10 pages, Public Safety Power Shutoff events are being implemented in California to reduce wildfire impacts. We surveyed California residents to identify their information needs and understand the potential role of University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) in power shutoff management. A majority of respondents need information on alternative power sources and community power systems. Most respondents indicated family, friends, and neighbors as the important group to manage power shutoff. UCCE was least used and preferred source for power shutoff information. Our findings reveal a need for Cooperative Extension to play an important role in power shutoff management and educating the public.
11 pages, Extension is well-positioned to facilitate communication strategies that foster community resilience and disaster recovery, particularly for rural residents. This paper proposes a new approach to post-disaster communication that strengthens rural community capacities in locally and culturally relevant ways. The findings revealed specific post-disaster information needs, preferences for local resources, and communication that encourages resilience through a document analysis and interviews with informants recovering from the 2020 Colorado wildfires. The practical recommendations discussed serve as a starting point for Extension professionals in other areas to consider ways to engage with their communities before, during, and after a disaster.
4pgs, A wetland contaminated by industrial waste is slowly coming back to life. Nature’s tenacity found a powerful ally in a kayak tours operator and her many volunteers.
3pgs, The award recognizes organizations working towards stronger local food systems and more power in the hands of smaller agricultural producers around the globe.
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.
25pgs, We combine farm accounting data with high-resolution meteorological data, and climate scenarios to estimate climate change impacts and adaptation potentials at the farm level. To do so, we adapt the seminal model of Moore and Lobell (2014) who applied panel data econometrics to data aggregated from the farm to the regional (subnational) level. We discuss and empirically investigate the advantages and challenges of applying such models to farm-level data, including issues of endogeneity of explanatory variables, heterogeneity of farm responses to weather shocks, measurement errors in meteorological variables, and aggregation bias. Empirical investigations into these issues reveal that endogeneity due to measurement errors in temperature and precipitation variables, as well as heterogeneous responses of farms toward climate change may be problematic. Moreover, depending on how data are aggregated, results differ substantially compared to farm-level analysis. Based on data from Austria and two climate scenarios (Effective Measures and High Emission) for 2040, we estimate that the profits of farms will decline, on average, by 4.4% (Effective Measures) and 10% (High Emission). Adaptation options help to considerably ameliorate the adverse situation under both scenarios. Our results reinforce the need for mitigation and adaptation to climate change.
19 pages, The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically affected people's lives around the world, including agricultural extension workers. To date, few studies have been conducted to understand the adaptation of extension services in Latin American countries during the pandemic. This mixed-methods study explored Latin-American extension professionals’ preparation to implement knowledge-sharing activities and sought to understand extension professionals' responsiveness to COVID-19. The results revealed significant differences in extension responsiveness, between field extension workers and in-office extension workers. Delving into this difference revealed that field extension professionals perceived lower responsiveness because they were not able to continue their pre-pandemic, face-to-face activities in the field with farmers; on the other hand, office extension workers were able to complete and respond to their annual program objectives by increasing institutional partnerships by virtual means. Resilience was found in the two phases of this study. Extension professionals were viewed by farmers as a reliable resource for addressing COVID-19 challenges. Extension professionals began using new communications technologies to train farmers, even though they were not trained in these technologies themselves. It will be important to begin formally incorporating the use of new technology, and alternative communication strategies with communities during crises, as part of preparation for field technicians.
Balkan, Büsra Atamer (author), Lindqvist, Andreas Nicolaidis (author), Odoemena, Kelechi (author), Lambd, Robert (author), Tiongco, Monique Ann (author), Gupta, Stueti (author), Peterud, Arpitha (author), and Menendez III, Hector Manuel (author)
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
2021-09
Published:
Germany: CENTMA Research
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 205 Document Number: D12695
16 pages, COVID-19 has caused severe agriculture and food supply chain disruptions, significantly affecting smallholder farmers who supply most of the world’s food, specifically their changes in vulnerability, resilience, and food loss and waste. Therefore, the objective of this study was to understand the complex causal and feedback relationships for this system by developing a dynamic hypothesis and causal loop diagrams utilizing the System Dynamics methodology. Results provide a roadmap for dialogue and a framework for case-specific model development and help to guide policy decisions for smallholder farmers’ survival during health crises.
6 pages, The char land of Bangladesh is vulnerable to climate change. There are changes in extreme weather events. Impact of climate change resulted feminization of agricultural practices. Number of development interventions have been taken to skill the rural community to take adaptation action on agriculture. Development interventions taken in the char land of Dimla, Nilphamari were studied from June 2018 to December 2019 to identify the capacity of climate change adaptation interventions using the information and communication technology to empower women. Mobile Phone Use Index study found that nearly threefourth of rural female farmers were capable to manage knowledge on climate change adaptation if their access to device was ensured. Inclusion of women in the technology playing a very important role towards transformative leadership. Nearly 85% of the women farmers have high environmental awareness; likely to be contributory to adaptation knowledge management. Community themselves identified them more resilient comparing with areas where promotion of technology is not supported. Institutes with the capacity of information technology promotion could be the hub of resilience knowledge management for women, but external supports are required there. Self-motivation supported by project intervention has created notable capacity of a good number of women who could be the mentor of women transformative leadership towards resilience.
