Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 138 Document Number: D05748
Notes:
Drovers CattleNetwork, Lenexa, Kansas. 4 pages., Interview with Nathan Runkle, Mercy for Animals, about livestock abuses reported recently by the organization, based on undercover investigations.
16 pages., Article #: 1999, via online journal., The main purpose of this study was to determine the structure of consumer preferences
regarding information on farming system and nutritional enhancement of eggs to verify if consumers
are willing to accept products combing sustainability and nutrition related claims. The data was
collected within a CAPI (Computer Assisted Personal Interviews) survey on a representative
sample of 935 consumers responsible for food shopping. A discrete choice-based conjoint method
was selected in eliciting consumer preferences among different product profiles with varying
levels of attributes. A hierarchical cluster analysis was used to identify four distinct clusters
that differed significantly in terms of importance attached to production system attributes and
socio-demographic profiles. The results of the experiment showed that price and farming system
had the most significant mean relative importance in shaping consumers’ preferences, while other
attributes such as nutrition and health claims, egg size, package size and hen breed were far
less important. Free range eggs had the highest relative importance for consumers despite the
fact that organic egg production systems are governed by much stricter animal welfare standards.
Our segmentation revealed that two of our four clusters may be more easily reached by information
on animal welfare related attributes in egg production than the others. The results of our study
provide the policy makers and marketing practitioners with insights applicable for communication
and pricing strategies for eggs with sustainability claims.
Available online at www.centmapress.org, Four factors and three farmer groups were identified which significantly differed regarding their attitudes towards animal welfare programs and willingness to participate in them. Authors cited evidence of need to design tailor-made strategies for communicating with farmers about this subject.
28 pages, Large broiler chicken companies have been under pressure by consumers to reduce their carbon footprint, improve animal welfare and labor practices, and enhance environmental quality across the industry. This study examines how large broiler chicken companies have addressed sustainability within video content directed toward consumers and posted on YouTube. To conceptualize this study, we used the 1990 Farm Bill definition of agricultural sustainability. It is important to examine articulations of agricultural sustainability as company messages often incorporate sustainability philosophies and ideologies while referencing specific production practices and goals. This study used qualitative content analysis to analyze 440 videos, and framing analysis to closely examine a subset of 55 videos, from three of the largest broiler chicken companies in the United States. The framing analysis revealed that stewardship, natural state, and catalyst for change were the three most frequently used sustainability frames across the companies. These frames focus on elements of caretaking, responsibility, and public accountability, and apply these ideals to people, chickens, and profit within the organization. Few discussions of environmental stewardship were found within our analysis. While frames were not necessarily connected to production practices, each company did tend to leverage frames in ways that align with brand positioning. Companies should consider implementing discussions of how production practices affect the environment more directly, since protecting the environment and replenishing natural resources are concepts consumers associate with sustainability.
15 pages, The post-war Western world has seen a gradual shift from government to governance, a process that also concerned the issues related to agro-food sustainability, such as food quality, environmental impact, social justice, and farm animal welfare. Scholars believe that social media are a new site that reconfigures relations between various actors involved in the governance of these problems. However, empirical research on this matter remains scarce. This paper fills this gap by examining the case of Februdairy, a Twitter hashtag campaign to promote the British dairy industry, hijacked by animal protection activists. For this case, I employ the relational perspective on technology affordances—as operationalised by Faraj and Azad (in: Leonard et al. (eds), Materiality and organizing. Social interaction in a technological world, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2012)—to highlight two distinct strategic modes of embracement of social media functionalities by the opposing groups: hashtag hijacking and crowdsourcing transparency. The analysis reveals also that a pre-existing social structure of the agro-food system conditions reconfiguration of social relations by technology in a way that actually strengthens the tendency to govern the issue of farm animal protection with market mechanisms.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 197 Document Number: D09620
Notes:
Delmar Hatesohl Collection, Publisher of this article is not identified., Author examines rural-urban understanding in the context of public concerns about animal rights, across the years. Offers six suggestions for those producing food, including advice to take a look at your production system and avoid responding with emotional arguments.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: D02446
Notes:
Page 84 - Abstract of a paper presented at the International Conference of the Australasia Pacific Extension Network (APEN), Lincoln University, Christchurch, New Zealand, August 26-28, 2013. 100 pages.
9 pages., Online via UI electronic subscription., A choice experiment was used to evaluate the U.S. public's willingness to pay for egg attributes including housing system, color, size, and certifying agency. A significant difference in willingness to pay for hen housing systems was found using video information treatments describing hen housing systems. Participants were indifferent between hen housing systems when they viewed video treatments describing hen housing systems. However, they clearly preferred the cage-free system when they viewed no video treatments. "Results point towards potential public misunderstanding of the costs and benefits associated with the "cage-free" egg label designation."
