15 pages, Farmers are invited to tell stories about their farms, especially about their farm’s origin and history. However, some farm stories go untold, are uninvited, or become obscured, including stories of farm closures. With this case study, we invite journalists and academics to provide further opportunities for farmers to tell their own closure stories. Written by the farmer and her CSA member and friend, who researches farmer communication, this case study calls on farmers to tell their farm-closure stories in the complicated and robust ways such stories deserve. We draw on academic and public scholarship about farm closures and farmers’ disclosures to feature how one farmer decided to end her farm and farming career. We chronicle her decision-making process and her strategies to communicate the closure of her farm, as well as analyze themes from how audiences reacted to her news. We also offer a range of reasons for inviting such telling of complex closure stories.
13 pages, An increasing number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the German organic agri-food sector involves citizens through different community financing models. While such models provide alternative funding sources as well as marketing opportunities to SMEs, they allow private investors to combine their financial and ethical concerns by directly supporting the development of a more sustainable food system. Due to the low level of financial intermediation, community financing is characterized by close relations between investors and investees. Against this background, we apply the proximity concept from economic geography to explore spatial and relational aspects of community financing in the German organic agri-food sector. Based on a qualitative multiple case study approach, we find that the relevance of proximity is twofold. While different forms of proximity between SMEs and their potential investors are key success factors, proximity is also considered as one desired outcome of community financing. Furthermore, our results reveal that the extent to which SMEs rely on particular proximity dimensions distinguishes two different approaches to community financing.
24pgs, Opioid drug abuse has created an epidemic recognized as a public health emergency in 2017, and the detrimental impacts of this epidemic have reached into rural America. When it comes to presenting information via the mass media, communications professionals serve as gatekeepers for what information is passed on to media consumers. Additionally, news organizations place certain degrees of importance upon issues through the amount of coverage dedicated to an issue. In late 2016, when the Farm and Dairy newspaper editorial staff decided to dedicate a vast amount of time and resources to covering Ohio and Pennsylvania’s rural opioid epidemic, a variety of questions and concerns followed. This complicated topic was largely unfamiliar and untraditional to agricultural communications. Concerns about how to research the topic, work with sources, and manage responses from stakeholders emerged at the onset, but motivations to increase awareness, reduce stigma, and instill hope in the midst of a rural opioid epidemic brought the series to fruition. This case study details the actions taken by those involved in the series and stakeholder reactions to a unique journalistic investigation from a rural newspaper. Discussion of recommendations for future research and curricular impacts are provided.
Online from publication via subscription., A new report focuses on internet infrastructures on tribal lands and how tribes can use it to strengthen their sovereignty.
"More than a year after an undercover video campaign revealed animal welfare issues at Fair Oaks Farms, experts say there are important lessons to be learned." Article describes the event and includes sections about principles of crisis communication, tracking animal activists, and tips for hiring employees.
Andrei, Mary Anne (author) and Honig, Esther (author)
Format:
News article
Publication Date:
2020-08
Published:
USA: Food and Environmental Reporting Network (FERN), New York City, New York.
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 201 Document Number: D11807
Notes:
Online from FERN website. 2 pages., "When Covid-19 spread rapidly through slaughterhouses, most workers stayed quiet. But their kids did not." Brief case report from Crete, Nebraska, site of a Smithfield Foods pork processing plant.
Online via AgEconSearch., In this teaching case study the authors analyze the economics of installing automatic milking systems under three investment scenarios. The study also "provides an opportunity to apply capital budgeting to a modern agriculture investment and addresses broader questions related to technology investment and adoption on farm."
Dobson, A.D.M. (author), Milner-Gulland, E.J. (author), Aebischer, Nicholas J. (author), Beale, Colin M. (author), Brozovic, Robert (author), Coals, Peter (author), Critchlow, Rob (author), Dancer, Anthony (author), Grove, Michelle (author), Hinsley, Amy (author), Ibbett, Harriet (author), Johnston, Alison (author), Kuiper, Timothy (author), Le Comber, Steven (author), Mahood, Simon P. (author), Moore, Jennifer F. (author), Nilsen, Erlend B. (author), Pocock, Michael J.O. (author), Quinn, Anthony (author), Travers, Henry (author), Wilfred, Paulo (author), Wright, Joss (author), and Keane, Aidan (author)
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
2020
Published:
International
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 167; Folder: 201 Document Number: D11695
11 pages., Authors present an overview of the opportunities and limitations associated with messy data which conservationists increasingly use (e.g., citizen science records, ranger patrol observations). They also explain how the preferences, skills, and incentives of data collectors affect the quality of the information these data contain and the investment required to unlock their potential.
Via online issue. 2 pages., Introduction and description of Golden ARC Award in social media for the Moo Lab entry submitted by Midwest Dairy and FLM Harvest.
Online open access via AgEcon Search., Authors used a survey to examine the information and communication technology (ICT) usage and attitudes by enterprises operating in the agri-food sector. "...competitive advantage my be reached using ITC solutions for widening and maintaining relations through a more effective information flow with partners and consumers."
