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2. Between words: a generational discussion about farming knowledge sources
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Wójcik, Marcin (author), Jeziorska-Biel, Pamela (author), and Czapiewski, Konrad (author)
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2019-03-09
- Published:
- Poland: Science Direct
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 7 Document Number: D10245
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Rural Studies
- Journal Title Details:
- 67: 130-141
- Notes:
- 12 pages., Via online journal., This article is concerned with the shaping of agricultural knowledge among farmers, in the context of the rapid changes Polish agriculture has been subject to since the time of the country's EU accession. The theoretical underpinnings of this work have been described in terms of the significant notional categories, i.e. knowledge, knowledge-cultures and sources of knowledge. The research made use of the joint interviews method. Interviews were run with representatives of different generations in 10 farming families in central Poland. The main research objective was to determine sources of farming knowledge among farmers. The use of joint interviews allowed for the identification of sources of knowledge of different kinds. These reflect a division into farmers' closer and more distant surroundings, i.e. to the family and neighbours on the one hand, and to institutions and media on the other. Knowledge acquisition among farmers is in fact found to be a complex process, reflecting socialisation in a multi-generation environment of family and neighbours, on the one hand, and the impact of the institutional and legal system, on the other. In a general sense, this corresponds to the well-known division of sources of knowledge into the tacit and the explicit, with the acquisition of tacit (i.e. informal) knowledge not meeting with any more major obstacles thanks to proximity in a sense that may be cultural (i.e. the agriculture itself), family-related (and in fact multi-generation) and spatial (physical proximity in a given locality). Microsocial conditioning thus plays a major role in the shaping of this source of knowledge. However, the most important factor distinguishing contemporary cultures as regards knowledge on farming is the capacity to adapt to conditions set by the institutions supporting the latter's development. Formal knowledge flowing into farming families from their institutional surroundings requires growing adaptability and preparation if a succession of innovations are to be taken on board. The multi-source nature of knowledge and the achievement of some kind of balance in this respect actually poses a major challenge for the future functioning of family farms as cultural microsystems.
3. Can anyone hear us? An exploration of echo chambers at a land-grant university
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Ruth, Taylor K. (author), Rumble, Joy N. (author), Galindo-Gonzalez, Sebastian (author), Lundy, Lisa K. (author), Carter, Hannah S. (author), Folta, Kevin M. (author), and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 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: D10430
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Applied Communications
- Journal Title Details:
- 103(2)
- Notes:
- 24 pages., Via online journal., Faculty at land-grant universities are expected to engage in some form of Extension, or science communication, as part of the land-grant mission. However, critics have claimed these institutions are out of touch with their stakeholders’ needs and faculty mainly communicate with others in academia. This engagement with a homogenous group reflects the concepts of echo chambers, where people are only exposed to information that aligns with their beliefs and current knowledge and discredit opposing information. An explanatory mixed-methods design was used to understand land-grant faculty’s engagement in echo chambers. A survey was distributed to a census of tenure-track faculty in the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences to understand respondents’ engagement in echo chambers. Follow-up interviews were conducted with 13 of the survey respondents to further explore their audiences and channels used in science communication to understand their engagement in echo chambers. Survey results indicated faculty did not necessarily participate in echo chambers, but they also did not contribute to an open communication network. However, the interviews found participants were interested in reaching new audiences yet struggled to communicate with stakeholders. The participants also reported wanting to find alternative channels to peer reviewed journals to help disseminate their work. The findings from this study indicated faculty contributed to a type of echo chamber, but rather than viewing their stakeholders’ opinions as false, they simply did not hear the opinions. Agricultural communicators should work with land-grant faculty administrators to identify appropriate audiences and channels for science communication.
4. Challenges of smallholder farmers in accessing agricultural information in Southern Ethiopia
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Meggerssa, G.R. (author), Gemede, B.G. (author), and Jarsa, A.W. (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2020-05-01
- Published:
- Bulgaria: Trakia University Press
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: D12414
- Journal Title:
- Agricultural Science and Technology
- Journal Title Details:
- Vol. 12, Number 1
- Notes:
- 10 pages, The study was focused on identifying sources of agricultural information and analyzing challenges faced by smallholder farmers in accessing agricultural information in Southern Ethiopia. To achieve the stated objectives the study district was selected purposively from Wolaita zone by selecting five kebeles randomly. At the end, a total of 150 sample households were randomly selected from these five kebeles. To collect the data both primary and secondary sources were used for the purpose of this study. Primary data were collected directly from sample respondents through structured and semi-structured interview schedules, observation and focus group discussions. Secondary data were collected from Woreda agriculture and rural development office report, and other relevant books, journal articles and the Internet. After the relevant data were collected, the descriptive statistics such as mean, frequency, and percentage, and the inferential statistics such as chi-square tests were also used. The findings indicate that female farmers, illiteracy, location of market center, information seeking behavior of farmers, low rate of extension-farmers linkages, inadequate operational skill of aids, language barriers, lack of training, lack of rural electrification, lack of development agents, absence of rural networks, inadequate reading materials, and inappropriate time of broadcasting are the main challenges smallholder farmers were faced with. Therefore, to overcome the challenges strong commitment and reformation should be done in the study area by the concerned stakeholders.
5. Competitor orientation and value co-creation in sustaining rural New Zealand wine producers
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Crick, James M. (author), Crick, Dave (author), and Tebbett, Natalie (author)
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2019-11-07
- Published:
- United States: Elsevier
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 124 Document Number: D11218
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Rural Studies
- Journal Title Details:
- 73(2020) : 122-134
- Notes:
- 12 pages, via online journal, This study, underpinned by the Resource-Based View and its association with the Relational View, contributes to the existing cross-disciplinary literature involving economic geography, tourism and marketing by extending the current understanding of the relationship between firms' value co-creation activities and sales performance in the context of rural wine producing firms. Specifically, by investigating how a firm's competitor orientation (possessing and acting upon knowledge of competitors) affects the relationship between firms' capabilities to engage in value co-creation activities and sales performance. This investigation utilises a multi-level qualitative investigation within small-to-medium-sized, New Zealand wine producers engaging in various value co-creation activities (wine hospitality and tourism such as accommodation and restaurants through to wine sales, including at cellar doors). The methods employed involved 40 interviews across 20 businesses; observations of cellar door employees in all 20 firms; and collection of archival data. The findings reveal that by having a high degree of a competitor orientation, the enhanced value co-creation activities can help individual companies improve sales performance and support cluster sustainability, including via repeat tourism. However, results vary among competing businesses based on the product-markets served, where illustrations of potential tensions highlight the need for the management of complementary relationships, within and across clusters (the latter typically being to serve overseas markets). This study consequently offers new unique insights that explain strategies affecting not just an individual firm's performance, but also, the sustainability of other businesses.
6. Contextual realities and poverty traps: why South Asian smallholder farmers negatively evaluate conservation agriculture
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Chaudhary, A. (author), Timsina, P. (author), Karki, E. (author), Sharma, A. (author), Suri, B. (author), Sharma , R. (author), and Brown, B. (author)
- Format:
- Journal Article
- Publication Date:
- 2023-02-20
- Published:
- England: Cambridge University Press
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 206 Document Number: D12837
- Journal Title:
- Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems
- Journal Title Details:
- Online
- Notes:
- 10pgs, Conservation agriculture-based sustainable intensification (CASI) is gaining prominence as an agricultural pathway to poverty reduction and enhancement of sustainable food systems among government and development actors in the Eastern Gangetic Plains (EGP) of South Asia. Despite substantial investment in research and extension programs and a growing understanding of the agronomic, economic and labor-saving benefits of CASI, uptake remains limited. This study explores farmer experiences and perspectives to establish why farmers choose not to implement CASI systems despite a strong body of recent scientific evidence establishing the benefits of them doing so. Through thematic coding of semi-structured interviews, key constraints are identified, which establishes a narrative that current households' resources are insufficient to enable practice change, alongside limited supporting structures for resource supplementation. Such issues create a dependency on subsidies and outside support, a situation that is likely to impact any farming system change given the low-risk profiles of farmers and their limited resource base. This paper hence sets out broad implications for creating change in smallholder farming systems in order to promote the adoption of sustainable agricultural technologies in resource-poor smallholder contexts, especially with regard to breaking the profound poverty cycles that smallholder farmers find themselves in and which are unlikely to be broken by the current set of technologies promoted to them.
7. Cooperative extension can better frame its value by emphasizing policy relationships
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Gupta, Clare (author), Campbell, David (author), and Cole-Weiss, Alexandra (author)
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2019-02-01
- Published:
- USA: University of California
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 12 Document Number: D10387
- Journal Title:
- California Agriculture
- Journal Title Details:
- 73(1) : 11-18
- Notes:
- 13 pages., Via online journal., Based on research-to-policy narratives provided by UC Cooperative Extension (UCCE) academics, we argue that current, effective Cooperative Extension (Extension) practices support a broader, more convincing account of Extension's public value than its leaders often articulate. This proposed account incorporates the familiar Extension narrative in which technical expertise and objectivity are emphasized. It also incorporates the insight, derived from our data, that Extension can achieve its greatest relevance in policy circles when it weaves together its ability to provide trustworthy technical knowledge with its capacity to influence policy dialogue, debate and practice across multiple settings and over the long term. In a policy world often marked by short-term thinking and polarization, Extension's ability to foster deliberative, context-sensitive and future-oriented policymaking is a critical contribution to society. Interview data reveals three approaches to effective policy-oriented relationship building: community-government partnership building; stakeholder-oriented experimental research; and community empowerment. Understanding these approaches can help reframe the story that we in the Extension system tell ourselves and the public about the public value we create.
8. Engaging dairy farmers in safety messages: Values, moral norms, barriers, and implications for communication
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Wilmes, Emily (author), Swenson, Rebecca (author), and University of Minnesota
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2019
- Published:
- United States: New Prairie Press
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 7 Document Number: D10244
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Applied Communications
- Journal Title Details:
- 103(1)
- Notes:
- 19 pages, via online journal, Dairy farms pose many hazards to farmers and their employees, including the risk of injury caused by handling animals. On many farms, there is a lack of consistent information and training related to farm safety topics, including stockmanship, or safe animal handling. The purpose of this qualitative research was to explore effective communication strategies that support the application of stockmanship practices and more broadly support health and safety measures and the adoption of new behaviors by farmers and their employees. Research was conducted in three stages via in-depth farm tours and in-person interviews, a qualitative survey, and follow-up phone interviews with dairy farmers. Findings identified four values and moral norms important to dairy farmers and four barriers to implementation of farm safety practices. The research also revealed publications and in-person meetings as key channels of communication and on-farm consultants as important influencers. From the research findings, three major recommendations emerged. These include using a train the trainer educational model, engaging with professionals and encouraging farmer-to-farmer communication, and leveraging digital resources.
9. Evolution of Internet of Things (IoT) and its significant impact in the field of precision agriculture
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Khanna, Abhishek (author) and Kaur, Sanmeet (author)
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2019-02
- Published:
- India: Elsevier
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 7 Document Number: D10290
- Journal Title:
- Computers and Electronics in Agriculture
- Journal Title Details:
- 157 : 218-231
- Notes:
- 14 pages., Via online journal., During recent years, one of the most familiar name scaling new heights and creating a benchmark is Internet of Things (IoT). It is indeed the future of communication that has transformed Things (Objects) of the real world into smarter devices. The functional aspect of IoT is to unite every object of the world in such a manner that humans have the ability to control them via Internet. Furthermore, these objects also provide regular as well as timely updates on their current status to its end user. Although IoT concepts were proposed a couple of years ago, it may not be incorrect to quote that this term has become a benchmark for establishing communication among objects. In context to the present standings of IoT, identification of the most prominent applications in the field of IoT have been highlighted and a comprehensive review has been done specifically in the field of Precision Agriculture. This article evaluates contributions made by various researchers and academicians over the past few years. Furthermore, existing challenges faced while performing agricultural activities have been highlighted along with future research directions to equip novel researchers of this domain to assess the current standings of IoT and to further improve upon them with more inspiring and innovative ideas.
10. Exploring youth engagement in agricultural development: the case of farmers’ children in the Philippines as rice crop manager infomediaries
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Manalo, Jaime A. IV (author), Pasiona, Sonny P. (author), Baustista, Anna Marie F. (author), Villaflor, Jennifer D. (author), Corpuz, Donna Chris P. (author), Biag-Manalo, Hanah Hazel Mavi (author), and Philippine Rice Research Institute
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2019-06-14
- Published:
- Philippines: Taylor & Francis
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 109 Document Number: D10971
- Journal Title:
- The Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension
- Journal Title Details:
- 25(4) : 361-377
- Notes:
- 18 pages, via online journal, Purpose: This paper explores the intersections between community development and youth development in an initiative that mobilized farmers’ children as Rice Crop Manager (RCM) infomediaries (information mediators). RCM is an ICT-enabled nutrient management application. Design/Methodology/Approach: The study engaged 30 farmers’ children in high school level from the provinces of Pangasinan, Isabela, Camarines Sur, Iloilo, Bukidnon, and Davao del Norte from November 2016 to October 2017. They interacted with the research team (the authors) and the RCM-SMS platform that sends text messages regarding fertilizer recommendations. A staff member from the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) also called the students for some follow-up questions. The research team conducted three rounds of interviews with the students concerning the messages and calls that they received and what they did with the information. Findings: This study finds that farmers’ children can perform infomediary roles quite effectively. Academically excellent children and those involved in farm work performed best. Practical Implications: The study provides guidance on similar initiatives tapping young people in agricultural development. Theoretical Implications: This paper finds that while Community Youth Development (CYD) Theory provides a powerful lens in understanding community and youth development intersections, some identified outcomes may overlap and may not be very easy to observe. Hence, the identified outcomes may be revisited for clarity and to make them more all-encompassing. Originality/Value: The paper documents actual parent-child interaction when the latter is mobilized to serve as an infomediary to access nutrient management-related information on rice.