Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 198 Document Number: D09695
Notes:
Delmar Hatesohl Collection. Full thesis is located in the University of Missouri Depository. Call number: 378.7 M71 XB3395, Chapter II (pages 10-39)in this thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of a Master of Arts degree, University of Missouri, Columbia. 182 pages.
Rumble, Joy N. (author), Lamm, Alexa J. (author), Gay, Keegan D. (author), and University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Center for Public
Issues Education in Agriculture and Natural Resources
Format:
Online journal article
Publication Date:
[date of publication not identified]
Published:
USA: The American Association for Agricultural Education
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 151 Document Number: D10119
16 pages., via online journal, The Cooperative Extension Service has performed the role of educator and change agent for more than a century. Changes occurring during this period caused Extension to extend its influence beyond the farm and traditional roles. Today, Extension faces controversial public issues and unparalleled levels of policy and regulation impacting agriculture and natural resources. As the needs of our changing society evolve, regulation increases, and response to public opinion becomes more complex. Extension must expand its role in providing education related to public issues and acting as facilitators and change agents to ensure viable actions are taken. This study was conducted to determine the level of preparedness of Florida Extension agents in dealing with policies and regulations. An emailed survey of all Florida Extension agents utilized questions regarding frequency of addressing policies with their clientele and their knowledge of said policies. Results indicated a low frequency of agents of all types addressing most policies with their clientele and a need for increased knowledge about the policies. In particular, there is an opportunity for all agent types to improve interactions with clientele on the topic of Immigration Reform as well as knowledge of related policies.
33 pages., Via online journal., The legitimacy of the dominant intensive meat production system with
respect to the issue of animal welfare is increasingly being questioned by stakeholders across the meat supply chain. The current meat supply is highly undifferentiated, catering only for the extremes of morality concerns (i.e., conventional vs.
organic meat products). However, a latent need for compromise products has been
identified. That is, consumer differences exist regarding the trade-offs they make
between different aspects associated with meat consumption. The heterogeneity in
consumer demand could function as a starting point for market segmentation, targeting and positioning regarding animal welfare concepts that are differentiated in
terms of animal welfare and price levels. Despite this, stakeholders in the meat
supply chain seem to be trapped in the dominant business model focused on low
cost prices. This paper aims to identify conflicting interests that stakeholders in the
meat supply chain experience in order to increase understanding of why heterogeneous consumer preferences are not met by a more differentiated supply of meat
products produced at different levels of animal welfare standards. In addition,
characteristics of the supply chain that contribute to the existence of high exit
barriers and difficulty to shift to more animal-friendly production systems are
identified. Following the analysis of conflicting interests among stakeholders and
factors that contribute to difficulty to transform the existing dominant regime,
different routes are discussed that may help and motivate stakeholders to overcome
these barriers and stimulate the creation of new markets.
7 pages., via online journal., The aim of this work is to explore the relation between morality and diet choice by investigating how animal and
human welfare attitudes and donation behaviors can predict a meat eating versus flexitarian versus vegetarian
diet. The results of a survey study (N=299) show that animal health concerns (measured by the Animal
Attitude Scale) can predict diet choice. Vegetarians are most concerned, while full-time meat eaters are least
concerned, and the contrast between flexitarians and vegetarians is greater than the contrast between
flexitarians and full-time meat eaters.
With regards to human welfare (measured by the Moral Foundations Questionnaire), results show that attitudes
towards human suffering set flexitarians apart from vegetarians and attitudes towards authority and respect
distinguish between flexitarians and meat eaters. To conclude, results show that vegetarians donate more
often to animal oriented charities than flexitarians and meat eaters, while no differences between the three
diet groups occur for donations to human oriented charities.
Knuth, Melinda (author), Behe, Bridget K. (author), Hall, Charles R. (author), Huddleston, Patricia (author), Fernandez, R. (author), and Texas A&M University
Michigan State University
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
2018-02
Published:
United States: American Society for Horticultural Science
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 11 Document Number: D10339
9 pages., Via online journal., Water is becoming scarcer as world population increases and will be allocated among competing uses. Some of that water will go toward sustaining human life, but some will be needed to install and support landscape plants. Thus, future water resource availability may literally change the American landscape. Recent research suggests that consumers’ attitudes and behavior toward potable water supplies have changed in other countries because of greater social awareness and increasingly widespread exposure to drought conditions. We conducted an online survey of 1543 U.S. consumers to assess their perceptions about landscape plants, the water source used to produce them, and plant water needs to become established in the landscape. Using two separate conjoint designs, we assessed their perceptions of both herbaceous and woody perennials. Consumers placed greater relative importance on water source in production over water use in the landscape for both herbaceous and woody perennials included in this study. They preferred (had a higher utility score for) fresh water over recycled water and least preferred a blend of fresh with recycled water for perennials and recycled water used for woody perennial production. In addition, the group that did not perceive a drought but experienced one placed a higher value (higher utility score) on nursery plants grown with fresh water compared with those which were actually not in drought and did not perceive one. Educational and promotional efforts may improve the perception of recycled water to increase the utility of that resource. Promoting the benefits of low water use plants in the landscape may also facilitate plant sales in times of adequate and low water periods.
