14 pages., via online journal, As online selling of products like living plants increases, it is increasingly important to understand how millennial-aged consumers perceive the purchasing experience. New-media technologies like social media, e-newsletters, and other forms of digital communication are easily adopted by millennial-aged consumers. One of these tools, 360-degree video, offers novel ways to preview products offered online and look inside local brick-and-mortar stores, which can be visited in person. Sales of horticultural goods online have been slow to be developed by industry veterans, creating ample opportunities available to new ventures. This qualitative study used a series of three focus groups to answer the research questions of RQ1: What challenges exist for garden centers attracting millennials? RQ2: What are millennials preferences for purchasing live plants online? RQ3: What aspects of digital online marketing influence millennials to make decisions? RQ4: What are millennials preferences for 360-degree video? Results of this study indicate 360-degree video is not the preferred avenue for marketing plants online to millennials, however, high-quality photos and video with educational content and the use of social media could be effective.
12 pages., via online journal., Respecting ethical beliefs of consumers is an important precondition for food manufacturers in their attempt to improve their positioning in the European food market. Based on a cross-cultural survey of 2511 European participants, this research demonstrates how ethical beliefs affect consumer perceptions of “blue” (i.e. environmentally friendly) aquaculture products. The study further emphasises that the positive effect of ethical beliefs on purchase intention operates via an indirect route mediated by consumers’ trust in a product category. Consumer involvement has limited moderation effect on the above relationships. To expand its “blue” business, a key policy recommendation to aquaculture product manufacturers and policy makers is to urge stable and reliable standards of control in environmentally responsible aquaculture production so that consumers can rely on the information source and increase their trust in aquaculture products.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 158 Document Number: C25854
Notes:
Presented at the 2007 ACE/NETC conference sponsored by the International Association for Communication Excellence in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Life and Human Sciences (ACE) and the National Extension Technology Conference (NETC) in Albuquerque, New Mexico on June 16-19, 2007. 2 pages., Consists of session moderator's introduction and questions the panel members addressed during the session.
8pgs, The retail portion of the green industry, valued at $50.55 billion, continues to provide a major connection between the industry and consumers. Given the importance of retailers in the green industry and little research exists that documents their advertising practices and impacts, the 2013 Trade Flows and Marketing Practices survey included questions to capture data for retail-only firms. This paper reports on the percentage of sales retailers allocate to promotion and advertising, including a breakdown of media used; point-of-sale (POS) materials and how they are acquired; how green industry retailers are using social media and mobile marketing [in particular, quick response (QR) codes]; the methods retailers use to collect customer demographics; customer loyalty programs (CLP); and how they are managed by retailers and a comparison of retail firms’ advertising practices by size of firm. A combination of mailed and Internet-distributed surveys resulted in a total of 699 useable retail business responses with greater than or equal to $1000 in annual revenue. The median expenditure as a percentage of sales on advertising was 3.6% for all retail firms responding with 33.7% spending no dollars on advertising. In examining the distribution based on media type, the Internet was the most frequently listed by firms (32.3%) with a mean expenditure of 42.5% of total advertising dollars. Social media was listed second most frequently (21.5%) with a mean expenditure of 29.6%. Newspapers were listed as the third most frequently used type of media (18.0%). Social media use is strong and among social media platforms, Facebook (60%) far exceeds any other platform. A third of the respondents (34.2%) reported the use of POS materials. A very small percentage of firms (3.0%) reported using QR codes and 19.4% reported having a CLP. Of those, 45.8% used customer purchase cards, whereas 35.4% used POS software. Nearly 33% of the firms collected demographic information about their customers. Of those, the method with the highest percentage use (multiple responses were permitted) was social media (50.7%) followed by CLP (48.9%), web visits (34.5%), questionnaires (15.7%), social coupons (13.5%), census data (3.9%), and marketing firms (3.1%). There were firm-size differences in seasonal employees and mean sales per employee with large firms having greater numbers than hobby, small- or medium-sized firms. There were no differences in the percentage of advertising media allocations based on firm size, but large firms used web visits, social coupons, and social media more than other types of firms to collect customer demographics. While, green industry retailers are currently using social media for marketing green industry goods, they have much more opportunity to use electronic media for CLPs and to begin using QR codes or other mobile-centric technologies to deliver in-store promotional information to consumers.
4 pages., via online journal., Given the urgent need to raise public awareness on biodiversity issues, we review the effectiveness of “ecosystem services” as a frame for promoting biodiversity conservation. Since its inception as a communications tool in the 1970s, the concept of ecosystem services has become pervasive in biodiversity policy. While the goal of securing ecosystem services is absolutely legitimate, we argue that it has had limited success as a vehicle for securing public interest and support for nature, which is crucial to securing long-term social mandates for protection. Emerging evidence suggests that focusing on ecosystem services rather than the intrinsic value of nature is unlikely to be effective in bolstering public support for nature conservation. Theory to guide effective communication about nature is urgently needed. In the mean-time, communicators should reflect on their objectives and intended audience and revisit the way nature is framed to ensure maximum resonance.
7 pages., Via online journal., A simmering crisis in the Nigerian agriculture today involves labour and the crisis manifests itself in the degree of labour availability, labour demand and labour productivity. One of the major products of this crisis is the increased participation of children in paid, non-familiar agricultural jobs. They are frequently employed as farm labourers, bird scarers, food crop harvesters, processors and hawkers. More than 132 million children work in agriculture. Agriculture ranks as one of the three most dangerous work activities, followed by mining and construction. Child labour is increasing in postharvest processing, transport, marketing and a range of agroindustries. Child labour is maybe one of the most striking indicators identifying vulnerable children and as such pointing to shortcomings in several of the millennium goals as poverty eradication, education for all, gender equality, combating HIV/AIDS and creation of a global partnership for development. Most working children do so after a decision in their parental household. To understand the household labour supply decisions, relation to the labour market and to public interventions is critical in designing programmes in order to achieve the MDGs. The research on child labour represents in this respect a largely untapped resource of knowledge for policymakers in the fields of agriculture, education programmes and poverty reduction programmes. The effect of lack of education opportunities on child labour is well documented, but existence of widespread agricultural child labour also reduces the effectiveness of investment in education. It is recommended in this paper that the legislator should enact laws that will reduce agricultural child labour through redistribution of the nation’s resources, women should be integrated in the fight to combat child labour and that alternative income sources should be provided for rural families whose children are the most vulnerable.
Bhatta, G.D. (author), Doppler, W. (author), Finco, V.A. (author), and Finco,V. (author)
Format:
Paper
Publication Date:
2010-09-14
Published:
Nepal
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 178 Document Number: C30733
Notes:
Presented at Tropentag 2010, Conference on International Research on Food Security, Natural Resource Management and Rural Development, Zurich, Switzerland, September 14-16, 2010. 1 page.
Bhavnani, Asheeta (author), Chiu, Rowena Won-Wai (author), Janakiram, Subramaniam (author), Silarszky, Peter (author), and ICT Policy Division, Global Information and Communications Department, World Bank.
Format:
Report
Publication Date:
2008-06-15
Published:
International
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 185 Document Number: D00452
Biliter, Ben F. (author) and Agricultural Publishers Association, Chicago, Illinois.
Format:
Speech
Publication Date:
1920-06-08
Published:
USA
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: C28517
Notes:
Agricultural Publishers Association Archives, Pages 14-15 in proceedings of the second day of the Agricultural Publishers Association meeting at the Associated Advertising Clubs of the World Convention, Indianapolis, Indiana, June 8, 1920., Describes the role and perspective of the state farm paper or the one with a limited circulation territory.
Bisp, Soren (author), Grunert, Klaus (author), Harmsen, Hanne (author), Larsen, Hanne Hartvig (author), and Sorensen, Elin (author)
Format:
Book chapter
Publication Date:
1997
Published:
International
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: C20436
Notes:
Pages 3-30 in Berend Wierenga, Aad van Tilburg, Klaus Grunert, Jan-Benedict E.M. Steenkamp and Michel Wedel (eds.), Agricultural marketing and consumer behavior in a changing world. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston, Massachusetts. 314 pages.
Bizimana, Jean Claude (author), Bessler, David A. (author), and Angerer, Jay P. (author)
Format:
Paper
Publication Date:
2011-02
Published:
Mali
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 184 Document Number: D00234
Notes:
Paper presented at the Southern Agricultural Economics Association annual meeting, Corpus Christi, Texas, February 5-8, 2011. Via AgEcon Search. 21 pages.
3pgs, Telling the narrative of produce is one key to any brand. Retailers and consumers need to hear it. It’s about education, says Chris Drew.
“We’re telling the story of the artichoke,” said the CEO at Castroville, Calif.-based Ocean Mist Farms. “We’ve hosted clerks and managers from retail partners for tours of our fields and facility. We hope to de-intimidate people with the artichoke.
22 pages, The purpose of this study was to identify the demographic characteristics, career motivations, and professional development of American equine journalists. An online survey was distributed to equine journalists identified through their professional organizational membership. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. Equine journalists were found to be predominately female, Caucasian, and averaged 53 years old. Nearly half were exposed to the equine industry prior to their career and have been working in the industry for over 15 years. Respondents were well educated and were most motivated towards their career as an equine journalist because of their interest in horses. Over 70% of equine journalists in this study participated in one to 10 professional developments in the last year, with social media management as the most frequently reported topic. Other frequently reported topics were marketing, journalistic writing, and magazine publication. Recommendations for practice include recruiting agricultural communications minor or certificate students from specialized programs such as animal science, equine science, equine studies, or livestock. Future research should consider the influence of pre-career experiences on equine journalist career motivations and skill development.
10 pages., via online journal., This paper investigates the impact of broadband access on agribusiness in rural Wales and the resulting implications on entrepreneurial activity. Despite attempts by Government and telecommunications providers to develop widespread broadband coverage in Wales, concerns remain in relation to an increasing digital divide between urban and rural locations. Broadband is a key enabling technology therefore connectivity is significant, not only in communication, but also in the ability for businesses to innovate and grow. Wales is a predominantly rural country with 84% of the total land area in Wales being used for agriculture (Welsh Government, 2013). The food and farming sector represents a significant part of the Welsh economy, and is dominated by small businesses. Connectivity and increased use of technology are vital for these businesses to overcome location constraints and various industrial challenges, notably Brexit. The research uses survey data from 738 farmers and 107 food SMEs in Wales, with 19 follow-up semi-structured interviews. The survey results highlight issues of technology adoption, with 19% of farmers in the survey having no access to broadband internet, with others reporting the speed of connection being a limiting factor. The consequences of poor connectivity point to limited computer skills and low levels of soft technology adoption, a lack of engagement with social media, limited scope for innovation and restricted business growth, with 55.1% of food respondents identifying poor broadband access as a barrier to internationalisation. This has led to agrifood businesses adopting a passive approach to growth opportunities. The findings suggest that rural areas remain at a disadvantage due to poor connectivity, an issue that must be tackled by the Welsh Government to readdress the balance in the economy and limit a brain drain of skilled people moving to urban areas, often outside Wales. Support for such businesses is vital, particularly given the pressures and uncertainty in the industry, as broadband access represents an important enabler for future innovation and entrepreneurial activity
22 pages., via online journal, Agritourism is recreational travel for agricultural activities. While it provides many benefits, such as rural development and heritage preservation, many agritourism operators express challenges in marketing their operations. Social media is increasingly common in tourism marketing, but little research exists describing current marketing practices. Quantitative content analysis was used to describe 174 Oklahoma agritourism operations’ Facebook page activity in June 2018. Original posts created by the agritourism operations and community posts created by the general public had similar amounts of public interaction. Post interactions were not related to post length, and original post interactions were also not related to overall page likes. Live videos and traditional posts received the most interaction amongst types of original posts. Facebook event posts made by the agritourism operation received more public interaction than event posts made by the general public. Agritourism operators should focus on quality over quantity of information and be wary of creating posts in an “echo chamber” as only a small proportion of a large page following interact with posts. Marketing practitioners should avoid providing one-size-fits-all advice in Facebook marketing, as there was a large variety of Facebook activity observed. Future research should more specifically describe content of posts and consider perspectives of agritourism operators and visitors towards current Facebook marketing strategies.
