was born out of a need to engage producers in sharing stories from their farms, and contributing to online conversation about pork production. The results surpassed original goals by 2,730 percent.
7pgs, The grape and wine industry in Iowa is based on non-Vitis vinifera grapes, which are not well-known and come with their own set of challenges. An industry survey revealed that wine business and marketing are the main concerns for the Iowa grape and wine industry members. The educational resources already provided by Extension personnel were highly appreciated and events should be offered in several locations around Iowa. The main topics of roundtables and discussions should be about vineyard management and winemaking practices, specifically practices to avoid microbial spoilage, to reduce wine acidity and to select appropriate yeasts for fermentation.
14 pages., CONTEXT
The U.S. has the world's largest organic food market. However, low domestic production and a low adoption rate of organic grain farming limit the overall development of this sector. Multiple organic stakeholders have called for a better understanding of cognitive and motivational aspects of farmers' decision-making processes to help policymakers, agricultural scientists, and extension practitioners to work more effectively with farmers to explore and adopt organic grain production.
OBJECTIVE
This paper assesses farmers' adoption motivations, long-term goals, and perceived benefits to examine the congruence between initial motivations, long-term goals, and current perceived benefits.
METHODS
We employed a sequential mixed-method approach that first interviewed organic farmers in Iowa, U.S. Then developed and administered a statewide survey for the organic farmers. Survey data were analyzed with confirmatory factor analysis, paired-samples t-tests, and heteroskedasticity-robust regression models.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS
We identified five highly-rated motivations for farmers to adopt organic grain: 1) profitability, 2) personal safety, 3) natural resources stewardship, 4) consumers and public health, and 5) honor and tradition. We found organic farmers' long-term goals are strongly orientated to both productivism and stewardship but less strongly oriented to civic-mindedness. This research assessed five areas of benefits associated with organic grain farming: 1) economic benefit, 2) addressed health concerns, 3) environmental natural resources, 4) values and beliefs validation, and 5) social benefit. This study found the benefits farmers experienced by adopting organic grain farming aligned with most of their original adoption motivations and long-term goals, except for serving the motivation of consumer and public health concerns.
22 pages, This paper presents direct evidence on the impact of a specific extension program that is aimed at promoting the adoption of varieties resistant to the soybean cyst nematode (SCN), specifically the Iowa State University SCN-Resistant Soybean Variety Trials. We use two data sources: experimental data from these variety trials and a rich proprietary dataset on farmers’ seed purchases. Combining these data, we estimate the value of soybean cyst nematode-resistant variety availability, and the associated variety trials that provide information on their performance to farmers and seed companies. Given the scope and diffusion of this extension program, the focus of the analysis is on Iowa and northern Illinois over the period 2011–2016. Farmers’ seed choices are modeled in a discrete choice framework, specifically a one-level nested logit model. Using the estimated demand model, we find farmers’ marginal willingness to pay for soybean cyst nematode-resistant varieties, and for related extension information provided by the Iowa State University SCN-Resistant Soybean Variety Trials program, to be large. These results are confirmed by counterfactual analyses showing that, over the six-year period and region of the study, the total ex post welfare change associated with the existence of, and information about, SCN-resistant seeds is about $478 million. About one-third of this surplus is captured by seed suppliers, and two-thirds accrues to farmers.
Inwood, Shoshanah (author), Becot, Florence (author), Bjornestad, Andrea (author), Henning-Smith, Carrie (author), Alberth, Andrew (author), and The Ohio State University
South Dakota State University
University of Minnesota
Format:
Online journal article
Publication Date:
2019-12-17
Published:
United States: Extension Journal, Inc.
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 124 Document Number: D11230
7 pages, via online journal, A number of current events are exacerbating farm stress. Extension and farm organizations have mobilized responses to an emerging mental health crisis among farmers. To evaluate these responses, we conducted an online scan of resources to present a baseline typology of current mental health programs and response efforts in the 12-state Extension North Central Region. We classified responses by type of program, target audience, and delivery format. We identified the need to train mental health counselors and state suicide hotline responders on farm issues and farm culture.
Wilson, M.C. (author / USDA, Office of Cooperative Extension Work, Extension Studies) and USDA, Office of Cooperative Extension Work, Extension Studies
Format:
Report
Publication Date:
unknown
Published:
USA
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 44 Document Number: B05359
Notes:
James F. Evans Collection, Washington, D.C. : United States Department of Agriculture, 1926. 20 p. (Department Bulletin no. 1384), With a background of 10 years of cooperative extension work under the Smith-Lever Act, extension administrators and supervisors everywhere are seeking definite information upon which to base decisions affecting the future conduct of the work. Facts rather than opinions are needed. The field study reported in this bulletin was made by the Office of Cooperative Extension Work, in cooperation with the State extension services of Iowa, New York, Colorado, and California. Considerable light is thrown upon concrete problems concerning which extension leaders have long desired reliable information. The determination, in any adequate degree, of the results of extension teaching is a most complex matter. Only some of the most obvious results are here shown. It is hoped the present study mat be the basis for more comprehensive studies in the future. (original)
6 pages, In this time of information overload, successfully engaging farmers with compelling outreach materials is a major challenge for conservation programs and related research projects. One potential approach is targeting information to the recipient, e.g., local rather than regional soil and water conditions, when sending messages to farmers. Targeted information may increase engagement by making materials stand out as more relevant and useful; conversely, it may decrease engagement by making farmers wary of the program and how it is using the information. We tested the effect of targeted information on farmer engagement using a large, randomized controlled trial in Iowa. In partnership with Iowa State University, we sent 2,996 farmers a single mailing with information about erosion at the local watershed (targeted) or state (control) level and measured their responses to a two-minute survey. We found that targeted information increased relative response rates by 20%, from 13.8% to 16.4%. This level of increase is meaningful for practitioners, as well as statistically significant. Our findings show that targeted information can be an important tool for practitioners and researchers seeking to better connect with farmers who are inundated with marketing mail.
