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12. Are smallholder farmers’ perceptions of climate variability supported by climatological evidence? Case study of a semi-arid region in South Africa
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Rapholo, Maropene Tebello (author) and Makia, Lawrence Diko (author)
- Format:
- Journal Article
- Publication Date:
- 2020-08-20
- Published:
- International: Emerald
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 201 Document Number: D11860
- Journal Title:
- International Journal of Climate
- Journal Title Details:
- 4
- Notes:
- 15 pages, via online journal, Purpose Literature contends that not much is known about smallholder farmers’ perceptions of climate variability and the impacts thereof on agricultural practices in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Africa in particular. The purpose of this study is to examine the perceptions of smallholder farmers from Botlokwa (a semi-arid region in South Africa) on climate variability in relation to climatological evidence. Design/methodology/approach The study area is in proximity to a meteorological station and comprises mainly rural farmers, involved in rain-fed subsistence agriculture. Focus group discussions and closed-ended questionnaires covering demographics and perceptions were administered to 125 purposely sampled farmers. To assess farmers’ perceptions of climate variability, their responses were compared with linear trend and variability of historical temperature and rainfall data (1985-2015). Descriptive statistics were used to provide insights into respondents’ perceptions. Findings About 64% of the farmers perceived climate variability that was consistent with the meteorological data, whereas 36% either held contrary observations or were unable to discern. Age, level of education, farming experience and accessibility to information influenced the likelihood of farmers to correctly perceive climate variability. No significant differences in perception based on gender were observed. This study concludes that coping and adaption strategies of over one-third of the farmers could be negatively impacted by wrong perceptions of climate variability. Originality/value This study highlights discrepancies in perceptions among farmers with similar demographic characteristics. To guarantee sustainability of the sector, intervention by government and other key stakeholders to address underlying factors responsible for observed discrepancies is recommended.
13. Are social embeddedness associated with food risk perception under media coverage?
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Zhen, Yan (author), Huang, Zu-hui (author), Wang, Yu (author), and Zhou, Jie-hong (author)
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2019-08
- Published:
- Elsevier
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 78 Document Number: D10827
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Integrative Agriculture
- Journal Title Details:
- 18(8): 1804–1819
- Notes:
- 16 pages., via online journal., raceability system has received wide attention in solving food safety issues, via which food information could be tracked back to producer/farmers. Consumers need to obtain this information from producers or social networks, trust in the information, and consequently assess perceived risks, especially when food scandals are exposed to the media. In this study, we introduce the social embeddedness theory to understand how consumers' social activities affect their risk perceptions on traceable food. Specifically, we investigate how risk perceptions are predicted by the interpersonal relationships, organizational level and social-level relationships. Results show that the interpersonal relationships were associated with lower levels of risk perceptions, while organizational and social relationships impacted consumer's risk perceptions at middle and higher levels, respectively. Results also show that the “ripple effect” extended to effect of risk events with negative information, however, did not exist for the group exposed to positive information. Potential food safety implications have been proposed to identify for effective risk mitigation under media coverages.
14. Arguing for Argument’s Sake? Exploring Public Conversations around Climate Change on Twitter
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Mayfield-Smith, Kennedy (author), Lamm, Alexa (author), Masambuka-Kanchewa, Sallys (author), and Holt, Jessica (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2021-12-01
- Published:
- United States of America: New Prairie Press
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 204 Document Number: D12431
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Applied Communication
- Journal Title Details:
- Vol. 104 Issue 5
- Notes:
- 19 pages, Audience-facilitated information flow has become the new norm created by a public divergence from traditional media sources. Mobile device advancements and partnerships have changed how audiences view news media and the sources relied upon to obtain information. With these advancements, social media users have become primary information providers and information gatekeepers. Twitter specifically has become a news media platform for some based on its effectiveness in facilitating information flow and triggering reorganization as it provides a platform for collaboration and coordination. Despite widespread acceptance of the threat climate change poses by the scientific community, it is still a topic of contention on social media. Climate conversations are typically approached with an us versus them mindset with us being used as representation of the communities to which audiences belong. The communities one belongs to typically follows social media users social, political and environmental ideologies. Walton’s theory of argument or inference schemes served as the theoretical framework for this study. Argument schemes represent common arguments and special context arguments, in this case scientific argumentation. Walton’s argument from ignorance was used as a framework for the study. The argument states that if there has been a thorough search through the knowledge base then concrete proof of a fact would exist. The findings indicated social media may be a useful tool when exploring climate change conversations through a sociopolitical lens and additional research is needed to closely examine how political ideologies, global location, and different environmental topics impact issue awareness and beliefs.
15. Burger thy neighbour
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Torshizi, M. (author)
- Format:
- Paper
- Publication Date:
- 2020
- Published:
- International
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 163 Document Number: D11648
- Notes:
- 15 pages., Paper presented at the 2018 conference of the International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE), July 28-August 2, 2018, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada., Author develops a theoretical model that helps provide a better understanding of the effect of hostile marketing and advertisement strategies on competition involving meat. Findings suggest that negatively influencing consumers' perceptions of rivals' products may be a more effective marketing tool than the "beggar-thy-neighbor" advertising where one firm steals some market share from the rivals by means of positive promotion of its own product.
16. Cargill releases its latest survey on what consumers want
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Format:
- News release
- Publication Date:
- 2019-08-07
- Published:
- International
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 82 Document Number: D10835
- Notes:
- Online via AgriMarketing Weekly. 2 pages.
17. Caring for the Land: Women, Food, and Agriculture Network
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Oehlerts, Beth (author)
- Format:
- Journal Article
- Publication Date:
- 2020-09-09
- Published:
- United States: Taylor & Francis
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 202 Document Number: D12094
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Africultural & Food Information
- Journal Title Details:
- Volume 21, 2020 - Issue 3-4
- Notes:
- 7 pgs., In the last couple of decades, nonprofit organizations have worked to advance the voices of American farm women. Using the internet and social media, they advocate for farm women to have a larger voice in local and national agricultural policymaking. The Women, Food and Agriculture Network (WFAN; https://wfan.org/), is one of these nonprofit organizations (Women, Food, and Agriculture Network, 2019b). Based in Iowa, it offers a variety of programs to encourage farm women to continue farming and to consider pursuing elective office for a stronger female voice in American agriculture (Sachs et al., 2016). Historically, the American woman’s contribution to feeding the country and the world has received recognition only during times of national emergency. For example, during World War II, the U. S. Secretary of Agriculture turned to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Extension Service to create a recruitment program for women to assist with food production. As early as April 1943, the U.S. Congress approved funding for The Farm Labor Supply Appropriation Act. The program became known as the Women’s Land Army (WLA; The Farm Labor Supply Appropriation Act of 1943). The program, operational between 1943 and 1947, called on American women to work on abandoned farms during World War II. Lucrative defense-related jobs were luring farmers from their fields, creating a need for farm laborers. The WLA was administered by the USDA and implemented at the state level by the USDA Extension Service. By 1945, one and a half million non-farm women had been recruited for farm jobs, and WLA membership had risen to almost two million women (Rasmussen, 1951, pp. 148–149). During the last decades of the 20th century, social and economic change had encouraged more women, including farm women, to become politically active. It was not until 1978, when the USDA began collecting data on the gender of the principal farm operators (the USDA term to describe the decision-makers), that women’s role in American farming was confirmed with statistics. According to the USDA Census in 2017, women as principal producers on the farm are slowly growing in number (U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service, 2020, Table 52). These numbers also reflect the first time multiple (two or more) primary producers were reported in the USDA Census of Agriculture (U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service, 2020, Table 47).
18. Characteristics and Motivational Factors of American Equine Journalists
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Bowden, Zoe (author), Telg, Ricky W. (author), and Lundy, Lisa (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2022-02-01
- Published:
- United States of America: New Prairie Press
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 204 Document Number: D12438
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Applied Communication
- Journal Title Details:
- Issue 1 (2022)
- Notes:
- 22 pages, The purpose of this study was to identify the demographic characteristics, career motivations, and professional development of American equine journalists. An online survey was distributed to equine journalists identified through their professional organizational membership. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. Equine journalists were found to be predominately female, Caucasian, and averaged 53 years old. Nearly half were exposed to the equine industry prior to their career and have been working in the industry for over 15 years. Respondents were well educated and were most motivated towards their career as an equine journalist because of their interest in horses. Over 70% of equine journalists in this study participated in one to 10 professional developments in the last year, with social media management as the most frequently reported topic. Other frequently reported topics were marketing, journalistic writing, and magazine publication. Recommendations for practice include recruiting agricultural communications minor or certificate students from specialized programs such as animal science, equine science, equine studies, or livestock. Future research should consider the influence of pre-career experiences on equine journalist career motivations and skill development.
19. Characterizing Viewpoints of Scholars in Agricultural Communications as they Relate to Research Themes in the Journal of Applied Communications: A Q Methodological Study
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Parrella, Jean (author), Spence, Jessica (author), Redwine, Tobin (author), and Leggette, Holli R. (author)
- Format:
- Journal Article
- Publication Date:
- 2021-10-01
- Published:
- United States: New Prairie Press
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 203 Document Number: D12304
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Applied Communications
- Journal Title Details:
- Vol. 105, Issue 3
- Notes:
- 27 pages., Research in agricultural communications is not guided by a national research agenda. Therefore, the substantial body of research produced from scholars working in the discipline represents scattered efforts. We conducted a content analysis of journal articles published in the Journal of Applied Communications between 2000 and 2019 to identify the research themes that establish the discipline’s scholarly base. Through an examination of n = 259 journal articles, we identified N = 27 research themes, the most prevalent of which included agriculture and media relations/practices (f = 30; % = 11.58), public perceptions/understanding of agriculture and natural resources (f = 25; % = 9.65), and agricultural communications academic programs and curricula (f = 21; % = 8.11). Then, we used Q methodology to identify viewpoints of agricultural communications scholars (e.g., faculty, graduate students; n = 45) as they relate to perceptions about the importance of research. We identified four dominant viewpoints of scholars in agricultural communications: Message Framing Influencers, Extension-Focused Scholars and Practitioners, Discipline-Conscious Researchers, and Tech-Savvy Scholars. Together, these viewpoints explained 59.43% of the study variance. Although participants who represented each of these groups had unique perspectives, participants generally agreed that public perceptions/understanding of agriculture and natural resources and crisis communications in agricultural communications were important research themes. Likewise, they generally agreed that the role of agricultural communications professional organizations, agricultural communications efforts during historical events, and agritourism were not important research themes.
20. Chew On This: Investigating Public Perceptions of Lab-Grown Meat
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Boykin, Kellie (author)
- Format:
- Thesis
- Publication Date:
- 2019-12-01
- Published:
- United States: Texas Tech Univeristy, Lubbock, Texas
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 204 Document Number: D12460
- Notes:
- 115 pages, Lab grown meat is a new technology being developed as a potential alternative protein source. Although some research has been done about public perception of lab grown meat, no studies to date have analyzed social media content regarding this topic. Still yet, no studies have observed the effects of message themes on public perception of lab grown meat. This two-part study first sought to analyze the Twitter messages discussing lab grown meat using Meltwater, a social media monitoring software. Secondly, the study sought to better understand measures of uncertainty and risk and benefit perceptions after viewing a themed blog post about lab grown meat. In part one, a relevant keyword search from August 28, 2018 to February 28, 2019 collected over 11,000 Twitter messages. Sentiment of messages was analyzed with 47% of messages being neutral. Meltwater identified trending themes that were all closely tied to lab grown meat, and top content posters with the most amount of potential reach were identified. All top posters were found to be news entities or organizations instead of personal Twitter accounts. In part two, participants were randomly assigned one of three themed blog posts against lab grown meat, neutral, or support lab grown meat. Perception questions were asked after viewing the blog post, and a total of 238 responses were collected. Results indicated message theme had a statistically significant effect on risk perception, benefit perception, and intention to share, but not on message evaluation or measures of uncertainty. Further discussion as well as suggestions for future research are included.