Snowdon, Gail (author / Decision Data Specialist, Information Services, Office of Agricultural Communications and Education, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL)
Format:
Report
Publication Date:
1992-03
Published:
USA
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 91 Document Number: C06629
Notes:
Snowdon, Urbana, IL : University of Illinois, Office of Agricultural Communications and Education, Information Services, 1992. 3 p. (Decision Data Summary, Information Guide to Communications Planning No. 22)
8pgs, The global trend of urbanization coupled with an increasing awareness of the importance of food systems resilience, has led to an increasing interest in urban agriculture to sustainably feed the rapidly growing urban population and mitigate against food supply chain disruptions. While home and community gardens have been long studied, there has been relatively little empirical research focused specifically on commercial urban agriculture (CUA) operations. The purpose of this study was to characterize commercial urban farms, and to identify their primary barriers to business development and expansion, their perceptions of future opportunities, and their specific informational needs. Because CUA has received relatively less attention in previous empirical research, a qualitative approach was used for this needs assessment to collect rich, contextualized information to help differentiate the specific barriers, opportunities and needs of CUA operations as opposed to their rural counterparts. We conducted semi-structured interviews (n = 29) of CUA producers in Florida. These interviews revealed that CUA operations face many of the same barriers that are common to establishing and growing small farms, with additional barriers due to local government regulations and tensions associated with farming on land that is not traditionally used for agriculture. Despite these difficulties, CUA operators believe their urban location is a key benefit to their operation and they see a variety of opportunities for future business and market expansion.
Agunga, Robert A. (author / Associate Professor, Department of Agricultural Education, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH)
Format:
Conference paper
Publication Date:
1994
Published:
USA
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 97 Document Number: C07836
Notes:
James F. Evans Collection, Mimeographed, 1994. 15 p. Paper presented at the International Agricultural Communicators in Education Conference, Moscow, ID/Pullman, WA, July 16-20, 1994.
10 pages, With agriculture as the second largest economic industry in Florida, the state's Extension agents need subject matter expertise necessary for disseminating the latest in agricultural research information to agricultural producers. Using an exploratory sequential design coupled with a Borich model, we determined the professional development needs of Florida Extension agents working in integrated pest management (IPM). Through our needs assessment, we identified 16 IPM competencies and found that the highest priority relative to needed professional development was for the competency "determining pest thresholds." Extension personnel can use the list generated to assess perceptions of importance and ability level regarding IPM competencies among Extension professionals in their states.
Akhouri, M. M. P. (author), Singh, R. P. (author), and Department of Extension Education, Haryana Agricultural University, Hissar; Department of Extension Education, Haryana Agricultural University, Hissar
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
1974
Published:
India
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 43 Document Number: B05160
