Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 142 Document Number: D06395
Notes:
Wallaces Farmer/Penton contribution to ACDC, November 2015., Typed manuscript. 16 chapters., Former editor and research director of Wallaces Farmer tracks the history of Wallaces Farmer, beginning with the first ancestor periodical started in 1853. Features editors, periodicals and topics addressed in coverage into 1918.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 196 Document Number: D08054
Notes:
John L. Woods Collection, Presentation visuals involving views, problems, and sample elements of agricultural technology systems. Development Training and Communication Planning, UNDP Asia and the Pacific Programme, Bangkok, Thailand. 13 pages.
Journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/actatropica, Via online journal, Zoonotic diseases cause significant health and economic impact in developing countries such as India. Many zoonotic diseases are prevalent in the livestock and as an occupational zoonosis in the livestock farmers in India. Lack of knowledge on the disease transmission, prevention and control measures is a potential high risk for the occurrence of zoonotic diseases in the livestock and its keepers in India. We conducted this study to understand knowledge, attitude and practices of livestock farmers regarding zoonoses. Five villages from each of the 22 districts of the state were conveniently selected (n = 110). Farmers available at village community sites were enrolled in the study and requested to complete a custom designed questionnaire (n = 558). In addition, livestock farmers attending basic livestock husbandry training were also surveyed (n = 301). Data from questionnaires was used to create three index variables: (a) knowledge score; (b) attitude score and (c) practice score. Association between demographic and other explanatory variables with knowledge score was evaluated using linear regression analyses. Similarly, the association between knowledge and attitude score with practice score was evaluated. Of the 859 participants, 685 (80%) livestock farmers had heard the term ‘zoonoses’ but only 345 (40%), 264 (31%) and 214 (25%) farmers were aware of the zoonotic nature of tuberculosis, Japanese encephalitis and taeniosis, respectively. For practices, 23% farmers reported consumption of raw milk and only 10% and 8% livestock farmers ever got their animals tested for brucellosis and tuberculosis, respectively. The low level of education and being a cattle farmer were negatively associated with the farmer’s knowledge on zoonotic diseases. The attitude score was positively associated with the practice score of the participants. The results indicate need for educating the livestock farmers particularly those with a low level of education to reduce the health and economic impact of zoonotic diseases in India.
Ranjan, Pranay (author), Wardroppe, Chloe B. (author), Eanes, Francis R. (author), Reddy, Sheila M. W. (author), Harden, Seth C. (author), Masuda, Yuta J. (author), and Prokopy, Linda S. (author)
Format:
Online journal article
Publication Date:
2019-01
Published:
USA: Science Direct
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 8 Document Number: D10297
10 pages., Via online journal., Agricultural conservation programs often focus on farm operators when promoting conservation practices. However, much of U.S. farmland is owned by landowners not directly involved in farm operations. Rental arrangements on these lands can dis-incentivize the adoption of conservation practices that could improve soil health, water quality, and land values. To date, agricultural conservation policy has largely ignored the role of non-operating landowners (NOLs) and rental arrangements. We help improve the evidence-base for policy by identifying barriers to adoption of conservation practices on rented farmlands. Analysis of forty interviews with NOLs, operators, farm managers and university extension personnel in Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana revealed five categories of barriers: cash rent lease terms, rental market dynamics, information deficits/asymmetries, cognitive/interpersonal, and financial motivations. Some barriers, such as risk aversion and farm aesthetics were expressed by both NOLs and operators, while other barriers, such as status quo bias and annual renewal of leases were only expressed by NOLs and operators, respectively. To overcome barriers to conservation, interviewees recommended improving communication between NOLs and operators and modifying cash rent lease terms in order to build in flexibility for equitable sharing of risks and rewards. Agricultural conservation programs could readily apply these results—possibly working with intermediaries (e.g., farm managers, lawyers)—to offer communication and lease tools and assistance to NOLS and operators. Future research should evaluate the efficacy of these conservation interventions and how intermediaries affect the balance of power between NOLs and operators.
9 pages., Via online journal., Using an agent-based model we explore the model of slavery in modern business developed by Crane (2013). Taking the Spanish agricultural sector—specifically the area of Campo de Dalías in Almería where much of Europe's vegetables are grown—as a case, we find that labour exploitation flourishes in communities of like-minded companies that do not care about mainstream norms. We confirm which socio-economic aspects of labour demand/supply lead to slavery, while challenging the assumption that markets which are dominated by few employers are more prone to exploiting workers. We find that, regarding isolation and connectedness of employers, cluster effects and intense inter-employer communication are particularly effective drivers of underpayment if the cluster is homogenous in terms of wage level and if it is isolated from law-abiding employers. This means that employers tend to confirm and reinforce each other in their illegal behaviour, thus creating enclaves in which non-standard norms prevail and worker exploitation is regarded as legitimate. On the other hand, we see that breaking the isolation of employees among each other only increases pay levels if there are law-abiding employers, pointing to the potentially beneficial role social business and entrepreneurs, state-owned companies, or public entrepreneurs could play for transforming labour conditions of entire markets.
Rumble, Joy N. (author), Rogers-Randolph, Tiffany M. (author), Buck, Emily B. (author), and The Ohio State University
University of Florida
Association for Communication Excellence
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
2019
Published:
United States: New Prairie Press
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 15 Document Number: D10429
16 pages., Via online journal., The livestock industry has repeatedly struggled to effectively communicate livestock care and handling practices in order to promote awareness and acceptance. Many consumers still hold on to the historically picturesque view of production agriculture instead of the modern reality. It is necessary for the industry to identify how much is too much to tell or show consumers. Therefore, this study sought to understand the influence of two communication treatments on attitudes toward livestock care and use. Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) served as the theoretical framework for this study. A sample of 1,049 respondents was obtained through non-probability sampling. To fulfill the purpose of this study, the development of an online survey was informed by ELM and measured prior beliefs, personal involvement, and knowledge. An experimental treatment, consistent with persuasive communication within ELM, presented respondents with one of two images of cage-free egg laying housing and accompanying text. One image could be described as “historically picturesque” and the other as “modern reality.” Attitude toward livestock care and use was measured after exposure to one of the images. Respondents held favorable prior beliefs, demonstrated neutral involvement, and answered three or less knowledge questions correctly. Respondents exposed to the modern reality treatment displayed slightly lower attitudes than those exposed to the historically picturesque treatment. The results indicated that both prior beliefs and image exposure had a significant impact on attitude, while personal involvement was not found to be significant.
20 pages., via online journal., This article analyses whether different institutional sources of scientific information have an impact on its credibility. Through a population-based survey experiment of a national representative sample of the Spanish public, we measure the credibility that citizens attribute to scientific information on the evolution of CO2 emissions disclosed by different institutional sources (business associations, government, non-government environmental organisations, international bodies and national research institutions). The findings show that an institutional credibility gap exists in science communication. We also investigate the factors accounting for the credibility of the different institutional sources by examining variables related to knowledge, interest, trust, reputation, deference, attitudes, values and personal characteristics. Exploratory regression analyses reveal that identical variables can produce different effects on the credibility of scientific information, depending on the institutional source to which it is attributed.
18 pages., via online journal., Findings in rural communities prompt authors to recommend a customized policy framework that is responsive to the diversity and uniqueness of local contexts in connectivity and digital inclusion.
6 pages., via website,Ryerson Review of Journalism., Between the hours of about 4 p.m. to midnight, Ashleigh Weeden goes dark. Not for the usual reasons, though. In Weeden’s southwestern Ontario town, the internet connection becomes—for all practical purposes—nonexistent during those hours. The PhD student at the University of Guelph lives in Ariss, Ontario, a “dispersed rural community” sandwiched between urban centres like Guelph and Kitchener. Despite paying about $250 monthly for internet access, she finds herself shut out of the internet. “…[S]ometimes [internet speed] goes one, maybe half a megabyte down,” she says. “I can’t grade, I can’t do anything, there’s no point, I might as well give up until about midnight.”
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 30 Document Number: D10562
Notes:
3 pages., via blog from Janzen Ag Law - online via AgriMarketing Weekly., Since big data arrived in agriculture a few years ago, I have watched companies struggle with how to address farmers' concerns with ag data privacy, security, and control. Some companies have started with a clean sheet of paper and drafted agreements that reflect what they actually do. Others have taken a short cut by cutting and pasting agreements from other industries. The result is that contracts for ag data collection, use and sharing are inconsistent and often miss the point-to communicate the company's intentions with users.
International: Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 30 Document Number: D10564
Notes:
2 pages., via website, The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy., Regulation gets a bad name in much of the world today. Business lobbies have successfully equated it in many people’s minds with just so much “red tape”. Government-imposed rules on how things are made, how services are delivered and what products have no place on the market at all are said to hamper business competitiveness. Precautionary measures aimed at safeguarding people’s health, or the health of fragile water bodies and ecosystems, are labelled unfair barriers to trade and investment — a claim made increasingly over the past quarter-century of corporate globalization.
International: Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 30 Document Number: D10565
Notes:
4 pages., via website, The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy., As Congress and the public debate the pros and cons of the United States-Mexico-Canada
Agreement (USMCA), or New NAFTA, behind the scenes and in the shadows transnational
corporations are doubling down on their plans to weaken and eliminate public protections
through a related entity, the secretive Regulatory Cooperation Council (RCC). This littleknown council has the mission of promoting trade by “reducing, eliminating or preventing
unnecessary regulatory differences” between Canada and the United States. Since the RCC’s
inception, agribusiness—including factory-farmed livestock producers, the feed industry, and
chemical and pesticide manufacturers and linked transportation businesses—has had a seat at
the regulatory cooperation table. Their focus, without exception, has been advocating the
scaling back and even elimination of important safety protections in both countries. In the U.S.,
recommendations made by the RCC feed directly into regulations enacted (or eliminated) by
the Department of Agriculture, Food and Drug Administration and Environmental Protection
Agency, among others
14 pages., via online journal,, Effective agricultural extension is key to improving productivity, increasing farmers’ access to information, and promoting more diverse sets of crops and improved methods of cultivation. In India, however, the coverage of agricultural extension workers and the relevance of extension advice is poor. We investigate whether a women's self‐help group (SHG) platform could be an effective way of improving access to information, women's empowerment in agriculture, agricultural practices, and production diversity. We use cross‐sectional data on close to 1,000 women from five states in India and employ nearest‐neighbor matching models to match SHG and non‐SHG women along a range of observed characteristics. We find that participation in an SHG increases women's access to information and their participation in some agricultural decisions, but has limited impact on agricultural practices or outcomes, possibly due to financial constraints, social norms, and women's domestic responsibilities. SHGs need to go beyond provision of information to changing the dynamics around women's participation in agriculture to effectively translate knowledge into practice.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 83 Document Number: D10838
Notes:
Online from the Center for Food Integrity, Gladstone, Missouri. 2 pages., "New research shows a significant and growing group of health-conscious consumers is confused by the mixed messages they're receiving about the 'real deal' and the substitutes entering the market."
First published May 7, 2019. In press., We analyzed comedy series for food and beverage references, with particular attention to their type of presentation, along with the characteristics of actors associated with the references. Because the generally positive tone of comedy series can exert affective influence over audiences, the result that clearly unhealthy products appeared more often (food: 51.6%; beverage: 40.5%) than clearly healthy ones (food: 11.2%; beverage: 19.6%) could be especially problematic. Moreover, women (56.5%; men: 47.4%) and African American characters (62.7%; Caucasians: 51.5%; Other: 44.7%) were significantly more often associated with unhealthy foods, which could prompt stereotypes of such individuals.
Specht, Kathrin (author), Zoll, Felix (author), Schumann, Henrike (author), Bela, Julia (author), Kachel, Julia (author), and Robischon, Marcel (author)
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
2019
Published:
International
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 99 Document Number: D10870
Via online. 27 pages., Global challenges such as climate change, increasing urbanization and a lack of transparency of food chains, have led to the development of innovative urban food production approaches, such as rooftop greenhouses, vertical farms, indoor farms, aquaponics as well as production sites for edible insects or micro-algae. Those approaches are still at an early stage of development and partly unknown among the public. The aim of our study was to identify the perception of sustainability, social acceptability and ethical aspects of these new approaches and products in urban food production. We conducted 19 qualitative expert interviews and applied qualitative content analysis. Our results revealed that major perceived benefits are educational effects, revaluation of city districts, efficient resource use, exploitation of new protein sources or strengthening of local economies. Major perceived conflicts concern negative side-effects, legal constraints or high investment costs. The extracted acceptance factors deal significantly with the “unknown”. A lack of understanding of the new approaches, uncertainty about their benefits, concerns about health risks, a lack of familiarity with the food products, and ethical doubts about animal welfare represent possible barriers. We conclude that adaptation of the unsuitable regulatory framework, which discourages investors, is an important first step to foster dissemination of the urban food production approaches.
The award-winning editorial (two pages)is attached to this document. It is available online at https://www.farmprogress.com/farm-life/beware-rural-outrage-cycle., Via online issue. 2 pages., This editorial was written by the author of the winning entry in the Editorial Opinion category, 2019 AAEA communications contest.
Online via Drovers News Source. 3 pages., Announces a petition from the United States Cattlemen's Association to the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service to address "Product of the U.S.A. and "Made in the U.S.A. claims on U.S beef. Includes a link to full petition (199 pages). The petition ends: "To eliminate the likelihood of confusion and to better inform consumers, USDA contends that voluntary labels indication 'Made in USA' and 'Product of USA' or similar content should be limited to beef from cattle born, raise, and harvested in the United States."
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 114 Document Number: D11002
Notes:
Online from the United Soybean Board via AgriMarketing Weekly. 2 pages., Summary of survey results reported in "Rural broadband and the American Farmer: Connectivity challenges limit agriculture's economic impact and sustainability." Findings reflected responses from more than 2,000 U.S. primary and secondary farm operators in a combination of online and mail-in surveys.
Via online issue. 2 pages., Describes recent experience in which a packing house fire resulted in lower fed cattle prices and higher values of choice boxed beef cutout values - resulting in frustration and anger in cattle country.
Available online at www.centmapress.org, Findings of a word association task revealed that most participants associated cows, rural areas, and traditional production systems with the cue dairy farms. While purchasing their products, they paid the most attention to attributes such as health and hygiene, indicating that they pay the most attention to product quality and not production quality. Yet more than half indicated that modern production systems contradict their norms and values. Authors concluded that the current modernization efforts in Colombia do not fit to the specific culture of the country.
International: Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut.
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: D11096
Notes:
281 pages., "By drawing on many examples from around the world, this book explains that our approach to managing water can and must be changed if we are to avoid a global water crisis. Includes a table identifying barriers to adoption of water-sharing technologies.
Online from the New Yorker., Fibre-optic cables strung above a home in Jackson County, Kentucky, one of the poorest countries in the country. High-speed broadband has been used to bring internet-based jobs to the region.
Via online. 5 pages., "Industry in a frenzy, trying to decode the sludge of public opinion while still getting used to the idea this is something to take seriously."
Via online November-December issue. "The Front Gate" section., Cites a new information campaign of the Beef Quality Assurance program as an effective way to counter much of the misinformation about new plant-based and cell-cultured products that challenge the stewardship of the cattle industry.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 123 Document Number: D11184
Notes:
Online via AgriMarketing Weekly. 2 pages., "A new poll reports awareness and interest in technology-driven foods but reveals the need for transparency and education to remove fears and potentially drive adoption."
Miller, Alfred (author / Louisville Courier-Journal)
Format:
Article
Publication Date:
2019
Published:
USA
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 124 Document Number: D11197
Notes:
Online from the ProPublica Local Reporting Network. 16 pages., Report of a troubled and costly effort to provide "high-speed internet to Kentucky''s remote corners."
Shors, Benjamin (author) and Jones, Lisa Waananen (author)
Format:
Research report
Publication Date:
2019
Published:
USA: Journalism and Media Production Department, Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, Washington State University.
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 124 Document Number: D11227
Notes:
Via online. 10 pages., "In the context of post-secondary journalism education, we investigated whether community guidance and involvement can improve 'parachute' journalism to create meaningful coverage in rural areas." Findings offered strong evidence of benefits for student learning, as well as interest from regional news organizations in greater collaboration with student journalists and need for a complete and ongoing assessment of information needs of rural communities in the region during a time of rapidly changing technology and loss of local news resources.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 130 Document Number: D11291
Notes:
3 pages., Online from the Center for Food Integrity, Gladstone, Missouri, USA., Summary of findings from a new study focused on "The 25 most trusted brands in America" from Morning Consult. Results showed reductions in food-related food marketers in the list, among older to younger consumer segments.
USA: National Cattlemen's Beef Association, Centennial, CO
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 130 Document Number: D11293
Notes:
21 pages., Online via AgriMarketing.com., Announcement of results of an online survey among more than 1,800 U.S. consumers during late 2019. Findings suggested "widespread consumer confusion regarding the ingredient composition and purported benefits of plant-based fake meat products." More than half did not realize that plant-based products being marketed as "burgers" have no real meat." The PowerPoint presentation and accompanying news release provide statics on responses to specific questions.
Ranjan, Pranay (author), Wardropper, Chloe B. (author), Eanes, Francis R. (author), Reddy, Sheila M.W. (author), Harden, Seth C. (author), Masuda, Yuta J. (author), and Prokopy, Linda S. (author)
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
2019
Published:
USA
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 130 Document Number: D11296
"To overcome barriers to conservation, interviewees recommended improving communication between NOLs [non-operating landowners] and operators and modifying cash rent lease terms in order to build in flexibility for equitable sharing of risks and rewards."
2 pages., Via online., Editorial critical of the Los Angeles Times newspaper for championing the rise of plant-based burger alternatives without context, accuracy and logic.
