6 pages, Extension professionals are skilled at connecting with community partners and community members to identify needs and address challenges. This paper outlines how Extension professionals quickly responded to address rising rates of food insecurity in a rural Tennessee County during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through an extensive network of state, regional, and local partners, Extension professionals and partners planned and implemented mobile food distributions through the United States Department of Agriculture’s Farmers to Families program. These Extension-led efforts resulted in sustainable, community-driven initiatives to improve food insecurity. Lessons learned can help Extension professionals respond to emerging needs.
12 pages, The food justice movement addresses systemic food inequities impacting BIPOC communities, rooted in civil rights and environmental justice movements. It advocates for fair access to culturally relevant food, combating food deserts, and promoting food sovereignty. Recognizing intersectionality, it emphasizes collaboration to dismantle systemic barriers. This study aims to understand BIPOC communities' challenges and effective strategies, stressing the importance of collaborative efforts for lasting systemic change. Extension professionals face challenges but can contribute through equity-focused strategies, community engagement, and partnerships, advancing food justice and fostering inclusive food systems.
5 pages, While strategies may differ across geographical regions, FACS Extension professionals work to enhance nutrition education and increase food security in their communities. The four dimensions of food security developed by The Food and Agricultural Organization were reconceptualized to understand food security on an individual or at a community level. Using experiences from a summer internship with two urban counties, the EEUESA Model described here was designed to aid FACS Extension professionals in their efforts for nutrition education and to better understand how programming targets food security in their communities
25 pages, To foster the responsible development and governance of CRISPR, it is important to understand how agricultural communities perceive and discuss this technology. This study conducted a content analysis of 529 articles from 53 diverse agricultural news publications across sectors and U.S. regions between 2012 and 2022. We analyzed how CRISPR technology is depicted in terms of risk, benefit, social/policy context, quoted experts, and the mentioning of other biotechnologies. Our findings show that from the time that CRISPR was developed for agriculture over a decade ago, agricultural news has consistently reflected a pro-innovation stance, frequently describing its benefits as well as advantages over longer-standing biotechnologies. Industry representatives were quoted most frequently, followed by university scientists and political representatives, while producers and non-governmental groups were quoted least frequently. Technology-related risks (off-target effects, financial risks) were notably lacking, but CRISPR’s social context was covered more extensively, including uncertainties in regulation and consumer acceptance. We discussed the implications for agricultural news professionals, communicators, and future researchers, emphasizing the importance of fostering a more balanced discourse and ensuring informed decision-making within the agricultural sector.
27 pages, Precision farming is becoming crucial in the ongoing agricultural revolution due to its enhanced economic and ecological sustainability in food production compared to conventional farming. However, only a limited number of studies have focused on consumer acceptance of food produced through precision farming. To address this gap, an online experiment (n = 276) was conducted to investigate how production method information influences consumer beliefs of food quality (i.e., health, sustainability, and safety values), ultimately affecting consumer attitudes and purchase intentions toward precision-grown food. The findings suggest consumers exhibit higher quality beliefs, leading to more favorable attitudes and purchase intentions, toward precision-grown food compared to conventional food. This trend was observed when participants were presented with detailed information about the production methods employed in each farming system. In addition, according to the Elaboration Likelihood Model, our study reveals consumer innovativeness has the potential to amplify positive responses in terms of quality beliefs, attitudes, and purchase intentions toward precision-grown food compared to conventional food. Furthermore, our findings suggest that when detailed production methods are presented, precision-grown food may receive favorable quality beliefs, attitudes, and purchase intentions comparable to those for organic food, regardless of consumer innovativeness.
6 pages, Using an intercept method at two local farmers’ markets (n= 192), this study found the notion that local foods taste better and are more nutritious (i.e., lionization) and the notion that buying locally supports and contributes to the local economy and community (i.e., communization), positively influences consumers’ attitude towards shopping at their local farmers’ market. This positive attitude subsequently influences consumer purchase behavior. Extension professionals can utilize these data-driven results to aid in effective farmers’ market promotion by communicating micro-benefits (e.g., nutrition, taste) and macro-benefits (e.g., economic impact) to potential and current farmers’ market consumers.
26 pages, In the United States, there is a growing disconnect between consumers and their food source, leading to a lack of knowledge and trust in the agricultural food system. Urbanization has moved people away from farms, ranches, and food production; and the information consumers seek about their food is filtered through mass and social media. Portrayals of information about food production, specifically beef, from outside the agriculture industry often present polarizing and conflicting information about beef production and its implications for the health and well-being of humans, livestock, and the environment. This adds to consumer confusion and influences purchasing behaviors. Using a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest 2x2 factorial design, we sought to explore consumer (n = 60) perceptions, consumption, and purchasing behaviors of grass-fed beef and determine the effects of four information treatments on overall perception. Descriptive results showed consumers do not have a shared definition pertaining to grass- and grain-fed beef, citing the internet as their most referenced source for information about food and grass-fed beef. Results from a t-test indicated that exposing consumers to an information treatment had a significant effect on environmental impacts, cost, quality/nutrition, and overall perception of grass-fed beef. A between-subjects factorial ANOVA revealed there was no significant difference in perception based on treatment type. Efforts to raise awareness about beef production, on-farm practices, and links between food and grower could be warranted to help enhance the trust and credibility of the industry and bridge the gap between producers and consumers.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 205 Document Number: D12755
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9 pages, Huerta Urbana’s community members learn about urban farming, while supplying their neighbors with fresh produce and gaining careers in the agriculture industry.
3pgs, The award recognizes organizations working towards stronger local food systems and more power in the hands of smaller agricultural producers around the globe.
8 pages, Street foods play an important role in the lives of urban population members in developing countries. The food industry provides many job opportunities. The food safety knowledge, attitude, and practices of vendors are important aspects, as these individuals provide food and nourishment at very low prices to people all over the world. Most street foods are unhealthy because of the high risk of contamination, which poses a serious threat to food safety. The present study aimed to assess the food safety knowledge, attitudes and practices of vendors and the most significant influencing factors of these aspects with the help of cluster analysis to categorize vendors. The present study focused on 100 vendors who were randomly selected from different locations in Lucknow city. The information was collected through a structured questionnaire using the KAP (Knowledge Attitude Practice) scale for food safety. Vendors were clustered on the basis of the KAP using two-step cluster analysis and a chi -square test to assess the impact of various personal factors on the KAP. The results of the study indicated that street vendors are significantly differentiated on the basis of qualifications, knowledge, attitude and practices. Awareness and training programs should be implemented to improve the food safety knowledge, attitudes and practices among vendors. Once food safety standards are acceptable, it will then be critical to ensure that poor people in developed cities such as Lucknow can earn a living through a "convenient" enterprise such as street food vending.
25 pages, We examine consumer willingness to pay (WTP) for foods packaged using active packaging which can be used to improve quality, shelf life, or safety of a range of products, potentially reducing the use of food additives (preservatives) and food waste. We administer an experimental survey of US food consumers (n = 2325) with five treatments. The surveys include contingent valuation exercises to assess consumer WTP for six products in active packaging relative to conventional packaging. We find that consumer acceptance of this technology is dependent on the product packaged and related directly to the specific relative benefit. In addition, consumer WTP is impacted by the framing of the technology in relation to other available technologies, information about the developer of the technology, and the degree of specificity of information regarding benefits. Notably, impacts of framing and use cases are primarily apparent among those who are resistant to the technology. A cluster analysis finds that those more likely to resist the technology include households that are lower income, less educated, and more likely to be white [EconLit citations: Q18, M31, D12, D83].
