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2. A grass-roots movement for healthy soil spreads among farmers
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Charles, Dan (author) and National Public Radio (NPR)
- Format:
- Online article
- Publication Date:
- 2018-04-09
- Published:
- United States: NPR
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 108 Document Number: D10946
- Notes:
- 9 pages, via online article and podcast
3. Can governments promote homestead gardening at scale? Evidence from Ethiopia
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Hirvonen, Kalle (author) and Headey, Derek (author)
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2018-12
- Published:
- Science Direct
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 7 Document Number: D10242
- Journal Title:
- Global Food Security
- Journal Title Details:
- 19 : 40-47
- Notes:
- Low intake of fruits and vegetables is a major cause of micronutrient deficiencies in the developing world. Since the 1980s, various non-governmental organizations have promoted homestead gardening (HG) programs, first in Asia, but now increasingly in Africa. Longstanding concerns with HG programs are: (1) they lack scalability, particularly for governments; (2) they only work in areas with/without good access to markets; and (3) they are only suitable for more water-abundant ecologies. We assess these concerns by analyzing a large and novel survey on the adoption of a nationwide HG program implemented by the Ethiopian government. We find that better market access encourages HG adoption; so too does greater public promotion of HGs, but only in more water-abundant ecologies. © 2018 The Authors
4. Closing the extension gap: Information and communication technology in sustainable agriculture
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Lubell, Mark (author), McRoberts, Neil (author), and University of California, Davis
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2018-10
- Published:
- Richmond, CA: University of California, Oakland, Division of Agriculture & Natural Resources
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 7 Document Number: D10260
- Journal Title:
- California Agriculture
- Journal Title Details:
- 74(4) : 236-242
- Notes:
- 7 pages., As the information revolution sweeps through the agricultural sector, extension professionals may be lagging behind their clients in the use of information and communication technology (ICT) such as social media, which could be a valuable tool for outreach and education. We surveyed sustainable agriculture stakeholders in California - extension professionals, county agricultural commissioners, and members of farm bureaus and producer groups - to measure their ICT behavior and attitudes. Drawing on diffusion of innovation theory, we characterized the innovation attributes of ICT that may influence the adoption and use of new technology among extension professionals. We also studied their demographic characteristics to establish whether there was a connection with ICT use. The main perceived benefit of ICT was that it can quickly reach larger, more diverse and more distant audiences. The perceived challenges included lack of professional support, the potential for misinformation on social media platforms, and the time requirements and technical complexity of technology use. Extension professionals experienced these challenges more than other sustainable agriculture stakeholders, creating a technology gap between extension professionals and their clientele. An ICT community of practice and clear organizational guidelines for measuring and reporting performance relating to ICT might help extension professionals dose the gap.
5. Closing the extension gap: information and communication technology in sustainable agriculture
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Lubell, Mark (author) and McRoberts, Neil (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2018
- Published:
- USA
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 131 Document Number: D11331
- Journal Title:
- California Agriculture
- Journal Title Details:
- 72(4) : 236-242
- Notes:
- Online from https://doaj.org, Authors examined extension professionals, county agricultural commissioners, and members of farm bureaus and producer groups regarding their behavior and attitudes about use of information and communication technologies (ITCs). Results indicated that extension professionals experienced challenges in using ICTs more than the other sustainable agriculture stakeholders, "creating a technology gap between extension professionals and their clientele." Authors suggested use of an ICT community of practice and clear organizational guidelines for measuring and reporting performance related to ICT.
6. Communicating the 4Rs to farmers: insights and opportunities
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Moody, Lara (author)
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2018-09
- Published:
- USA: Soil and Water Conservation Society
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 152 Document Number: D10144
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Soil and Water Conservation
- Journal Title Details:
- 73(5): 128A-131A
- Notes:
- 4 pages., Via online journal.
7. Consumer satisfaction in alternative food networks (AFNs): evidence from Northern Italy
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Carzedda, Matteo (author), Marangon, Francesco (author), Nassivera, Federico (author), and Troiano, Stefania (author)
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2018-11
- Published:
- Italy: Science Direct
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 7 Document Number: D10252
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Rural Studies
- Journal Title Details:
- (64) : 73-79
- Notes:
- 7 pages., Via online journal, The emergence of Alternative Food Networks (AFNs) has drawn the attention of researchers from various fields, who try to understand and explain these new phenomena. The purpose of this paper is to explore how personal attitude and product quality perception influence relative satisfaction over participation in AFNs, therefore contributing to the literature on socially conscious consumerism. Structural Equation Modeling is used to investigate the determinants of consumers' attitudes towards AFNs, its influence on perceived quality of food products, and their relative influence over satisfaction with participation in AFNs. A survey was conducted among 210 AFN participants. The results from this study suggest that consumers' attitude towards AFNs directly influences the perceived quality of food products; moreover, the analysis confirms the relationship between these two elements and overall satisfaction with participation in AFNs. Finally, the research provides suggestions on how to improve consumers’ involvement and mainstream AFNs.
8. DIRT: The Dacus Image Recognition Toolkit
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Kalamatianos, Romanos; (author), Karydis, Ioannis (author), Doukakis, Dimitris (author), and Avlonitis, Markos (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2018-10-30
- Published:
- Switzerland: MDPI
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 207 Document Number: D13063
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Imaging
- Journal Title Details:
- V.4, N.11
- Notes:
- 17 pages, Modern agriculture is facing unique challenges in building a sustainable future for food production, in which the reliable detection of plantation threats is of critical importance. The breadth of existing information sources, and their equivalent sensors, can provide a wealth of data which, to be useful, must be transformed into actionable knowledge. Approaches based on Information Communication Technologies (ICT) have been shown to be able to help farmers and related stakeholders make decisions on problems by examining large volumes of data while assessing multiple criteria. In this paper, we address the automated identification (and count the instances) of the major threat of olive trees and their fruit, the Bactrocera Oleae (a.k.a. Dacus) based on images of the commonly used McPhail trap’s contents. Accordingly, we introduce the “Dacus Image Recognition Toolkit” (DIRT), a collection of publicly available data, programming code samples and web-services focused at supporting research aiming at the management the Dacus as well as extensive experimentation on the capability of the proposed dataset in identifying Dacuses using Deep Learning methods. Experimental results indicated performance accuracy (mAP) of 91.52% in identifying Dacuses in trap images featuring various pests. Moreover, the results also indicated a trade-off between image attributes affecting detail, file size and complexity of approaches and mAP performance that can be selectively used to better tackle the needs of each usage scenario.
9. Do sustainable certifications for coffee really help coffee growers?
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Chen, Angus (author)
- Format:
- Online article
- Publication Date:
- 2018-09-02
- Published:
- USA
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 199 Document Number: D09797
- Notes:
- NPR: The Salt. 4 pages.
10. Educational needs and perceptions of the sustainability of precision agriculture: survey evidence from Greece
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Kountio, Georgios (author), Ragkos, Athanasios (author), Bournaris, Thomas (author), Papadavid, Georgios (author), and Michailidis, Anastasios (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2018-06
- Published:
- Springer Science & Business Media
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 93 Document Number: D10860
- Journal Title:
- Precision Agriculture
- Journal Title Details:
- 19(3) : 537-554
- Notes:
- 28 pages., Via Science Direct., Precision agriculture (PA) constitutes a dynamic production method which is gaining attention in several parts of the world. Its environmental and economic sustainability has been examined in terms of its ability to reduce the adverse effects of agrochemical use—by regulating their application to the levels needed at the land parcel level—and of its contribution to higher incomes and profitability. At the social level, PA has been linked to collective action although little insight is available regarding the role of various actors and education. This study tackles PA through an assessment of the attitudes of farmers towards the elements of its sustainability and of their educational needs. The analysis of survey data of a sample of young farmers in Greece showed that the majority of respondents were not familiar with PA. Significant differences were found between the attitudes of knowledgeable and non-knowledgeable farmers, the former demonstrating better acknowledgement of the environmental, economic and social sustainability of PA. Important educational needs were also detected, with group and individual methods being the most preferred ones for education and information campaigns. The results of the analysis could be of use for the design of Common Agricultural Policy Pillar II measures for the promotion of PA targeting to specific audiences and actors.