16 pages, We use a sales database of farmers market vendors in the Washington, D.C., area to estimate how first half 2020 sales were impacted by the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. We use 2019 data as a counterfactual for sales that would have occurred in 2020 in the absence of COVID-19. For neighborhood weekend markets that were able to remain open during the pandemic, the change in 2020 average sales between the winter and spring is between 75% and 79% lower than in 2019. Other farmers markets, particularly weekday markets in business districts, experienced delayed openings or were closed for the entire year.
15 pages, Cover crops—crops grown primarily to protect and improve soil—are widely considered to be an important component of sustainable agricultural systems because their use can provide multiple ecosystem services without compromising yields over time. Specialty crops—fruits, vegetables, and horticultural crops—are increasingly important to US agriculture and food security and uniquely vulnerable to climate-related problems that cover crops can help to address. Yet far less research has been conducted on cover crop use by farmers who grow mainly specialty crops, compared to the much larger body of research on farmers who principally grow row crops like corn (Zea mays) and soybeans (Glycine max). In this study, we draw on survey data from a stratified, random sample of 881 specialty crop growers in Michigan and Ohio to accomplish two main goals. First, we seek to characterize cover crop use among this important group of farmers, focusing on types of cover crop used and use of multiple types. Second, we examine the relationship between cover crop use on vegetable and fruit farms and key social and economic factors, with particular attention to farmers’ environmental values, adherence to organic principles, and sources of information. According to survey results, cover cropping is more likely when farmers (1) manage certified organic (p < 0.01) or organic-in-practice (p < 0.05) farms; (2) report being influenced by private crop consultants (p < 0.01); (3) attach high importance to agri-environmental goals (p < 0.01); and (4) grow vegetable crops instead of or in addition to fruit crops (p < 0.001). No relationship was found to exist between cover cropping and farmers’ concerns about climate-related risks, education level, or perceived self-efficacy. We conclude by suggesting that the importance of structural factors to farmers’ decisions about cover crops should not be underestimated. Promoting and strengthening the market for organic food may be the most direct pathway toward increasing the number of farmers who use cover crops. Historically important entities in agricultural networks, including cooperative extension and conservation nongovernmental organizations, might enhance their impact on cover crop use by forming new partnerships with private crop consultants.
This paper examines the media coverage of the 2013 London cultured meat tasting event, particularly in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Using major news outlets, prominent magazines covering food and science issues, and advocacy websites concerning meat consumption, the paper characterizes the overall emphases of the coverage, the tenor of the coverage, and compares the media portrayal of the important issues to the demographic and psychological realities of the actual consumer market into which cultured meat will compete. In particular, the paper argues that Western media gives a distorted picture of what obstacles are in the path of cultured meat acceptance, especially by overemphasizing and overrepresenting the importance of the reception of cultured meat among vegetarians. Promoters of cultured meat should recognize the skewed impression that this media coverage provides and pay attention to the demographic data that suggests strict vegetarians are a demographically negligible group. Resources for promoting cultured meat should focus on the empirical demographics of the consumer market and the empirical psychology of mainstream consumers.
Barkley, Andrew (author) and Barkkley, Paul W. (author)
Format:
Book
Publication Date:
2015
Published:
USA: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group, London and New York.
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 154 Document Number: D07071
Notes:
196 pages., "In an information-based economy...the only source of prosperity is providing consumers with what they desire." Authors conclude that the flow of information from consumers to producers may be more important than providing consumers with knowledge about agriculture.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 186 Document Number: D00920
Notes:
Abstract and contents table are in ACDC. Full text of thesis available online., Thesis for the Master of Science degree in Agricultural and Applied Economics, Makerere University, Uganda. 121 pages.
Moustier, Paule (author) and Nguyen, Thi Tan Loc (author)
Format:
Book chapter
Publication Date:
2010
Published:
Vietnam
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: C37109
Notes:
See C37105 for original, Pages 185-197 in Alessandro Bonanno, Hans Bakker, Raymond Jussaume, Yoshio Kawamura and Mark Shucksmith (eds.), From community to consumption: new and classical themes in rural sociological research. Research in Rural Sociology and Development, Volume 16. Emerald Group Publishing Ltd., Bingley, U.K. 275 pages.
