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2. A conversation about food systems change in South Africa
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Malan, Naudé (author)
- Format:
- Journal Article
- Publication Date:
- 2020-10-14
- Published:
- International: Lyson Center for Civic Agriculture and Food Systems
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 202 Document Number: D12053
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems and Community Development
- Journal Title Details:
- Vol. 10, No. 1 2020
- Notes:
- 14 Pages, iZindaba Zokudla (IZ) is a multistakeholder engagement project that aims to create opportunities for urban agriculture in a sustainable food system in Johannesburg. IZ implements the Farmers’ Lab, a social lab used as a transitional mechanism in a larger transition to sustainability. To move the South African urban food system to an ecologically sound, economically productive, and socially equitable system, significant stakeholder integration is needed, and the iZindaba Zokudla Farmers’ Lab provides that. This reflective essay presents a history of the project (2013 until now) detailing the project’s creation of an ecosystem based on social labs that facilitate innovation in the food system. Emergent entrepreneurs and others use the social labs and their activities, as well as stakeholder engagement in their enterprise development, and these Labs have created opportunities for applied and other research in the university. This has brought innovation and change to agroecological practice in Johannesburg. This reflective essay article situates IZ within the broader evolutionary change in South Africa and considers how conversations about food lead to the creation of sustainable food systems.
3. Adapting yet not adopting? Conservation agriculture in Central Malawi
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Bouwman, T.I. (author), Andersson, J.A. (author), and Giller, K.E. (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2021-02-28
- Published:
- United States: Elsevier
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 204 Document Number: D12487
- Journal Title:
- Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment
- Journal Title Details:
- Vol. 307
- Notes:
- 12 pages, Conservation Agriculture (CA) has been widely promoted as a pathway to sustainably intensify agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Yet despite decades of promotion, CA uptake in SSA remains sparse with only few analyses of its impacts on farming and rural livelihoods. This study, which focuses on areas in Central Malawi considered to have a relatively high uptake of CA, uses analyses of satellite images, field observations, interviews with farmers, extension workers and other people involved in CA promotion, as well as a household survey, to investigate how CA has been adapted. We find that the three CA principles – (1) continuous minimum tillage, e.g. no-ridging, (2) permanent ground cover, and (3) crop rotation/intercropping – were not practiced as intended. First, one-third of non-ridged land was tilled during the growing season, and half was again ridged in the following season. Second, unless crop residues were added, the soil’s surface of non-ridged plots was usually bare at planting, causing weed control problems, and an increased risk of erosion. Most farmers added large volumes of crop residues to their non-ridged plots. They collected these from the surrounding fields, but this practice severely restricted the size of these plots. Third, crop rotation/intercropping was practiced less when farmers stopped ridging. Thus overall, very few farmers practised all of the three CA principles simultaneously. CA promotion appeared to only increase yields on plots where mulch was added, but this practice is not scalable. CA promotiondoes not seem to have provided substantial benefits for overall farm productivity, labour-savings or soil cons
4. Adherence to environmental regulation in the european union common agricultural policy: social representations and conditionality among french farmers
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Gaymard, Sandrine (author), Goujon, Boris (author), and Lefebvre, Marianne (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- unknown
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 203 Document Number: D12253
- Notes:
- 22 pages, Support for the agricultural sector from the European Union via the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is evolving. The last CAP reform in 2014 made one further step toward mandatory approaches. To understand the "social thinking" and behavior when faced with these measures, an innovative application has been adopted. Globally, the farmers' discourse manifests contradictions between environmental concern and the financial dimension, which is the expression of their daily difficulties. Mandatory approaches to sustainable agriculture may favor what the Theory of Conditionality called "legitimate transgressions" if regulations appear unadapted to real practices because compliance and opportunity costs are too high.
5. Agricultural trade publications and the 2012 Midwestern U.S. drought: A missed opportunity for climate risk communication
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Church, Sarah P. (author), Haigh, Tonya (author), Widhalm, Melissa (author), Garcia de Jalon, Silvestre (author), Babin, Nicholas (author), Carlton, J. Stuart (author), Dunn, Michael (author), Fagan, Katie (author), Knutson, Cody L. (author), and Prokopy, Linda S. (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- unknown
- Published:
- Netherlands: Elsevier Science BV
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 7 Document Number: D10262
- Journal Title:
- Climate Risk Management
- Journal Title Details:
- 15 : 45-60
- Notes:
- 16 pages., Via online journal., The Midwestern United States experienced a devastating drought in 2012, leading to reduced corn and soybean yields and increased instances of pests and disease. Climate change induced weather variability and extremes are expected to increase in the future, and have and will continue to impact the agricultural sector. This study investigated how agricultural trade publications portrayed the 2012 U.S. Midwestern drought, whether climate change was associated with drought, and whether these publications laid out transformative adaptation measures farmers could undertake in order to increase their adaptive capacity for future climate uncertainty. We performed a content analysis of 1000 media reports between April 1, 2012 and March 31, 2014, sampled from ten agricultural trade publications. The results lead us to suggest that trade publications’ 2012 U.S. Midwestern drought discussion lacked information that would allow farmers and agricultural advisors to assess climate change risk and subsequent potential adaptive management strategies. Agricultural risk from climate change is very real, and farmers will need to adapt. The agricultural trade publications studied missed an opportunity to convey risk from climate change and the transformative adaptation practices necessary for a sustainable and resilient agricultural system.
6. Agronomist-farmer knowledge encounters: an analysis of knowledge exchange in the context of best management practices in England
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Ingram, Julie (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- unknown
- Published:
- USA: Springer
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 165 Document Number: C27413
- Journal Title:
- Agriculture and Human Values
- Journal Title Details:
- DOI: 10.1007/s10460-008-9134-0
7. An 89% solution adoption rate at a two-year follow-up: evaluating the effectiveness of an animated agricultural video approach
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Bello-Bravo, Julia (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2019-12-01
- Published:
- International: Taylor & Francis
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: D12388
- Journal Title:
- Information Technology for Development
- Journal Title Details:
- Issue 3
- Notes:
- 15 pages., Securing the adoption of scalable agro-educational information and communication technology (ICT) solutions by farmers remains one of the international development community’s most elusive goals – in part due to two key gaps in the data: (1) limited comparisons of competing knowledge-delivery methods, and (2) few to no follow-ups on long-term knowledge retention and solution adoption. Addressing both of these gaps, this follow-up study measures farmer knowledge retention and solution adoption two years after being trained on an improved postharvest bean storage method in northern Mozambique. The results found animated-video knowledge delivery at least as effective as a traditional extension approach for knowledge retention (97.9%) and solution adoption (89%). As animated video can more cost-effectively reach the widest – even geographically isolated – populations, it readily complements extension services and international development community efforts to secure knowledge transfer and recipient buy-in for innovations. Implications and future research for adult learning are also discussed.
8. An overview of agricultural extension in Ghana and Burkina Faso and implications for sustainable agriculture in West Africa
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Santuah, Niagia (author), Abazaami, Joseph (author), Kaunza-nu-dem Millar, Katharine (author), and Amikuzuno, Joseph (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2022-07-31
- Published:
- Nigeria: Academic Journals
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 205 Document Number: D12740
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development
- Journal Title Details:
- Vol. 14, N.3
- Notes:
- 7 pages, Agricultural extension is the medium through which external agricultural technologies have been transferred to and transplanted in Africa to improve agricultural performance. Over a period of close to a century, different agricultural extension models have been proposed but their structure and content has virtually been the same: top-down, linear, non-participatory transfer of technology with no feedback loops for reverse diffusion. This presumably explains the poor performance of Africa’s agriculture and the scale of food security challenges facing the continent. In this review paper, we trace the history of agricultural extension and examine various agricultural extension delivery models to identify their major strengths and weaknesses, using Ghana and Burkina Faso as case studies. We then review the most recent literature in the field about the philosophy, scope, content, delivery, and outcomes of agricultural extension. The conclusion that agricultural extension has consistently remained out of sync with the needs and aspirations of stallholder farmers was reached. Smallholder farmers are now calling for new agricultural extension delivery models that are truly farmer-led, indigenous knowledge-based, context-specific, culturally-relevant and environmentally-sustainable to guarantee efficient farming systems into the future.
9. Are consumers willing to pay for sustainability-related poultry practices? The findings are in!
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Format:
- Research summary
- Publication Date:
- 2019
- Published:
- USA: FMI Foundation, Arlington,Virginia
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 136 Document Number: D11434
- Notes:
- 5 pages., Online from FMI Foundation., This report summarizes findings of an online survey distributed to 2,000 U.S. egg/chicken consumers with demographics representing the U.S. population. Findings indicated that "price is a significant driver for the majority of consumers, that consumer response is sensitive to information provided about cage-free production practices, and that willingness-to-pay for cage-free eggs changes in the presence of other label attributes."
10. Assessment of extension services on capacity building of smallholder livestock farmers in Midvaal local municipality, Gauteng province
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Manyakanyaka, B. (author), Modirwa, S. (author), Tshwene, C. (author), and Maoba, S. (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2022-11-02
- Published:
- South Africa: South African Society for Agricultural Extension
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 205 Document Number: D12722
- Journal Title:
- South African Journal of Agricultural Extension
- Journal Title Details:
- Vol 50, N. 2
- Notes:
- 15 pages, The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of extension services on capacity building of smallholder livestock farmers in Midvaal Local Municipality, Gauteng Province, South Africa. A simple random sample technique was used to select the participants, so that individual farmers in the study population could have an equal chance of being selected in the study. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 148 smallholder livestock farmers. The data gathered from participants was coded and captured in Microsoft Excel. Descriptive statistics such as frequency counts, mean, percentages, standard deviation, ranking order, and inferential statistics such as binary logistic regression were used to analyse the data. Results showed that technical farm visits (M = 3.3, SD = ±1.36) and informal training (M = 3.2, SD = ±1.31) were effective extension methods. Furthermore, they showed that extension services were less effective at enabling farmers to penetrate formal markets (M = 2,0 SD = ±1.06) and access finance (M = 1.9, SD = ±1.01). The binary logistic regression model revealed that gender and farming status were the main variables that significantly (P<0.05) influenced smallholder livestock farmers’ access to extension services. It was concluded that extension services in the study area were playing a major role in the capacity building of smallholder livestock farmers.