Lundy, Lisa K. (author), Rogers-Randolph, Tiffany M. (author), Lindsey, Angela B. (author), Hurdle, Clay (author), Ryan, Heather (author), Telg, Ricky W. (author), Irani, Tracy (author), and University of Florida
Format:
Online journal article
Publication Date:
2018
Published:
United States: New Prairie Press
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 152 Document Number: D10155
16 pages, via online journal article, Farming, by the very nature of the occupation, is riddled with uncertainty. The risks associated with the agriculture industry are just as diverse as the industry itself. For all risks, one challenge is the development and dissemination of safety communication materials tailored for diverse audiences. Valkenburg, Semetko, and Vreese (1999) examined common frames used in news media. Their analysis pointed to four commonly used news frames: conflict, human interest, responsibility and economic consequences. The purpose of this study was to describe the agricultural and health safety issues discussed in Florida news media during the year 2016, discussing the prominence of the frames outlined by Valkenburg et al. (1999). In this study, the most prominent frame was the human interest frame, followed by responsibility, economic consequences, and conflict. Frames carry a great deal of weight in shaping individuals’ opinions, attitudes, and actions towards agriculturally based messages; therefore it is essential for agricultural communicators to understand the framing of agricultural health and safety issues. Acknowledging the frames used in the reporting of agricultural issues allows agricultural communicators to enter into informed interactions with media outlets and better prepare the resources they provide to them. These framing analyses also provide agricultural communicators with a solid foundation on which to best position and frame their messaging on behalf of the industry. Further research is recommended to examine frames from an audience perspective and to investigate the impact of human interest frames in the presentation of agricultural news articles.
Online ISSN: 1876-4525
Print ISSN: 1876-4517, Via online journal., Despite recent improvements in the national average, stunting levels in Afghanistan exceed 70% in some Provinces. Agriculture serves as the main source of livelihood for over half of the population and has the potential to be a strong driver of a reduction in under-nutrition. This article reports research conducted through interviews with stakeholders in agriculture and nutrition in the capital, Kabul, and four provinces of Afghanistan, to gain a better understanding of the institutional and political factors surrounding policy making and the nutrition-sensitivity of agriculture. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a total of 46 stakeholders from central government and four provinces, including staff from international organizations, NGOs and universities. We found evidence of interdisciplinary communication at the central level and within Provinces, but little evidence of vertical coordination in policy formulation and implementation between the centre and Provinces. Policy formulation and decision making were largely sectoral, top-down, and poorly contextualised. The weaknesses identified in policy formulation, focus, knowledge management, and human and financial resources inhibit the orientation of national agricultural development strategies towards nutrition-sensitivity. Integrating agriculture and nutrition policies requires explicit leadership from the centre. However, effectiveness of a food-based approach to reducing nutrition insecurity will depend on decentralising policy ownership to the regions and provinces through stronger subnational governance. Security and humanitarian considerations point to the need to manage and integrate in a deliberate way the acute humanitarian care and long-term development needs, of which malnutrition is just one element.
Pilař, Ladislav (author), Stanislavská, Lucie Kvasničková (author), Rojík, Stanislav (author), Kvasnička, Roman (author), Poláková, Jana (author), and Gresham, George (author)
Format:
Online journal article
Publication Date:
2018
Published:
United Arab Emirates University
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 34 Document Number: D10681
9 pages., via online journal., In recent years, organic food production has been rising dramatically both in the EU and the USA. Previous research on consumer perception of organic food has mainly employed questionnaire survey methods. However, in the current age of the social network phenomenon,social media could prove to be a rich source of data. Increasingly, consumers are using social networks to share personal attitudes and experiences. This shared content could inform us about consumer opinions. Social network analysis and related sentiment analysis could allow identification of consumers’ experience and feelings about organic food. We investigated the perception of organic food using
1,325,435 Instagram interactions by 313,883 users worldwide. The data were recorded between July 4, 2016, and April 19, 2017. We identified three major hashtag areas (healthy, vegan, and clean food). The sentiment analysis revealed three dominant areas related to the #organicfood hashtag (feelings, taste, and appearance). Cluster analysis extracted four areas, as follows: Healthy living, Vegetarian, vegan, and raw diets, Clean eating, and Active healthy living. The mentioned communities are significant and useful at identification of customers values for farmers organic food product management and marketing communication in terms of product positioning.
13 pages., Article 4395, via online journal, This article characterizes the health risk perceptions toward excreta and wastewater management practices among waste management stakeholders in Vietnam and explores the implications of such perceptions on hygiene behaviors and preventative actions. Key informant interviews (n = 19; 12 women and 7 men) were conducted with farmers, community leaders, researchers, and government representatives in Hanoi and Ha Nam Province. Interviews were audio-recorded with permission, transcribed, and analyzed using a constant comparative method and qualitative thematic analysis. Researchers and government representatives perceived that the lack of knowledge of safe waste management practices among farmers was responsible for the use of “outdated” and often “unsafe” waste management practices. However, many farmers were aware of the health risks and safe hygienic practices but felt that safety measures were impractical and viewed susceptibility to diseases as low risk. Farmers also identified unfavorable climate and working conditions, limited financial capacity, and limited farm space as barriers to adopting safe management practices. At the broader level, inadequate communication between ministries often led to the creation of inconsistent waste management regulations. These barriers create constraints on efforts to improve sustainable waste management practices. Promoting collaboration between sectors, encouraging farmer-to-farmer knowledge sharing, and designing and implementing risk communication strategies that account for risk perceptions of stakeholders are recommended.
15 pages., Article #: 4690, via online journal., As with environment and sustainable development, there has been a rapid rise in the
worldwide consumption of organic foods over the last years, as well as the quickly growing potential
of organic markets in China, and their direct influence on consumer health awareness and social
opinion. This study provides insights into Chinese consumers’ attitudes toward organic foods and
evaluates purchase intention’s impact as a mediator in the relationship between external and internal
factors on purchase intention. This empirical study is based on an online questionnaire using a sample
of 1421 Chinese consumers. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used as the main practical
approach for data analysis, and six hypotheses were examined. The results show that a more positive
attitude on the part of consumers toward organic foods will further reinforce their purchasing
intentions, whereas, there was no significant impact of marketing price and communication on
consumers’ attitudes toward organic foods. Furthermore, the results show that intention was a
full or a whole mediator among the three exogenous constructs of environment awareness, health
consciousness, and subjective norms. Based on the findings, marketing communication strategies
should concentrate on offering more value to consumers regarding the features of nutritional value.
Long-term environment friendliness, health benefits, and social status symbols should be assumed to
enhance consumers’ purchase intention in the organic foods industry.
12 pages., via online journal., Building on research in motivated reasoning and framing in science communication, we examine how messages that vary attribution of responsibility (human vs animal) and temporal orientation (now vs in the next 10 years) for wildlife disease risk influence individuals’ conservation intentions. We conducted a randomized experiment with a nationally representative sample of US adults (N = 355), which revealed that for people low in biospheric concern, messages that highlighted both human responsibility for and the imminent nature of the risk failed to enhance conservation intentions compared with messages highlighting animal responsibility. However, when messages highlighting human responsibility placed the risk in a temporally distal frame, conservation intentions increased among people low in biospheric concern. We assess the underlying mechanism of this effect and discuss the value of temporal framing in overcoming motivated skepticism to improve science communication.
Parks, Courtney A. (author), Jaskiewicz, Lara J. (author), Dombrowski, Rachael D. (author), Frick, Hollyanne E. (author), Hortman, Sarah B. (author), Trumbull, Elissa (author), Hesterman, Oran B. (author), and Yaroch, Amy L. (author)
Format:
Online journal article
Publication Date:
2018-04-27
Published:
USA: SAGE Journals
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 11 Document Number: D10342
7 pages., Via online journal., To characterize participants of a statewide healthy food incentive program in terms of shopping behaviors, surveys were collected at farmers markets (N = 436) and grocery stores (N = 131). Farmers market and grocery store respondents were mostly forty-five to fifty-four years old (21 percent to 24 percent) and female (72 to 82 percent). Grocery store respondents were more diverse. Farmers market participants were more likely to be female (p = .011), not have children (p = .006), and traveled further compared to grocery store participants. As healthy food incentive programs expand, participant characteristics should inform tailored outreach to expand to diverse populations to have a greater public health impact.
Chrisinger, Benjamin W (author), Kallan, Michael J. (author), Whiteman, Eliza D. (author), Hillier, Amy (author), and Standford University
University of Pennsylvania
Format:
Online journal article
Publication Date:
2018-03-16
Published:
United States: Elsevier
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 133 Document Number: D11387
7 pages., via online journal, Food shopping decisions are pathways between food environment, diet and health outcomes, including chronic diseases such as diabetes and obesity. The choices of where to shop and what to buy are interrelated, though a better understanding of this dynamic is needed. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's nationally representative Food Acquisitions and Purchase Survey food-at-home dataset was joined with other databases of retailer characteristics and Healthy Eating Index-2010 (HEI) of purchases. We used linear regression models with general estimating equations to assess relationships between trip, store, and shopper characteristics with trip HEI scores. We examined HEI component scores for conventional supermarkets and discount/limited assortment retailers with descriptive statistics. Overall, 4962 shoppers made 11,472 shopping trips over one-week periods, 2012–2013. Trips to conventional supermarkets were the most common (53.6%), followed by supercenters (18.6%). Compared to conventional supermarkets, purchases at natural/gourmet stores had significantly higher HEI scores (β = 6.48, 95% CI = [4.45, 8.51], while those from “other” retailers (including corner and convenience stores) were significantly lower (−3.89, [−5.87, −1.92]). Older participants (versus younger) and women (versus men) made significantly healthier purchases (1.19, [0.29, 2.10]). Shoppers with less than some college education made significantly less-healthy purchases, versus shoppers with more education, as did households participating in SNAP, versus those with incomes above 185% of the Federal Poverty Level. Individual, trip, and store characteristics influenced the healthfulness of foods purchased. Interventions to encourage healthy purchasing should reflect these dynamics in terms of how, where, and for whom they are implemented.
