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2. Grassland farmers’ attitudes toward climate change in the North German Plain
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Eggers, Markus (author), Kayser, Manfred (author), and Isselstein, Johannes (author)
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2015
- Published:
- Springer
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 18 Document Number: D10508
- Journal Title:
- Regional Environmental Change
- Journal Title Details:
- 15: 607–617
- Notes:
- 11 pages., via online journal., Climate change impacts will affect grassland farming in various ways in the future. Communication and knowledge transfer are crucial to implement on-farm adaptation measures required to meet these challenges in a timely way. Therefore, we need to know how grassland farmers perceive climate change and which factors influence their attitude. We hypothesized that besides direct factors such as region, farm size, age and education, farmers’ socio-cultural background and their beliefs and attitudes are most important in their reaction to climate change. To investigate this, we conducted a survey with extensive on-farm interviews (n = 82) in four distinctive regions in the North German Plain on a gradient from sub-maritime to areas with sub-continental climate. We found that with a more continental climate and less rainfall and with increasing farm size, grassland farmers were more aware of the implications of climate change. In a second step, to categorize the influence of personal beliefs on decisions concerning farming, we applied the typology approach and distinguished four farming styles. Farmers in the four groups differed in terms of climate change awareness and adaptation preferences (P < 0.05). Yield Optimizers and Modernists were more open-minded to rational and economic facts and showed a significantly greater willingness to implement adaptation measures than Idealists and Traditionalists, who need to be addressed at a more emotional level. The results of this study may contribute to the development of better‐targeted adaptation policies that will serve specific groups of farmers more effectively.
3. The efficacy of knowledge sharing strategies used at Egerton University as perceived by livestock value chain actors
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Ong'ondo, M. A (author), Nyaanga, J. G (author), and Bebe, B. O. (author)
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2015
- Published:
- Pakistan: eSci Journals Publishing
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 124 Document Number: D11224
- Journal Title:
- International Journal of Agricultural Extension
- Journal Title Details:
- 3(2): 155-160
- Notes:
- 6 pages., ISSN: 2311-6110, via online journal., Agricultural universities invest substantial resources in postgraduate research that generate knowledge products. These are aimed at providing solutions to practical constraints impeding increased productivity in the agricultural sector, which plays a vital role in Kenya's economic development. Using a case study of Egerton University, this study aimed to determine the strategies most frequently used to share the generated knowledge products, and to find out their preferences of the knowledge sharing strategies in use. The actors' perception of the relevance and accessibility of the knowledge products generated at the University was also examined. The study was conducted through desktop study which reviewed the Masters and Doctorate Theses that targeted livestock value chain actors generated between January 2005 and December 2011. A survey was conducted using structured questionnaires to collect data from a sample size of 198 actors. The findings indicated that the knowledge products were 25 to 29 times more likely (P<0.001) to be disseminated through the library than any other sharing strategy examined. The sampled actors in livestock value chain perceived media briefs to be the most accessible with a mean of 4.26. The Masters Theses were perceived as more relevant to their needs with a mean of 4.07. The findings indicate that the livestock value chain actors were not fully utilizing the knowledge sharing strategies used to reach them. The study concluded that the defined primary beneficiaries of knowledge products from the university were not effectively reached.