13 pages., Via online journal., Developing public and policy maker understanding of agriculture and natural resources is a national research priority of the American Association for Agricultural Education. Because of cultural and geographic distancing from agriculture, consumers' ability to obtain firsthand knowledge of agriculture may be limited to a handful of experiences including local, county, and state fairs. As such, agriculturalists' opportunities to communicate with the public about production agriculture may be limited to these experiences. Youth livestock exhibitors fill a gap in the agricultural education system. While a body of research exists about agricultural literacy among youth and adult groups, few studies exist concerning the impact of youth livestock show exhibits upon fairgoers. This study employed a survey research method using semantic differential scales with a then-now approach. Fairgoers, who had been through the youth livestock exhibits at the California State Fair, were asked about their attitudes toward the exhibits. Findings led to the conclusion viewing livestock exhibits and interacting with youth exhibitors resulted in fairgoers having more positive attitudes toward animal agriculture. Interaction between fairgoers and livestock exhibits should be encouraged and exhibitors should be prepared to view interactions with fairgoers as opportunities to educate about agriculture.
Buse, Rueben C. (author), Driscoll, James L., eds. (author), and Buse: Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI; Driscoll: Research and Development, Federal Crop Insurance Corporation, USDA, Kansas City, MO
Format:
Book
Publication Date:
1992
Published:
USA
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 90 Document Number: C06498
Notes:
Contains Table of Contents only; See C06499-C06505 for individual chapters; James F. Evans Collection, Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press. 1992. 458 p.
The objective of this document is to provide a point of departure for discussing, defining, and outlining the latter area of inquiry, namely, small farmer fertilizer purchasing behavior., Kerry J. Byrnes Collection, Questionnaire on development of small farmer fertilizer purchasing behavior. 20 pages., The concept of fertilizer purchasing behavior may be usefully defined as referring to those activities in which farmers engage as a means for effecting or facilitating the purchase of fertilizer.
Chern, Wen S. (author), Hushak, Leroy J. (author), Tweeten, Luther (author), and Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
Format:
Book chapter
Publication Date:
1992
Published:
USA
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 90 Document Number: C06500
Notes:
James F. Evans Collection; See C06498 for book, In: Rueben C. Buse and James L. Driscoll, eds. Rural Information Systems: New Directions in Data Collection and Retrieval, 1992. Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press. p. 118-213
13 pages, online journal, This article examines the reach, the amount, the content and the quality of agricultural extension in County Laois in Ireland as reported by farmers. It seeks to better understand extension interaction in an Irish county case.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 34 Document Number: D10688
Notes:
Claude W. Gifford Collection. PACER Project., Claude W. Gifford Collection. 9 pages., Proposes which of two national public research projects will include specific kinds and topics of survey questions. The projects involve Professional Agricultural Communications Editorial Research (PACER) and the National Opinion Research Center (NORC).
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 199 Document Number: D09931
Notes:
NCR-90 Collection, From Document D09924, "Department of agricultural journalism University of Wisconsin-Madison: Faculty and graduate student research, 1990". Pages 7-8.
Fiore, Mariantonietta (author), Silvestri, Raffaele (author), Contò, Francesco (author), Pellegrini, Giustina (author), and Department of Economics, University of Foggia, Largo Papa Giovanni Paolo II, 1, Foggia, Italy
Department of Economic Science, University of Bari, Largo Abbazia Santa Scolastica 53, Bari, Italy
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
2017-01-20
Published:
Italy: Elsevier Ltd.
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 162 Document Number: D08100
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 199 Document Number: D09935
Notes:
NCR-90 Collection, From Document D09933, "Department of agricultural journalism University of Wisconsin-Madison: Faculty and graduate student research, 1993". Pages 4-5.
Hall, D.M. (author / Extension Service, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL) and Extension Service, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL
Format:
Report
Publication Date:
1963
Published:
USA
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 6 Document Number: B00734
Notes:
AgComm Teaching, Urbana, IL : Extension Service in Agriculture and Home Economics, College of Agriculture, University of Illinois, 1963. 34 p. (ES-1751)
Kawleski, M. (author / CommSciences,Inc. Cottage Grove, WI. USA)
Format:
Conference paper
Publication Date:
1998-06-06
Published:
USA
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 106 Document Number: C10001
Notes:
In: "Mastering the art of communication is learning how to show yourself in full color." Presented at Cooperative Communicators Association Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 34 Document Number: D10665
Notes:
See Document D10664, the bound workbook that contains this resource. Workbook title: "Surveys made simple." Eugene A. Kroupa Collection., Resource used in a session of the Agricultural Communications Section, Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists, Houston, Texas, February 6-8, 1978. ll pages.
Landini, Fernando (author), Beramendi, Maite (author), and University of La Cuenca del Plata
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET)
School of Psychology, University of Buenos Aires
Format:
Online journal article
Publication Date:
2019-07-24
Published:
Argentina: Taylor and Francis
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 101 Document Number: D10880
18 pages, online journal article, Purpose
This article aims at designing and validating a psychometric scale to assess extensionists’ and advisors’ beliefs about extension and innovation.
Design/Methodology/approach
The scale was developed by drawing upon results from a previous empirical research as well as insights from a literature review on extension and innovation approaches. The theoretical framework used to write the items was validated by 12 international experts from 11 countries. 608 Argentine extension workers completed the questionnaire. Replies were analysed using Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis.
Findings
The scale has a good fit and satisfactory level of internal consistency. Five factors were identified: Dialogue and horizontal coordination; Transfer of technology; Blame on farmers; Participatory, farmer-led extension; and Self-critical attitude.
Practical implications
The scale has multiple and different uses, including research, theory development, institutional practice, diagnosis, and teaching.
Theoretical implications
Results show that a horizontal, facilitative extension approach shares a common epistemology, as well as underlying values and assumptions, with territorial development and with an innovation systems perspective, and that both contrast with a traditional transfer of technology approach. Nonetheless, practitioners would not tend to see these two contrasting perspectives as contradictory but as complementary.
Originality/Value
The scale is the first validated psychometric instrument, based on an ample theoretical framework, that allows for a quantitative assessment of beliefs about extension and innovation.
15 pages, via online journal, Purpose: This article assesses a non-traditional training methodology for extension agents, focused on the exchange of experiences among peers and the reflection on practice, with the aim of exploring its potential as a training strategy.
Design/Methodology/approach: A quali-quantitative investigation was conducted, which included interviews with extension agents, the use of different questionnaires, and recordings of the evaluation sessions carried out during each workshop.
Findings: This research allowed us to understand the importance of effective group coordination, a participatory climate, working in small groups, and the feedback loop between theory and practice for processes of experience sharing and reflection on practice. Some of the positive effects of the training observed were that extension agents acquired new knowledge and methodologies, reflected critically upon their practice, and put into question their own extension approach.
Practical Implications: Given its potentialities, implementing training processes focused on experience sharing and reflection on practice for rural extension workers, seems advisable.
Theoretical Implications: This article contributes to the understanding of how experience sharing and reflection on practice can generate transformations in rural extension agents’ approaches and positioning.
Originality/Value: This study systematically assesses the impacts that training has on extension workers, as well as the underlying processes that made it possible to generate them.
Lawson, Kati (author), Kent, Kevin (author), Rampold, Shelli D. (author), Telg, Ricky W. (author), McLeod-Morin, Ashley (author), and Association for Communication Excellence (ACE)
University of Florida
Format:
Online journal article
Publication Date:
2020-02
Published:
United States: New Prairie Press
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 131 Document Number: D11305
13 pages., via online journal, Elected officials at the local, state, and national levels play key roles in shaping the agriculture and natural resources (ANR) sectors through the development and implementation of ANR policies and regulations. As such, it has become necessary for members of the ANR community to understand the policy formation process and how to communicate effectively with elected officials about ANR policies and issues. However, little research has been conducted at the local level to examine how local elected officials (LEOs) interact with information specific to ANR policies to make decisions. This study was designed to assess the communication and information-seeking preferences and behaviors of LEOs that impact their decisions about ANR issues and policies. Of the sources of communication considered by LEOs when making ANR policy decisions, respondents in this study identified communication from farmers and ranchers as having the highest impact on their decision-making. This finding supports the use of farmers and ranchers as opinion leaders in impacting ANR policies. LEOs in this study also reported they would seek factual information from multiple sources to understand the positive or negative impact of the ANR policy before voting on the ANR issue.
11 pages., This paper was initiated in order to find the usage and relevance of theInformation and Communication Technologies(ICT) by the smallholder farmers of the Umzimvubu Local Municipality of the Eastern Cape Province in South Africa. A survey questionnaire was then developed to collect the relevant data from randomly selected six villages of Umzimvubu Local Municipality targeting 138 respondents. The questionnaires structure employed both closed and open-ended questions that were administered using a face to face interview, conducted on the sample population in each village. There seems to be a correlation between ICT usage and the economies of scale in agricultural development, where smallholder farmers tend to use less of highly modernized ICT, while commercial large scale farmers use more of the modernized ICT. This disparity amongst farmers is exacerbated in many areas by the differing support systems employed by the public extension services.
Mathews, Kristy E. (author), Freeman, Miranda L. (author), and Desvousges, William H. (author)
Format:
Book chapter
Publication Date:
2007
Published:
International: Springer
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: C26045
Notes:
Chapter 5 in Barbara J. Kanninen (ed.), Valuing environmental amenities using stated choice studies: a common sense approach to theory and practice. Springer. 336 pages.
7 pages., Via online journal, This study analyzes retailer attitude towards animal welfare in Spain, and how this attitude has changed over recent years (2006–2011). Retailers were concerned about animal welfare issues but a declining trend is observed recently, probably due to the financial crisis. The concern about animal welfare was affected by sex, with women retailers expressing a more positive attitude towards animal welfare issues than men. Retailers, based on their experience, perceive a low level of willingness to pay more for welfare friendly products (WFP) on behalf of their customers. This fact is reflected in the sales of the WFP, which declined from 2006 to 2011. The main reason for consumers to buy WFP, according to retailer perception, is organoleptic quality, with improved welfare being second. The results obtained provide a pessimistic picture in relation to the current market positioning of WFP, which is probably a consequence of market contraction.
Mitchell, Glen H. (author) and Mitchell, Mark L. (author)
Format:
Report
Publication Date:
1979-06
Published:
USA
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 169 Document Number: D08730
Notes:
James F. Evans Collection, MW-35. Community Consumer Education Awareness Project sponsored by Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Extension Division in cooperation with the Title 1 Higher Education Act of 1965, Blacksburg, Virginia. 47 pages.
19 pages., Via online journal., This project’s primary purpose was to identify and describe the leadership styles and skills emphases of current Kansas agricultural organization chief executive officers. Twenty-three current CEOs participated and were described in terms of their leadership styles, leadership-skills emphases, and demographics. Overall, they appeared to be rather “middle of the road” on each of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire’s nine leadership scales. Leadership styles were not significantly affected by demographics, with the exception of formal leadership training affecting transactional leadership and education level, organizational category, and staff size affecting passive-avoidant leadership. Participants generally rated the 50 leadership skills as important. Leadership styles did not significantly affect the skill emphases. In evaluating CEO candidates, an agricultural organization should design its process to gauge leadership styles and skills separately because, according to this project, they do not predict each other. Once a new CEO is hired, a formal leadership-training program should emphasize the transformational style over the transactional and, more so, passive-avoidant while still maintaining an appropriate balance between transformational and transactional.
Pilar, Ladislav (author), Kvasnickova, Lucie (author), Gresham, George (author), Polakova, Jana (author), Rojik, Stanislav (author), and Petkov, Rosen (author)
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
2018-09-30
Published:
International
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 7 Document Number: D10283
via online journal, The amount of European farm acreage devoted to organic foods has been increasing each year over the past three decades, as farmers strive to meet consumer demand for these products. To understand what factors drive this demand, researchers have focused on the end customers' perception of organic food and their motivations to purchase it. The standard research methods are questionnaires and literature review; however, these tend to be expensive, time consuming, or involve work with secondary data. This paper compares 14 studies carried out using standard research methods with the results of a social network analysis based on 344,231 posts by 73,380 Instagram users. The result of the comparison shows that in the case of organic food, the characteristic of "healthy" is the most important one to customers, both based on questionnaire surveys and the social network analysis. Moreover, based on these two analyses, 4 key areas can be identified as factors that are important to customers buying organic food: (1) health consciousness, (2) ecological motives, (3) tasty and (4) hedonism. As the results indicate, social network analysis can be considered a method with a high potential for gaining a greater insight into customers' perceptions.
Piscopo, Suzanne (author), Travers, Kim D. (author), and Piscopo: MAHE, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Travers: Department of Human Ecology, Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax, Canada
Format:
Conference paper
Publication Date:
1994
Published:
USA
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 97 Document Number: C07894
Notes:
James F. Evans Collection, Ham, Mimeographed, 1994. 1 p. Presented at the Society for Nutrition Education, Portland, OR, July 16-20, 1994., As relatively little is known about the impact on viewers of TV health education programs, the purpose of this study was to utilize health communication theory to evaluate the short term impact of 'The Rhythm of Health' T.V. series on nutrition and health knowledge, attitudes and behaviors fo viewers. A quasi-experimental, single-blind, pre and post-intervention evaluation was conducted during mid-1993 amongst 37 adult volunteers from different occupational fields. The research hypotheses were that there would be significant positive differences between mean score increases in 1) correct factual responses, 2) preferred attitudes, and 3) recommended behaviors, of subjects exposed to the TV series (experimental group) versus those who were not exposed (control group). Both groups completed two quasi-identical, self-administered, validated questionnaires approximately one week before and one week after the intervention (experimental group only) had taken place. Results revealed mean score increases for the exposed group which were generally greater than those of the similar unexposed group for knowledge, attitudes, intended and current behaviors in that order. These findings were, therefore, highly positive and supportive of the K-A-B Learning Hierarchy. Potential links were also suggested between improvement in attitudes and knowledge, and individuals who were less-educated, were light T.V. viewers, and used or preferred television as a source of health information. The findings have implications for planning nutrition and health education via mass media channels.
Ramesh, P. (author), Raju, D. Thammi (author), Reddy, K.M. (author), Krishnan, P. (author), Biswas, Amit (author), Umamaheshwari, T. (author), and ICAR-National Academy of Agricultural Research Management, India
Indian Statistical Institute, India
Fisheries College and Research Institute, India
Format:
Online journal article
Publication Date:
2019-04-27
Published:
India: Taylor & Francis
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 109 Document Number: D10973
24 pages, via online journal, Purpose: The study aims at finding out relevance and knowledge levels of selected teaching competencies as perceived by educational administrators, faculty and students, in order to assess the training needs of faculty of agricultural universities.
Methodology: Relevance and knowledge levels were tested through a teaching competency questionnaire developed and run on 292 respondents fitting into administrator, faculty and student groups. Needs Assessment Model by Borich [1980. “A Needs Assessment Model for Conducting Follow-up Studies.” Journal of Teacher Education 31 (3): 39–42] is used to identify training needs.
Findings: Results indicate differences in perceptions among groups towards teaching competencies. Prioritized training needs were identified which provide the content and direction for the development of faculty in-service educational programmes.
Practical implications: Faculty of agricultural universities need periodic in-service training programmes in order to improve their teaching competencies so that they become effective and competent teachers in the present educational environment.
Theoretical implications: The statistically validated methodological framework provides for capturing the perception of all stakeholders on the teaching competencies among the faculty members of Agricultural Universities in India, and offers a scope for scaling up the study for similar educational setting in the region.
Originality/value: The perception of students and administrators was also considered along with the self-perception of faculty about the relevance and knowledge levels of teaching competencies.
Rogers, Everett M. (author), Beal, George M. (author), and Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology, Ohio State University.
Professor, Department of Economics and Sociology, Iowa State College.
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
1958-10
Published:
USA: American Marketing Association
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 164 Document Number: D08230
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 34 Document Number: D10689
Notes:
Claude W. Gifford Collection. PACER Project, Claude W. Gifford Collection. 20 pages., Requests clearance for a questionnaire for pretesting in connection with a national study, "Public knowledge and attitudes toward agriculture and food." The study is sponsored by a non-profit organization, Professional Agricultural Communications Editorial Research (PACER). PACER is formed by six national professional agricultural communicator organizations in cooperation with the Office of Communication, U.S. Department of Agriculture. Survey questionnaire provided.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 199 Document Number: D09898
Notes:
NCR-90 Collection, From Document D09897, "Department of agricultural journalism University of Wisconsin-Madison: Faculty and graduate student research, 1995". Page 6.
Williams, E.C. (author / Department of Agricultural Education and Studies, Iowa State University, Ames)
Format:
Report
Publication Date:
1994
Published:
USA
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 97 Document Number: C07950
Notes:
abstracted form M.S. thesis, 1992; search through volume, In: Jacquelyn Deeds and Demetria Ford, eds. Summary of Research in Extension (1992-1993). Mississippi State, MS: Department of Agricultural Education and Experimental Statistics, Mississippi State University, July 1994. p. 131
