3 pages, Figure 1 above appeared on July 31, 2018, in Bloomberg. Bloomberg tweeted this graphic on August 13, and twenty-four hours later it had been retweeted by 84 twitter accounts and “liked” 118 times. Chances are you have seen this graphic on your social media newsfeed (e.g., Facebook, Twitter) by now. It is a novel idea to portray how U.S. land use could be represented across the United States. However, to the casual observer, which is most everyone viewing a graphic on social media, this graphic is misleading.
6pgs, A nationwide study was undertaken in China to understand why public interest has shifted away from agriculture and to discuss approaches that may help restore interest and support for agriculture. The study collected 2586 questionnaires from 242 cities in 31 provinces in mainland China. The results suggest that agriculture is still of public interest, but interest has shifted from traditional farming to the consumer perspective in food safety, nutrition and health, food security and agricultural history. Two groups in this study, the younger generation and those with college degrees, show less interest in production agriculture. The accelerating shift in population from rural China to urban areas explains why these two groups are less connected with agricultural issues. The authors contend that it is critically important to keep the urban population knowledgeable of the importance of agriculture and suggest ways to improve communication and support from this educated, city-dweller point of view in order to ensure a stable and secure future. The approach of science appreciation (ways to effectively communicate science to general publics) is proposed to effectively gain renewed interest and engagement with the public in the science of agriculture in order to optimize the needs and benefits from agriculture to society.
4 pages., Via online journal., ACE President Elizabeth Gregory North comments on JAC as evidence of the strong research tradition that is alive and well in ACE.
21 pages, We evaluate causal impacts of a large-scale agricultural extension program for smallholder women farmers on technology adoption and food security in Uganda through a regression discontinuity design that exploits an arbitrary distance-to-branch threshold for village program eligibility. We find eligible farmers used better basic cultivation methods, achieved improved food security. Given minimal changes in adoption of relatively expensive inputs, we attribute these gains to improved cultivation methods that require low upfront monetary investment. Farmers also modified their shock-coping methods. These results highlight the role of information and training in boosting agricultural productivity among poor farmers and, indirectly, improving food security.
22 pages, Commercialisation of smallholder agriculture is important for rural economic growth. While previous studies have analysed effects of commercialisation on productivity and income, implications for farm household nutrition have received much less attention. We evaluate the effects of commercialisation on household food security and dietary quality with a special focus on calorie and micronutrient consumption. We also examine transmission channels by looking at the role of income, gender, and possible substitution effects between the consumption of own-produced and purchased foods. The analysis uses survey data from farm households in Kenya and a control function approach. Generalised propensity scores are employed to estimate continuous treatment effects. Commercialisation significantly improves food security and dietary quality in terms of calorie, zinc and iron consumption. For vitamin A, effects are insignificant. Commercialisation contributes to higher incomes and increased nutrients from purchased foods, but it does not reduce the consumption of nutrients from own-produced foods. Enhancing market access is important not only for rural economic growth, but also for making smallholder agriculture more nutrition-sensitive.
