Block, Daniel R. (author), Thompson, Michael (author), Euken, Jill (author), Liquori, Toni (author), Fear, Frank (author), and Baldwin, Sherill (author)
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
unknown
Published:
USA: Springer
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 172 Document Number: C28913
Content analysis of two midwestern U.S. farm magazines from the 1940s to 1990s traces the social construction of pesticide advertisements over time. Findings reveal response to changes in the socio-cultural setting.
Brief reviews of 30 films and videotapes selected for their potential to stimulate debate or illustrate a point of view or topic supported by fresh research. "Some are classic works which deserve to be kept alive."
Examines current and potential connections between the environmental sustainability of contemporary farming practices and the socioeconomic viability of rural communities.
Describes changes since 1973 when Jim Hightower in the book Hard Tomatoes, Hard Times focused on research agendas of the public agricultural research system.
"A closer look at the social construction of 'consumers' reveals that the agro-food industry has waged a double disinformation campaign to manipulate and to re-educate consumers while appearing to respond to consumer demand." Authors point to consumers' loss of skills for making discerning decisions about the multiple dimensions of quality, including healthful diet, planetary sustainability and community economic development. Also, "this process has a significant gender dimension."
Hays, Robert G. (author), Reisner, Ann E. (author), and Reisner: Assistant Professor in Agricultural Communications, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Hays: Associate Professor of Agricultural Communications and Journalism, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
1989
Published:
USA
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 79 Document Number: C04494
The U.S. agricultural research establishment has been severely criticized by biological and physical scientists, humanists, and various activist groups. The scientists have criticized concentration on short-run problems to the neglect of basic hard science research. The humanists have criticized agricultural researchers for failing to give adequate attention to such basic values as equity, the value of family farms, environmental values, etc. Closely related to the humanists' criticisms are those of activists who have railed against (1) an alleged alliance between big agribusinesses, the agricultural research establishment, and large farmers, (2) multinational corporations, (3) alleged premature development of labor-saving technology in order to dispossess small farmers and eliminate jobs for farm laborers, and (4) the creation of technology unduly emphasizing fertilizers, pesticides, and fuels derived from exhaustible fossil energy. These activists' criticisms have been offset, in part, by activists who support the status quo. This paper demonstrates that logical positivism mitigates against the objective research of intrinsic (as opposed to exchange) values needed to satisfy such criticisms. Attention is given to the advantages of placing greater reliance on pragmatism and various forms of normativism. These philosophies have distinct advantages as guides for structuring and understanding the problem-solving and issue-oriented research that the land-grant colleges of agriculture are uniquely qualified to conduct. Such practical problems and issues will be numerous as we expand land use 50 to 100 million acres, double yields, and intensify land use in the next 50 years.
High yielding agriculture in less-industrialized countries, the green revolution, has been both honored and criticized over the past twenty years. Supporters point to the increased food supplies produced with the new practices, but detractors argue that the new technologies are environmentally destructive, unsustainable, and socially inequitable. This paper explores the origins of high yielding agriculture in order better to understand how the arguments over sustainability and equity originated. The Rockefeller Foundation was an important agency in promoting the development of the new agricultural science. Its programs in Mexico and India, initiated in 1941 and 1956, were key building blocks in creating high yielding agricultural practices. The Foundation scientists saw rapid population growth as the main source of hunger and communist subversion. In order to alleviate hunger and instability, they created a strategy of agricultural development based on increased yields but paid no attention to the problem of distribution of harvested food. Sustainability was not recognized as a problem at the time Foundation scientists began their work. Indeed the technical successes of their programs promoted the development of concerns about sustainability. Equity of distribution was brought to the attention of the Foundation before it began its work, but the scientists paid no attention to the issue.
The paper explores the relationship between environmental knowledge and farming and fallowing strategies on degraded forest land in the Upper Manya Krobo district of southeastern Ghana. Changes in cropping strategies are related to the expansion and transformation of frontier agrarian settlement, increasing population density, social differentiation, and land hunger. As a consequence land degradation has become a serious problem among the smaller farmers with insufficient land to allow fallow recuperation. Small farmers' awareness and perceptions of the processes of degradation are explored, as are possible innovative contributions to the development of agroforestry research. But labor constraints often prevent the farmer from developing practical systems of fallow management. Local environmental knowledge reveals important insights into the processes of fallow degradation, potentials for fallow management, constraints that farmers face, and some problems that might emerge economic context. The problems that local farmers' knowledge reveal are in this respect as important as questions of its efficacy and potential as a resource.
Cashman, Kristin (author / Research Associate, Center for Indigenous Knowledge for Agriculture and Rural Development (CIKARD), Iowa State University, Ames, IA)
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
1991
Published:
USA: Gainesville, FL : University of Florida, Agriculture, Food, and Human Value Society
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 87 Document Number: C05936
Elfring, Chris (author), Horwith, Bruce (author), MacDonald, Edward F. (author), Parker, J. Kathy (author), Ruby, Allen M. (author), and Windle, Phyllis N. (author)
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
1989
Published:
USA: Gainesville, FL : Agriculture, Food, and Human Values Society
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 88 Document Number: C05964
Busch, Lawrence (author), Lacy, Laura R. (author), Lacy, William B. (author), and Lacy, William B.: Professor of Sociology and Director of the Kellogg Funded Food, Environment, Agriculture and Society in Transition Program, University of Kentucky; Lacy, Laura R.: Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Centre College, Danville, KY; Busch: Professor of Sociology, University of Kentucky
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
1988
Published:
USA: Gainesville, FL : Agriculture, Food, and Human Values Society
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 88 Document Number: C05970
James F. Evans Collection, The shared hopes of farm ownership in America motivated many Black farmers and educators during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Although an independent Black yeomanry was not to be, and a host of factors have combined to remove Black Americans from farming, the quest has not been a vain one. Black land-grant institutions continue to redefine their mission in a changing world and in the process maintain their relevancy. (original).
James F. Evans Collection, This article concentrates on 1890 land-grant colleges' and universities' contributions to rural development in 16 southern and border states. The author contends that lifting rural dwellers out of ignorance and poverty has been a major objective of 1890 institutions. During the early years the 1890s sent out change-agents to encourage rural dwellers to improve their standard of living through education and self-help programs. These agents went into rural communities and taught farm families to raise better crops and livestock; improve their homes, schools, and community life; and despite inadequate funding of teaching, research, and extension at these schools, the 1890 schools made significant contributions to rural development. Moreover, the writer contends that the 1890 schools are not outmoded, but essential to rural development and to the education of American citizens during the rest of the 1990s and into the 21st century. (original)
Hays, Public perception of agriculture and environmental issues are influenced by mass media reporting. Journalists are concerned about ethics, but typically do not consider the ethical dimensions of their emphases on objectivity and event reporting. These leave the mass media particularly vulnerable to manipulation through staged pseudo events, especially in topic areas such as agriculture and the environment, where reporters are likely to have limited expertise. Objectivity then may be used as a defensive cover. Journalists need to be more wary in reporting staged events designed just for media attention and to recognize the limitations of objectivity in their efforts to present balanced coverage of issues related to agriculture and the environment. (original)
Abbott, Eric A. (author), Yarbrough, J. Paul (author), and Abbott: Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, Iowa State University; Yarbrough: Department of Communication, Cornell University
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
1992
Published:
USA
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 90 Document Number: C06428
James F. Evans Collection, New communication technologies such as the microcomputer, videotex/teletext systems, the videocassette recorder, and satellite receiving dishes have been available to farmers since the early 1980s. This longitudinal study examines ethical issues associated with the impact that differential patterns of adoption and use of these technologies have had on inequalities among farmers from 1982 to 1989. The results demonstrate a strong adoption and use bias toward larger scale farmers who already have well-developed skills for handling information. This bias is especially strong for microcomputer and videotex/teletex systems and it is increasing over time. Although the same farmers are not adopting all communication innovations, there is a strong tendency toward the already information-rich making the most use of the innovations they adopt. The article concludes with several recommendations that would help minimize some of these information inequalities. (original)
In this paper, the author points out that although by-passed by international development assistance in many parts of the world, women have been providing skill and labor for agricultural production, as well as subsistence of food, water and firewood for their families. Some of the assumptions which have contributed to the marginal attention to women as agriculturalists in international development assistance programs are reviewed. Factors contributing to these assumptions, examples of achievements in development projects and persistent problems are discussed. Some issues which continue to challenge national policy makers in developing countries as well as donors are identified. The author notes that while various donors and organizations address bits and pieces of the issues intermittently, a systematic, organized and universally shared approach to the issues, within a nation state or on a global basis is lacking. She concludes that just as agricultural production inputs and information need to be modified to fit the unique constraints of any ecological niche, similarly, modifications must be made in development assistance programs to fit the specific needs of women in their agricultural roles and cultural settings. (original)
Juanillo, Napoleon K., Jr. (author), Scherer, Clifford W. (author), and Scherer: Associate Professor of Communication, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY; Juanillo: doctoral candidate, Agricultural, Extension, and Adult Education, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
1992
Published:
USA
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 92 Document Number: C06804
INTERPAKS, Describes the cultural based nature of home economics that is a consequence of its particular development in the US. A male agricultural extension service, when transferred overseas, has cultural and value underpinnings that have made the content of training and technical expertise inappropriate or ineffective under conditions in developing countries. To an even greater extent home economics extension, which was aimed primarily at women, has had problems in developing countries in responding to the actual activities of women in rural settings. Home economics, both domestically and overseas, has traditionally ignored farm women's production work because it has had an implicit commitment to certain cultural norms about the proper role or women. These norms may have served some function during a time in the US when the sex ratio was heavily male-biased. In developing countries, however, where sex ratios in rural areas are often skewed toward females, male temporary migration is the rule rather than the exception, and women have traditionally been the producers of food. To be effective in providing a women-oriented extension service, must take into account both the productive and reproductive roles of women and serve to help women better integrate them in their activities.
search through journal, In this paper, dimensions of the debate surrounding the application of gene technology to food production are discussed and a study assessing perceptions of the technology among a sample of the UK public (n=1499) is reported. The general picture that emerges from the study is one of people expressing low familiarity with the technology, with more people associating it with high risks than with low risks, and more people expecting it to provide low benefits than high benefits. Attitudes towards different applications vary significantly, as does trust in different potential sources of information about the technology. It is also shown that attitudes can be predicted not only by estimates of risks and benefits but also by perceptions of the involvement of ethical issues, but the perceived need for the technology, and by the perceived likelihood of improvements it is likely to bring to the quality of life in the UK. The results are discussed in the context of the need for greater public information about the technology and the realization that communication of risks takes place within a complex network of societal relationships. (original)
Farrington, J. (author / Overseas Development Institute (ODI), London), Gilbert, E.H. (author / Overseas Development Institute (ODI), London), Alsop, R.G. (author / International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, DC.), and Khandelwal, R. (author / Overseas Development Institute (ODI), London)
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
1996
Published:
USA
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 104 Document Number: C09013
