8pgs, The agribusiness sector includes a diverse group of interests - crop producers, livestock and meat producers, poultry and egg companies, dairy farmers, timber producers, tobacco companies and food manufacturers and stores. The industry has new-found relevance going into 2019 as the trade war between China and the United States continues to rage leaving many in the business, especially soybean farmers, hurting.
The industry's giving reached its peak in the 2016 presidential cycle spending more than $118 million. The number fell in 2018 to more than $92 million, but was good for the third-highest spending cycle, and highest for a midterm, the industry has had.
21 pages, via online journal, How an agricultural organization handles the way the media reports a crisis can have an impact on the public’s perceptions of the organization, and sometimes the industry as a whole. The popularity of social media outlets as a venue for disseminating and gathering information and news makes the use of social media surrounding agricultural crises an important topic to investigate (Glynn, Huge, & Hoffman 2012; Hermida, 2010). A qualitative case study was conducted to investigate the use of social media tools during an agricultural crisis. The participants – communications directors, social media managers, and individuals with a close connection to the crisis under study – reported that social media was a major component of their communication efforts surrounding each crisis. Participants felt social media was very effective in these situations and had a major impact on their communication efforts. Although no participants reported using a structured social media strategy or crisis communication plan, they stated a need for such guidelines in the agricultural industry. From the data analyzed in this study, a model for using social media during a crisis situation, aimed specifically for use by those in the agricultural industry, was developed. This project was funded through the USDA's Beginning Farmers & Ranchers Project.
Baker, Lauri M. (author), Boyer, Cheryl R. (author), Peterson, Hikaru Hanawa (author), King, Audrey E.H. (author), and Kansas State University
University of Minnesota, St. Paul
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
2018-08
Published:
United States: American Society for Horticultural Science
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 11 Document Number: D10334
8 pages., Via online journal., Online, direct selling (ODS) has become the leading way that people acquire goods, with Amazon (Seattle, WA) being the largest online vendor in the United States. This study sought to determine if horticultural businesses were engaging in ODS with Amazon, ebay, and other websites. Researchers examined the ODS activity of 498 businesses using quantitative content analysis methods, and found that 93 horticultural industry businesses were conducting some form of ODS through their websites, but only four offered products on Amazon. Results indicate that ODS remains an untapped marketplace for the horticultural industry, particularly for small, rural businesses.
