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162. Mobile technology and food access
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Wantchekon, Leonard (author) and Riaz, Zara (author)
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2019-02-16
- Published:
- USA: Science Direct
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 12 Document Number: D10352
- Journal Title:
- World Development
- Journal Title Details:
- 117 : 344-356
- Notes:
- 13 pages., Via online journal., Access to food is a basic pillar of human development. It is therefore unsurprising that it features so centrally on global development agendas and that a robust, interdisciplinary literature seeks to examine its determinants. This study focuses on the relationship between mobile technology and food access. Specifically, we ask whether mobile technology can strengthen the relationship between food access and certain social and political factors such as remittance flows and political participation. We use Afrobarometer surveys and highly disaggregated data on 2G network coverage to estimate a multilevel model testing how increased connectivity measured by mobile technology influences food access. We show that mobile phone use and higher frequency of use are significantly and positively correlated with food access, but we do not find evidence that remittances and political participation levels can explain the mechanisms linking mobile technology and food access. The study highlights that connectivity can play a powerful role in shaping food outcomes even when controlling for commonly identified impediments such as income constraints or physical isolation. These findings suggest that policies aimed at improving food access should devote attention to strengthening both communication and physical infrastructure.
163. Agroecology, Information and Communications Technology, and Smallholders' Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Wei, Cheng (author)
- Format:
- Journal Article
- Publication Date:
- 2020-05-07
- Published:
- International: Sage Publications
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 188 Document Number: D11922
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Asian and African Studies
- Journal Title Details:
- Vol. 55(8)
- Notes:
- 15 Pages, Online Journal via U of I subscription, As a bottom-up, grassroots paradigm for sustainable rural development, agroecology is particularly promising for smallholders in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. However, by adopting agroecology, smallholders will be challenged to take on new perspectives and compile and integrate different sourced information to innovate. Today’s fast evolving information and communications technology in sub-Saharan Africa represents great opportunities for rural populations to enhance the adoption and success of agroecology and to address their daunting challenges simultaneously while conserving, protecting and enhancing natural resources. Agroecology combined with information and communications technology will probably be smallholders’ “precision agriculture” in many developing countries to enhance their food security and livelihood.
164. Ready, willing, and able? USDA field staff as climate advisors
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Wiener, S. (author), Roesch-McNally, G.E. (author), Schattman, R.E. (author), and Niles, M.T. (author)
- Format:
- Research
- Publication Date:
- 2020-01-01
- Published:
- USA: Soil and Water Conservation Society
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 202 Document Number: D12061
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Soil and Water Conservation
- Journal Title Details:
- Vol 75, Issue 1
- Notes:
- 13 pages, via Online journal, Natural resource advisors operate at a natural resource-climate nexus that presents opportunity for utilization of regionally relevant climate science and tools to support climate smart decision making among land managers. This opportunity, however, may be underutilized. In thousands of county offices across the country, USDA field staff with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Farm Service Agency (FSA) interface with farmers on a daily basis to provide conservation technical assistance, farm loans, and disaster recovery assistance. In this study, we conducted a survey of NRCS field staff (n = 1,893) and a similar survey of FSA field staff (n = 4,621) to determine the following: (1) how concerned USDA field staff are with both general and specific climate and weather threats and their effect on agriculture and forestry, (2) what available climate and weather resources staff are currently using, (3) how these factors relate to USDA field staff's confidence and interest in playing the role of climate advisor, and (4) the differences that exist between NRCS and FSA field staff related to these research questions. We found that many USDA field staff are concerned about climate change in general and about several specific impacts, but fewer are confident in their ability to support land managers in addressing these impacts. Additionally, increased concern about climate threats was related to higher levels of climate and weather resource use and an increased desire to play the role of climate advisor, but was also related to lower levels of self-reported ability to play that role. These findings can be used to inform appropriate application of professional development opportunities and creation of tools and resources to improve professional uses of weather and climate information.
165. Communication
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Winne, Mark (author)
- Format:
- Book chapter
- Publication Date:
- 2018-01-01
- Published:
- Santa Barbara, California: Praeger
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 84 Document Number: D10846
- Journal Title Details:
- (4) : 48-54
- Notes:
- 8 pages., See D10845., Via UI Library Catalog., Chapter 4 of "Stand together or starve alone: unity and chaos in the U.S. food movement".
166. Stand together or starve alone: unity and chaos in the U.S. food movement
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Winne, Mark (author)
- Format:
- Book
- Publication Date:
- 2018
- Published:
- Santa Barbara, California: Praeger
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 84 Document Number: D10845
- Notes:
- 178 pages., OCLC No. 950952213, Via UI Library Catalog., America has a perplexing, multifaceted problem that combines hunger, obesity, and unhealthy food. This book examines how this situation was created and shows how people working together can resolve this longstanding issue. The United States--one of the world's wealthiest and resource-richest nations--has multiple food-related problems: declining food quality due to industrialization of its production, obesity across all age groups, and a surprisingly large number of households suffering from food insecurity. These issues threaten to shorten the lives of many and significantly reduce the quality of life for millions of others. This book explores the root causes of food-related problems in the 20th and 21st centuries and explains why collective impact--the social form of working together for a common goal--is the method that needs to be employed to reach a successful resolution to hunger, obesity, and the challenges of the industrial food system. Authored by Mark Winne, a 45-year food activist, the book begins with background information about the evolution of the U.S. food movement since the 1960s that documents its incredible growth and variety of interests, organizations, and sectors. The subsequent sections demonstrate how these divergent interests have created a lack of unity and constitute a deterrent to achieving real change and improvement. Through examples from specific cities and states as well as a discussion of group dynamics and coalition-building methods, readers will come away with an understanding of a complicated topic and grasp the potential of a number of strategies for creating more cohesion within the food movement--and realizing meaningful improvements in our food system for current and future generations
167. Using ICT to strengthen agricultural extension systems for plant health
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Wright, Holly Jane (author), Ochilo, Willis (author), Pearson, Aislinn (author), Finegold, Cambria (author), Oronje, Mary Lucy (author), Wanjohi, James (author), Kamau, Rose (author), Holmes, Timothy (author), and Rumsey, Abigail (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2016
- Published:
- Taylor & Francis
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 16 Document Number: D10458
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Agricultural & Food Information
- Journal Title Details:
- 17(1): 23-36
- Notes:
- 15 pages., Via online journal., Plant pests cause crop losses of 30–40%, contributing significantly to global food insecurity. The Plantwise program works alongside national agricultural extension services, who advise smallholder farmers on plant health issues and collect data on problems they face. In a 1-year pilot, Plantwise tested the use of information and communication technologies (ICT)—tablets and short message service (SMS)—with 60 Kenyan extension workers. They were able to assist more farmers with better advice, had significantly improved access to plant health information, valued being able to ask their peers for advice, and dramatically improved the quality and speed of the data they collected.
168. Some experiences in the implementation of integrated rural development programmes
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Zaman, M.A. (author) and Human Resources, Institutions and Agrarian Reform Division, Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), Rome, Italy
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 1977-10
- Published:
- Italy: Elsevier
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 160 Document Number: D07769
- Journal Title:
- Agricultural Administration
- Journal Title Details:
- 4 (4): 307-316
169. Communication and intersectoral collaboration for the dissemination of agricultural technology in Fujian Province, the People's Republic of China
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Ziqi, W. (author), Navarro, R.L. (author), Raab, R.T. (author), and University of the Philippines in Los Banos
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2001-09
- Published:
- Philippines
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: C27185
- Journal Title:
- Philippine Agricultural Scientist
- Journal Title Details:
- Vol. 84, Issue 3, pp. 313-324
170. National food security, immigration reform, and the importance of worker engagement in agricultural guestworker debates
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Zoodsma, Anna (author), Dudley, Mary Jo (author), and Minkoff-Zern, Laura-Anne (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2022-08-08
- Published:
- USA: Lyson Center for Civic Agriculture and Food Systems
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 205 Document Number: D12646
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development
- Journal Title Details:
- V. 11, N.4
- Notes:
- 13 pages, This article looks at the United States’ federal H-2A Temporary Agricultural Visa Program and reforms proposed by the Farm Workforce Modernization Act. In this policy analysis, we draw on media content analysis and qualitative interviews to compare the viewpoints of farmers, workers, grower and worker advocacy groups, intermediary agents, and politicians. We find that perspectives on the program are dependent upon actors’ level of direct interaction with workers. Moderate-sized farmers and regionally based worker advocacy groups tend to be the most concerned with day-to-day program operations and fair working conditions. In contrast, national-level advocacy groups, intermediary agents, and politicians are less critical of the program and seek to broadly expand farmer access to guestworkers, justifying proposed program reforms with discourses of national food security and immigration reform. Ultimately, we suggest that engaging a food systems lens to understand these policies provides a more nuanced perspective, addressing national food security and immigration as related issues.