8pgs, Following is Agri Marketing's annual listing of the largest marketing communications agencies whose clients sell products and services within the agricultural industry and/or to the rural lifestyle consumer.
13 pages, An increasing number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the German organic agri-food sector involves citizens through different community financing models. While such models provide alternative funding sources as well as marketing opportunities to SMEs, they allow private investors to combine their financial and ethical concerns by directly supporting the development of a more sustainable food system. Due to the low level of financial intermediation, community financing is characterized by close relations between investors and investees. Against this background, we apply the proximity concept from economic geography to explore spatial and relational aspects of community financing in the German organic agri-food sector. Based on a qualitative multiple case study approach, we find that the relevance of proximity is twofold. While different forms of proximity between SMEs and their potential investors are key success factors, proximity is also considered as one desired outcome of community financing. Furthermore, our results reveal that the extent to which SMEs rely on particular proximity dimensions distinguishes two different approaches to community financing.
10 pages., he impact of mobile money services in sub-Saharan Africa have been largely recognised. However, empirical studies are principally lacking on the factors influencing the decision to own a mobile phone (first hurdle), register with mobile money (second hurdle) and the intensity of use of mobile money services (third hurdle). This study examined the determinants of the mobile phone ownership, drivers of registration (participation) of mobile money services, and the intensity of use of mobile money services in rural Ghana by employing the triple hurdle approach. The first and second hurdle were analysed using the logit model while quasi-poisson regression was used to analyse the third hurdle. The analysis from the cross-sectional data showed that the decision to own a mobile phone was driven by household size, marital status, the farm size, access to electricity, income status and the type of occupation engaged, whereas the decision to register with mobile money was influenced by the age, educational status, marital status, household size, farm size and the type of occupation engaged in by the household head. The intensity of usage of mobile money services was influenced by the age of the household head, higher educational level, marital status of the household head, household and farm size as well as the distance of the household heads from the mobile money agent which directly influences the intensity of use of mobile money services by household heads. The study recommends that strategies that promote access to electricity and occupation in the formal sector or both farming and trading in the rural communities should be promoted. Furthermore, policy attention should focus on location, farmers and farm characteristics.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 203 Document Number: D12187
Notes:
Online via AgriMarketing Update. 2 pages., News release announces the close of "a growth funding round of $335 million, including $135 million converted from a prior round, bringing the total funds raised by LIVEKINDLY Collective in its first year to $535 million. With this latest investment, lIVEKINDLY Collective has become one of the top three highest-funded and fastest-growing plant-based food companies globally."
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 202 Document Number: D12108
Notes:
Online from Radio Free. 3 pages., Author reports on helping the U.S. Senate draft and pass the Physician Payments Sunshine Act a decade ago. It requires companies to report monies and gifts they give physicians, which are known to influence what doctors prescribe or promote. "We need a 'sunshine law' for science that would expose all sorts of conflicts of interest and industry manipulation that skew research on food, synthetical chemicals, pesticides, air pollution, genetic technology, and the climate."
Online from publisher. 4 pages., "There are several ways to ensure profitability when considering whether to add distribution or delivery services to your company. Those same methods also can help you evaluate whether the services you already offer are making you money."
Wallander, Steven (author), Smith, David (author), Bowman, Maria (author), and Claassen, Roger (author)
Format:
Research report
Publication Date:
2021-02
Published:
USA: Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 202 Document Number: D12143
Notes:
Economic Information Bulletin Number 222. 33 pages., This report detailed how cover crops are managed on corn, cotton, soybean, and wheat fields in the United States. "These surveys reveal that there are many different approaches to using cover crops."
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 202 Document Number: D12151
Notes:
Online via AgriMarketing Weekly. 1 page., Data, analytics and technology company DTN acquires a global farm-level data source, Farm Market ID. Both share goals of helping agribusinesses support producers.
International: Autogrow Systems Limited and Agritecture LLC
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 202 Document Number: D12004
Notes:
Online in issue of The Packer. 27 pages., This is the second Census to be conducted and ran from July 8 to September 4, 2020. It was promoted through Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, industry partners and various online media and industry channels. The 371 respondents were from 58 countries with the largest percentage from the United States, India and the United Kingdom. Respondents were growers and small to large businesses. Twenty percent founded their business in 2020.
Online from periodical. 2 pages., Report of a presentation at the West Coast Produce Expo about Amazon's new Fresh banner, with establishment of small and medium-sized grocery stores.
4pgs, Online from publication., Describes the U.S. Census Bureau's decision to pull the agency's enumerators out of the field due to COVID-19 with about one-half of the state's remote villages uncounted. A legislator representing that area described this as "a politically motivated effort to undermine our political clout and to strip us of resources." The Native Voice Network, a nationwide coalition of 40 Native-led organizations was among those pushing Congress to complete the census for an accurate count.
USA: Illinois Extension, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 202 Document Number: D12018
Notes:
Online from Illinois Extension website. 3 pages., Summary of findings from an analysis of the impact of Illinois Extension, the public outreach and engagement arm of the University of Illinois. The report valued the annual economic and functional benefits of Illinois Extension at over $603 million, about 10 times the $60.9 million annual budget of the university unit.
UI Library subscription., Update on progress and activities of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB) Foundation, including student internships and scholarships, as well as fund-raising efforts.
37 pages., Online via publisher as a link in the newsletter., Responses to an online compensation survey during 2020 among members of the professional organization.
USA: Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 166 Document Number: D11684
Notes:
2 pages., Online from publisher website., Noting that the nonprofit sector is the third-largest employer in the United States, the author encouraged reporters to provide context about these organizations in reporting the financial impact of COVID-19 on them. Food services and health care are among the sectors emphasized.
Online via AgEconSearch., In this teaching case study the authors analyze the economics of installing automatic milking systems under three investment scenarios. The study also "provides an opportunity to apply capital budgeting to a modern agriculture investment and addresses broader questions related to technology investment and adoption on farm."
