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2. Development of strategies for effective communication of food risks and benefits across Europe: Design and conceptual framework of the FoodRisC project
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Barnett, Julie (author), McConnon, Aine (author), Kennedy, Jean (author), Raats, Monique (author), Shepherd, Richard (author), Verbeke, Wim (author), Fletcher, Jon (author), Kuttschreuter, Margôt (author), Lima, Luisa (author), Wills, Josephine (author), and Wall, Patrick (author)
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2011
- Published:
- BioMed Central
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 102 Document Number: D10910
- Journal Title:
- BMC Public Health
- Journal Title Details:
- 308
- Notes:
- 9 pages., via online journal., European consumers are faced with a myriad of food related risk and benefit information and it is regularly left up to the consumer to interpret these, often conflicting, pieces of information as a coherent message. This conflict is especially apparent in times of food crises and can have major public health implications. Scientific results and risk assessments cannot always be easily communicated into simple guidelines and advice that non-scientists like the public or the media can easily understand especially when there is conflicting, uncertain or complex information about a particular food or aspects thereof. The need for improved strategies and tools for communication about food risks and benefits is therefore paramount. The FoodRisC project ("Food Risk Communication - Perceptions and communication of food risks/benefits across Europe: development of effective communication strategies") aims to address this issue. The FoodRisC project will examine consumer perceptions and investigate how people acquire and use information in food domains in order to develop targeted strategies for food communication across Europe.
3. Dial “A” for agriculture: a review of information and communication technologies for agricultural extension in developing countries
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Aker, Jenny C. (author) and Economics Department and Fletcher School, Tufts University
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2011-03-21
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 109 Document Number: D10993
- Journal Title:
- Agricultural Economics
- Journal Title Details:
- 42 : 631-647
- Notes:
- 17 pages., Agriculture can serve as an important engine for economic growth in developing countries, yet yields in these countries have lagged far behind those in developed countries for decades. One potential mechanism for increasing yields is the use of improved agricultural technologies, such as fertilizers, seeds, and cropping techniques. Public sector programs have attempted to overcome information-related barriers to technological adoption by providing agricultural extension services. While such programs have been widely criticized for their limited scale, sustainability, and impact, the rapid spread of mobile phone coverage in developing countries provides a unique opportunity to facilitate technological adoption via information and communication technology (ICT)-based extension programs. This article outlines the potential mechanisms through which ICT could facilitate agricultural adoption and the provision of extension services in developing countries. It then reviews existing programs using ICT for agriculture, categorized by the mechanism (voice, text, internet, and mobile money transfers) and the type of services provided. Finally, we identify potential constraints to such programs in terms of design and implementation, and conclude with some recommendations for implementing field-based research on the impact of these programs on farmers’ knowledge, technological adoption, and welfare.
4. Effect of information communication technology on agricultural information access among researchers, extension agents, and farmers in south western Nigeria
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Oladele, O. I. (author)
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2011
- Published:
- Taylor & Francis
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 18 Document Number: D10485
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Agricultural & Food Information
- Journal Title Details:
- 12(2): 167-176
- Notes:
- 11 pages., via online journal., This study compared researchers, extension agents, and farmers’ perceptions of the effect of Information Communication Technology (ICT) on agricultural information access. A simple random sampling technique was used to select 88 researchers, 115 extension agents, and 271 farmers. Data collected through a structured questionnaire were analyzed using means, standard deviation, and one-way analysis of variance. The results showed that, of the 29 statements on the rating scale, researchers, extension agents, and farmers agreed with and were positively disposed to 25, 23, and 19, respectively. A significant difference in the effect of ICT on agricultural information access among researchers, extension agents, and farmers (F = 6.49, p < .05) was observed. Access to agricultural information through ICT will continue to improve, since perceptions are overtly positive among researchers, extension agents, and farmers.
5. Factors affecting the perceptions of Iranian agricultural researchers towards nanotechnology
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Hosseini, Seyed Mahmood (author) and Rezaei, Rohollah (author)
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2011
- Published:
- SAGE Journals
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 32 Document Number: D10593
- Journal Title:
- Public Understanding of Science
- Journal Title Details:
- 20(4): 513–524
- Notes:
- 12 pages., via online journal., This descriptive survey research was undertaken to design appropriate programs for the creation of a positive perception of nanotechnology among their intended beneficiaries. In order to do that, the factors affecting positive perceptions were defined. A stratified random sample of 278 science board members was selected out of 984 researchers who were working in 22 National Agricultural Research Institutions (NARIs). Data were collected by using a mailed questionnaire. The descriptive results revealed that more than half of the respondents had “low” or “very low” familiarity with nanotechnology. Regression analysis indicated that the perceptions of Iranian NARI Science Board Members towards nanotechnology were explained by three variables: the level of their familiarity with emerging applications of nanotechnology in agriculture, the level of their familiarity with nanotechnology and their work experiences. The findings of this study can contribute to a better understanding of the present situation of the development of nanotechnology and the planning of appropriate programs for creating a positive perception of nanotechnology.
6. Indigenous message tailoring increases consumption of fresh vegetables by clients of community pantries
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Clarke, Peter (author), Evans, Susan H. (author), and Hovy, Eduard H. (author)
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2011-04-09
- Published:
- USA: Taylor & Francis
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 16 Document Number: D10448
- Journal Title:
- Health Communications
- Journal Title Details:
- 26(6):571-82
- Notes:
- 13 pages, via online journal, This study tested whether message tailoring of recipes and food-use tips for low-income households is superior to providing a generic version of the material. The field experiment was conducted in the busy conditions found at community food pantries, and included 10 food distributions at each of six sites. We analyzed the consumption of fresh vegetables 6 days following distributions, and retention of print materials 6 weeks later. Self-determination and reactance theories guided the development of tailoring in an indigenous fashion, allowing each pantry client to choose recipes and food tips thought personally useful. This contrasted against paternalistic tailoring, common in health communication, where a motivational theory is used to regulate the health messages given to recipients. Results demonstrated benefits of tailoring over both generic and control conditions and uncovered the degree of tailoring that produced the largest effects. As suggested by construal level theory, the intervention addressed recipients' immediate and concrete decisions about healthy eating, instead of distant or abstract goals like prevention of illnesses. We documented per-client costs of tailored information. Results also suggested that benefits from social capital at sites offering a health outreach may exceed the impact of message tailoring on outcomes of interest.
7. Networked resilience in rural Australia– a role for health promotion in regional responses to climate change
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Van Beurden, Eric K. (author), Kia, Annie M. (author), Hughes, Denise (author), Fuller, Jeffery D. (author), Dietrich, Uta (author), Howton, Kirsty (author), and Kavooru, Suman (author)
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2011
- Published:
- Australia: Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 32 Document Number: D10631
- Journal Title:
- Health Promotion Journal of Australia
- Journal Title Details:
- 22: (4) 54-60
- Notes:
- 7 pages., via online journal., Human health is indivisible from ecological health and there is increasing focus on climate change as the major preventable threat to the health of humanity. The direct associations between climate change and population health are well documented, as are potential co-benefits of climate action.1-6 Australia is entering a period of climatic extremes.7,8 The socially stable and agriculturally productive Northern Rivers region of New South Wales is set to experience increasing temperatures, storms, flooding and erosion.9,10 This will likely be compounded by changes in socio/political, environmental, agricultural and economic systems with resultant impacts on social and environmental determinants of health.11,12 How might a rural population of 280,000 respond? In 2007, community resilience to climate change was neither a state nor federal health promotion priority. The former North Coast Area Health Service Health Promotion (NCHP) adopted one promising direction: to foster a collaboration of existing organisations to accelerate regional action on climate change.13-15 The former NSW Department of Climate Change funded the pilot project: Resilience: building health from regional responses to climate change. The project incorporated principles from Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) theory with emphasis on the concepts of resilience and