Describes method used by hybrid seed marketers to sell to a farmer-dealer at wholesale, then allow the farmer to distribute the product in a local area.
"As many food company executives are still figuring out how to implement radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, a data collector has put 500 case studies online to help them learn from the best - and the worst - in the industry."
23 pages., via online journal, Cultured meat has yet to reach store shelves but is nonetheless a growing issue for consumers, producers, and government regulators, many of whom have taken to social media to discuss it. Using a conceptual framework of social cognitive theory and issues management, this qualitative content analysis investigated social-media discourse surrounding the topic of cultured meat in the United States by describing the content of the discussion in late 2018 and identifying individual influencers and communities of influencers engaged in the discussion. Data were collected from Twitter using listening platform Sysomos MAP. The thematic analysis revealed eight themes: legality and marketing, sustainability, acceptance, business, animal concerns, science and technology, health concerns, and timeline, and indicated that conflicting views and questions about cultured meat exist among conversation participants. Top influencers included philanthropists, government officials, journalists and writers, and animal-welfare advocates. These influencers were grouped into four distinct communities based on interactions with each other and other users. The topics identified in the analysis provide insight into ways in which communicators can enter these conversations, and influencer communities represent groups of users whose broad reach could more easily transmit pro-agriculture messages.
26 pages, This research is intended to initiate understanding of how obesity in the South persists even though the majority of inhabitants subscribe to a faith that discourages unhealthy lifestyles. Grounded in the Cognitive Dissonance Theory, this study examined Protestant evangelical Christians in the South (N = 11), who participated in semi-structured interviews. The first emergent theme was that, to these Southerners, the purpose of food is for sustenance and survival, as well as for bringing people together. Most participants reported having an average level of knowledge of nutrition and health. Furthermore, participants generally agreed that marketing or educational efforts had little effect on their understanding of nutrition. Another theme emerged when participants provided Biblical references to food or health. “The Body is a Temple” and “gluttony” were the most common Biblical concepts. All participants referred to taste or desirability as the driver of their food selections. Furthermore, most participants claimed habitual gluttony as a personal experience in their lives. This study concluded that subjects employed two modes of “trivializing” as a way of resolving dissonance. Some participants justified their eating habits based on Southern culture, while others explained that their church culture supported unhealthy eating as a means of gathering in fellowship.
Kerry J. Byrnes Collection, In-Service Training Institute Peradeniya, Sri Lanka 19 pages., This study reports the findings of a followup study of 20 of the 33 participants to the Fertilizer Marketing Course, held May 31 to June 10th at the In-Service Training Institute, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. A primary objective of the course was to train the participants so that they, in turn, could develop training courses and materials for other fertilizer marketing personnel and farmers.
4 pages., Online from publication website., Describes experimentation with slow-growth meat breeds of chickens. Article includes references to implications for marketing communications; consumer attitudes and preferences; and consumer responses to higher retail costs for slow-growth poultry meat.
22 pages., via online journal., In 2015, Blue Bell Creameries had its first recall in the company’s history. Blue Bell issued a voluntary recall of all of its ice cream products after Listeria was detected and was linked to 10 illnesses that resulted in three deaths. With the theoretical framework of framing and Situational Crisis Communication Theory, the purpose of this study was to explore how this recall was presented in company press releases and news media coverage to determine what crisis communication strategies Blue Bell implemented and how the media presented that information. This study was a content analysis of 23 press releases from Blue Bell and 68 articles from newspapers. The four crisis response strategies, or postures, used as frames were deny, diminish, rebuild, and bolster. This study also examined sources identified in the articles and the topic areas they discussed. The results indicated Blue Bell’s communication efforts were properly and effectively disseminated through the news media to the public. Blue Bell used accommodative crisis communication postures to restore its reputation. Blue Bell was also commonly found as a source in the news stories, which benefitted the company when communicating about the recall to the public. This study provided an examination of crisis communication strategies and reputation management for organizations related to one specific food recall, which should encourage additional studies of these strategies in food and agricultural industries.
Spetsidis, Nickolas M. (author) and Schamel, Gunter (author)
Format:
Book chapter
Publication Date:
2002
Published:
USA
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: C21696
Notes:
Pages 63-79 in Vittorio Santaniello, Robert E. Evenson and David Zilberman (eds.), Market development for genetically modified foods. CABI Publishing, Oxon, United Kingdom. 318 pages.
"Farmers' lack of market power is the real enemy, so farmers and ranchers must work together to gain bargaining power, because, without it, independent farmers have little hope of survival." Mentions issue of farm organizations, agricultural trade and commodity groups misrepresenting their interests to Congress and policy makers by posing as the family farmer.
19 pages., via online journal., The rapidly increasing rate of biodiversity and habitat loss across the globe can be largely attributed to human behaviors. Conservation practitioners have struggled to influence behaviors through traditional awareness-raising efforts and been slow to adopt techniques from the behavioral sciences such as social marketing to change behaviors and improve conservation outcomes. We conducted a meta-analysis of 84 social marketing campaigns that applied the same theory of change for human behavior to disrupt patterns of destructive activities such as illegal hunting and overfishing. Questionnaires of more than 20,000 individuals across 18 countries measured changes in behavioral variables pre- and post-campaigns, including knowledge, attitudes, interpersonal communication, behavior intention, and behavior. For each campaign, we extracted data and validated data for behavioral variables, estimated mean effect sizes for each variable across all campaigns, and used path analysis to measure relationships among variables included in seven different models. On average, all behavioral variables increased significantly (p < .001) from 16.1 to 25.0 percentage points following social marketing campaigns. The full model used a combination of all variables and had the highest explained variation in behavior change (71%). Our results highlight the importance of (a) incorporating behavioral theory and social marketing into traditional conservation programs to address threats to biodiversity across the globe; (b) designing interventions that leverage a combination of community knowledge, attitudes, and communication about a behavior; and (c) facilitating more opportunities for interpersonal communication as a main driver of behavior change. We conclude with potential applications for practitioners interested in behavior change campaigns.
25 pages, The 2020 growing season presented new and significant challenges for farmers and farms across the United States as they navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. The rich and diverse agricultural landscape of Washington State offers a valuable microcosm in which to explore the experiences of farms in the U.S. during the pandemic. The purpose of this study was to qualitatively assess the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on directly marketing small farms in western Washington State, with a focus on farmers’ experiences with resilience. We conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 15 farmers and used thematic analysis to explore the influence of the pandemic on overall experiences, responses, and values and perceptions related to small farms. Interviewees provided insights on the impacts of the pandemic on their daily farm operations, production costs, marketing channels, demand, and revenue. Farmers also reported shifting personal and public attitudes towards small farms during the pandemic. Product diversity, flexibility, multiple forms of support, values, and access to resources emerged as drivers of COVID-19 impacts and farm adaptations. When compared to existing frameworks on farm resilience, farms in this study are seen to demonstrate resilience via buffer and adaptive capabilities, which enable them to absorb and adjust to shocks. Farmers also discussed resilience via transformative capability, the potential to create new systems, leveraging the collective power of small farms to shape future food systems. Future research on the resilience of small farms should focus on ways to both promote resilience attributes and facilitate the ability of farmers to act on resilience capabilities.
Kabanda, S. (author), Brown, I. (author), and Centre for IT and National Development in Africa, Dept. of Information Systems, University of Cape Town, Private Bag X3, Rondebosch, South Africa
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
2017-07
Published:
Tanzania: Elsevier Ltd.
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 162 Document Number: D08102
Alter, Theodore R. (author / Pennsylvania State Univeristy), Ruane, Dermot J. (author / National University of Ireland), Phelan, James F. (author / National University of Ireland), and Crewdson, Bud (author / University of Minnesota)
Format:
Proceedings
Publication Date:
1999-03-23
Published:
Association for International Agricultural and Extension Education
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 138 Document Number: C20985
Notes:
Burton Swanson Collection, 8 pages, Session I, from "1999 conference proceedings -- Association for International Agricultural and Extension Education", 15th Annual Conference, 21-24 March 1999, Port of Spain, Trinidad, 25-26, Tobago
Woods, John L. (author), Siddiqi, Hafiz G.A. (author), Rahman, M. Saifur (author), Ali, A.M.M. Shawkat (author), Ahmad, Munshi Siddique (author), and Siddiqi, Feisal (author)
Format:
Report
Publication Date:
1988-05
Published:
Bangladesh
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 195 Document Number: D07966
Notes:
John L. Woods Collection, Report by the International Program for Agricultural Knowledge Systems (INTERPAKS), College of Agriculture, University of Illinois, Urbana, in association with Rahman Rahman Huq and Company, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Funds provided by the World Bank, the executing agency for United Nations Development Programme Project BGD/85/029. 144 pages pages.
Woods, John L. (author), Siddiqi, Hafiz G.A. (author), Rahman, M. Saifur (author), Ali, A.M.M. Shawkat (author), Ahmad, Munshi Siddique (author), and Siddiqi, Feisal (author)
Format:
Report
Publication Date:
1988-05
Published:
Bangladesh
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 195 Document Number: D07958
Notes:
John L. Woods Collection, Report by the International Program for Agricultural Knowledge Systems (INTERPAKS), College of Agriculture, University of Illinois, Urbana, in association with Rahman Rahman Huq and Company, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Funds provided by the World Bank, the executing agency for United Nations Development Programme Project BGD/85/029. 238 pages.
