Month: January 2002

ACDC News – Issue 02-04

Posted on by Elizabeth Ray

Best diet available? Who knows? 

Not the national sample of U.S. adults who were surveyed last year in the Health News Interest Index Poll. They were asked which type of diet is “the best nutritionally, the most likely to keep weight off, as well as lower cholesterol and blood pressure levels.” Fifty-eight percent said they didn’t know or refused to answer the question. Other responses were divided among the moderate-fat, high-carbohydrate diet such as the Food Guide Pyramid (18 percent); high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet (14 percent); and low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet (10 percent).

Reference: Use a title search (“Health News Interest Index Poll”) or author search (Princeton Survey Research Associates) for the full citation.

Same with sources of salmonella and other disease-causing bacteria found on meat and poultry.

Only 16 percent of U.S. adults interviewed last year in a Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine Survey correctly said that such bacteria came from animal feces. There is room for useful educational communicating in this food safety arena.

Reference: Use a title search (“Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine”) or author search (Opinion Research Corporation) for the full citation. Detailed responses to this survey question are posted in the Academic Universe of Lexis-Nexis: http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/

So much greenwash.

A Business Horizons article about green marketing noted that “a great deal of environmental promotion has been labeled ‘greenwash,’ having little if any real ecological meaning.” The authors observed that consumer skepticism and cynicism toward green claims may generally limit the benefit of green promotion. Such promotion “needs to communicate substantive environmental information to consumers that has meaningful links to corporate activities.” This article moves beyond token-level posturing to an integrated, strategic approach.

Reference: Use a title search (“Reevaluating green marketing”) or author search (Polonsky) for the full citation. Full text is available online at: www.sciencedirect.com/web-editions/journal/00076813

A poverty of theory. 

Darren Schmidt recently provided some thoughtful insights about information in extension. In an extension conference paper added recently to the ACDC collection, he observed that the label “information” is having an identity crisis. He said it “has become so catholic in its scope and its vast diversity of uses that it is at grave risk of becoming diluted beyond usefulness. His analysis included information theories extending across mathematical models (e.g., Shannon and Weaver), diffusion theory, systems perspectives, interpretivism, structuralism and semiotics. Still, he argued, information “apparently refuses to behave as a variable should and morphs in structure and intent as it zooms around human systems sustaining purposeful human activity.

Where does this leave the extension professional? Schmidt asked. “Who has time for epistemological chin scratching when there is a brochure to be printed before the summer harvest.?” However, he said, the future may herald a different urgency in an era when it is beguiling to reduce extension information to “a series of discrete bubbles of knowledge produced, stored and sent digitally.” He suggested that extension professionals need to regard the “information” concept more rigorously, drawing upon a creditable body of literature and theoretical development that exists.

Reference: Use a title search (“Information in extension”) or author search (Schmidt) for the full citation. Paper posted online at: www.regional.org.au/au/apen/2001/p/SchmidtD1.htm

Profit not the biotech bottom line for farmers?

A recent news report in the Chicago Tribune described research showing that economic reasons are not fueling the growing popularity of genetically modified crops among U.S. farmers. Why would farmers use these crops without clear economic benefit?

  • “For herbicide-tolerant soybeans, farmers answer by saying they can cover more acres more quickly and they don’t have to worry about weed management as they did in the past.”
  • “.farmers who used the modified corn seed said they viewed it as insurance against a possible insect infestation.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Gene-altered crops costly”) or author (Van) for the full citation. Text is posted online at: www.chicagotribune.com/business/printedition/

Be mature and maintain a sense of humour. 

Biotechnology communicators heard that advice from consultant Monica Coneys during a recent workshop, the first of its kind in Canada. A summary of her comments appeared in the January issue of AgBiotech Bulletin. This article also summarized thoughts and advice from other speakers about specific aspects of biotech communicating: web development and maintenance, media relations and news writing style.

Reference: Use a title search (“AWB hosts biotech”) for the full citation. The report is archived online (January 9, 2002) at: www.plant.uoguelph.ca/safefood/archives/agnet-archives.htm

“What if we popularized agricultural communication?” 

Hans Matthiesen, president of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists, raised this question in a recent editorial in IFAJ News. He said he thinks that agricultural reporting presented like other news in newspapers, radio and television “would make understanding difficult agricultural issues even harder.” At the same time, he said, “we should think about how we can better communicate to consumers nationally and internationally the facts about food and beverages. . In the global debate about agriculture and food, we as communicators should not stand at the back of the line.”

Reference: Use a title search (“What if we popularized”) or author search (Matthiesen) for the full citation. The editorial is posted on: www.ifaj.org/newsletter/dec2001/dec2001.pdf

Television – “like a grenade” in cultures. 

When Scott R. Olson examined the role of television in social change and national development, he concluded: “Television is not the magic bullet that most developers and the general public still assume it to be. It is more like a grenade, bursting little bits of social change like shrapnel into the cultural fabric, unpatterned and unpredictable, now and then a dud, sometimes exploding in the face of its master. Bullet or grenade, there is no doubt that television is a powerful weapon for national development. The question is how to control it.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Television in social change”) or author search (Olson) for the full citation.

When the live links go dark. 

What can you do when a live link shown in ACDC News or an online citation no longer operates?

  • Sometimes the “error” message directs you to an archive
  • Sometimes you can shorten the URL stem, visit the home page and trace the item that you seek.
  • If these techniques don’t work, get in touch with us. We archive the documents in ACDC, either in paper or electronic format, and will try to help you locate the materials you want. Even when the live links go dark.

Professional meetings approaching.

March 8-9, 2002
ACT Regional Conference hosted by the Oklahoma State University Chapter of Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow, Stillwater, OK. Career-oriented workshops feature professionals in agricultural public relations, advertising, broadcasting, publications and more.
Information: http://agweb.okstate.edu/act/

March 29, 2002
Deadline for 1- to 2-page abstracts to be submitted for papers proposed for presentation during Research Special Interest Group sessions of the Agricultural Communicators in Education meeting, Savanna, Georgia USA, during August.
Information: Sherrie Whaley at whaley.3@osu.edu

April 17-19, 2002
“Catch the rhythm.” Agri-marketing conference and trade show at Nashville, Tennessee USA. Sponsored by National Agri-Marketing Association.
Information: www.nama.org

April 18, 2002
Public relations sessions and membership meeting of Agricultural Relations Council (ARC) in Nashville, Tennessee.
Information:www.nama.org/arc

May 18-22, 2002
“Innovation through cooperation.” National Extension Technology Conference (NETC) at Pennsylvania State University. For persons interested in using or supporting technology in extension. Information: www.NETC2002.psu.edu

Best regards and good searching.

Please pass along your reactions, questions and ideas for ACDC. Feel free to invite our help as you search for information. And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents that we might add to this unique collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Ag Com Documentation Center, 69 Mumford Hall, 1301 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL 61801) or electronic form (docctr@library.uiuc.edu)

ACDC News – Issue 02-03

Posted on by Elizabeth Ray

More food/ag/rural content coming to the Internet? 

And in home-country language? According to the 2001 State of the Internet Report, the global population of online users “crossed the half billion milestone and online demographics began to increasingly reflect offline realities. Significantly, native English speakers lost their dominance in 2001 and now represent approximately 45% of the online population.”

How might this trend influence Internet content for a global community in which most nations and their citizens are directly and urgently involved in issues related to food and agriculture – and for whom English is not their native language?

Reference: A news report about the 2001 State of the Internet Report is available online at: www.usic.org/pressreleases/111201.htm. It comes from the United States Internet Council.

Language: why the Internet didn’t leap like satellite TV in Nepal. 

“It’s not only expense that puts it [the Internet] way, way behind,” said one source cited in a recently added report by Cherilyn Parsons about adoption of information technologies in Nepal. “It’s language. Sat-TV comes in Chinese, Hindi, other languages.” Parsons reported that “Language is the first and most obvious barrier. There are 22 different official languages in South Asia, and they use different alphabets than English does.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Online news in Nepal”) or author search (Parsons) for the full citation. The report is posted online at: http://ojr.usc.edu/content/story.cfm?id=215

Nearly 500 documents about risk communicating now fit into the ACDC collection.

All of them deal with communications aspects of food and agriculture (e.g., biotechnology, food irradiation, nutrition labeling, livestock diseases, cloning of livestock, food biosecurity and forest/wildlife preservation). They date back to 1972. More than 90 of them came into the collection during 2001, reflecting a growing interest in this topic.

Reference: Use a subject search (“risk communication”) for the list of titles, beginning with the most recent. And please alert us to other documents that we should add to this expanding collection.

Mere grist for the image control mill.

“There is a propensity for information extension.to descend to mere grist for the image control mill,” observed Darren Schmidt of Australia in a recent extension conference presentation. He described a group of information extension officers who support each other in efforts to produce and deliver quality information which can be used judiciously as a learning resource (extension context) rather than “ill-targeted promotion material for the policy de jour.” This paper outlined the purpose, formation, composition, operations, progress and challenges of the group.

Reference: Use a title search (“Information and Communication Network”) or author search (Schmidt) for the full citation. Posted online at: http://www.regional.org.au/au/apen/2001/p

Agriculture. A comfort factor in the U.S. public mind. 

Signs of this appeared in results of the Battleground 2002 Survey conducted among U.S. registered voters during April 2001. Less than one-half of one percent of respondents said they think agriculture/farming/ranching is the number one problem that they and their families are most concerned about. Top concerns? These included the economy (12 percent), education (11 percent), moral/religious concerns (7 percent), crime (5 percent) and drugs (5 percent).

Reference: Use a title search (“Battleground 2002 Survey”) or author search (Tarrance) for the full citation. Posted in the Academic Universe of Lexis-Nexis: http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/

“Ignorance is no bliss.

It is a severe handicap in a social environment where knowledge is power.” This observation came from B.S.S. Rao in “Rural development: communication systems and working out strategies.” In the book chapter, Rao urged communicators to evolve rural development strategies that reach those needing information, provide the right information at the right time by the right means, and at optimal costs.

Reference: Use a title search (above) or author search (Rao) for the full citation, including details about the 1994 book in which this chapter appeared.

How farmers gather information these days.

Following are titles of some documents that we added during 2001 about the information sources that farmers use today in making decisions:

  • “Farmer radio listening ratings, past and present”
  • “Growers find increased value on the Web”
  • “Commercial Producer Insights, Part 2”
  • “Poll shows change in ag trends”
  • “Keep the presses rolling: magazines win an important ‘election'”
  • “Marketing Australian wheat”

Reference: Use a subject cross-search (farmers “information sources”) for the full list of documents added during 2001, as well as more than 180 documents from earlier years.

Trends in Australia’s agricultural media sector. 

An update in the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) newsletter identified several trends and recent developments. Author Liz Kellaway noted:

  • Concentration of ownership in agricultural publications.
  • Several major daily metropolitan newspapers with rural editors or reporters looking at rural issues and putting them into an urban context.
  • Television and radio coverage of agriculture dominated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, a national publicly funded broadcaster which incorporates television, radio and internet-based services. Staffing for regional/rural coverage has increased recently.
  • Emergence of portal web sites (from media, marketers and organizations) that offer news and information content to the rural sector. “This may be contributing towards a growing trend for Australian farmers to look to the Internet as an increasingly important source of information.

Reference: Use a title search (“Broadcast getting increased resources”) or author search (Kellaway) for the full citation. The article is posted on: www.ifaj.org/newsletter/dec2001/dec2001.pdf

Cooking schools come back. 

A recent article in the Chicago Tribune reported that renewed interest in home cooking is one of 20 food-related trends for 2002. “Across the country after Sept. 11, couples with show-off home kitchens began to take cooking classes to learn to use them, while younger couples and singles have been signing up too, hoping to eat better–and more cheaply–when they eat at home.” Expanding cookbooks are among other noted trends of possible interest to food communicators.

Reference: Use a title search (“20 trends for 2002”) for the full citation. The article was posted online at: www.chicagotribune.com/features/food

Professional meetings approaching.

March 8-9, 2002
ACT Regional Conference hosted by the Oklahoma State University Chapter of Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow, Stillwater, OK. Career-oriented workshops feature professionals in agricultural public relations, advertising, broadcasting, publications and more.
Information: http://agweb.okstate.edu/act/

March 29, 2002
Deadline for 1- to 2-page abstracts to be submitted for papers proposed for presentation during Research Special Interest Group sessions of the Agricultural Communicators in Education meeting, Savanna, Georgia USA, during August.
Information: Sherrie Whaley at whaley.3@osu.edu

April 17-19, 2002
“Catch the rhythm.” Agri-marketing conference and trade show at Nashville, Tennessee USA. Sponsored by National Agri-Marketing Association.
Information: www.nama.org

April 18, 2002
Public relations sessions and membership meeting of Agricultural Relations Council (ARC) in Nashville, Tennessee.
Information:www.nama.org/arc

May 18-22, 2002
“Innovation through cooperation.” National Extension Technology Conference (NETC) at Pennsylvania State University. For persons interested in using or supporting technology in extension.
Information: www.NETC2002.psu.edu

Best regards and good searching.

Please pass along your reactions, questions and ideas for ACDC. Feel free to invite our help as you search for information. And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents that we might add to this unique collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Ag Com Documentation Center, 69 Mumford Hall, 1301 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL 61801) or electronic form (docctr@library.uiuc.edu)

ACDC News – Issue 02-02

Posted on by Elizabeth Ray

Agricultural print media – the Big Bang of extension. 

Commercialization of the printing press in Europe during the early 1600s created “the first opportunity for widespread information and knowledge transfer throughout all sections of society including agriculture.” Jess Jennings and Roger Packham, University of Western Sydney, Australia, traced the development of agricultural extension in a paper presented recently. They observed that the rise of agricultural print media “can be accepted as a legitimate origin of extension practice, and simultaneously the naïve beginnings of an agricultural extension profession.” On the downside, their historical analysis also identified origins of separation between on-farm practice and agricultural research and learning processes.

Reference: Use a title search (“Big Bang and genealogy”) or author search (Jennings) for the full citation. Paper posted at: www.regional.org.au/au/apen/2001/JenningsJ.htm

Watching for food from abroad. 

A 2001 survey by the Tarrance Group among U.S. registered voters revealed that 81 percent considered it somewhat or very important that the food they eat comes from farms and ranches in the United States rather than from foreign countries. However, 40 percent said they rarely or never look at labels when they purchase or use food or beverages to see in which country or state they are produced.

Reference: Use a title search (“Farm Survey June 2001”) or author search (Tarrance) for the full citation. Details of the survey are posted in the Academic Universe of Lexis-Nexis http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/

More “feel-good” labels appearing on food these days. 

“Bird-friendly,” “shade-grown” and “cage-free” are “just a few of the new marketing labels being plastered on food packages.” So reported a recent New York Times article. Writer Marian Burros said as organic labels have become commonplace, additional feel-good labeling is appearing in food stores. The article noted problems of meaning, accuracy and ethics. It also described the rise of new food certification programs.

Reference: Use a title search (“Good eating”) or author search (Burros) for the full citation. Text is archived (January 2, 2002) at: www.plant.uoguelph.ca/safefood/archives/agnet-archives.htm

Also some misleading GM-free claims on food labels. 

A recent survey by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland revealed this problem. The survey analyzed levels of GM (genetically modified) content in dried soy products, soy substitutes for dairy products and soy infant formulae to ensure that the industry is adhering to food labeling regulations. One-third of the samples that tested positive for GM ingredients were mislabeled. Most indicated they contained no such ingredients, one was labeled as organic.

Reference: Use a title search (“Survey shows misleading GM free claim”) for the full citation. A news summary and the full survey report are available online at: http://www.fsai.ie/press_releases/030102.htm

” A clear challenge for all is to become more professional in the way science is communicated.”

So concluded European Union Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin in response to a recent Europe-wide survey about genetically modified food. Results showed, for example, that nearly 86 percent of respondents wanted to know more about GM food before eating it. Commissioner Busquin said the results “show that Europe must invest in knowledge at all levels, and especially in scientific information. . People want to learn and want to have information.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Europeans want right to choose”) for the full citation. Archived (December 19, 2001) at: www.plant.uoguelph.ca/safefood/archives/agnet-archives.htm

Tobacco litter – out of the public eye?

Public relations efforts of the U.S. tobacco industry are under fire for more than the health aspects of tobacco. The Center for Media and Democracy recently examined “a pattern of industry funding and collusion” between the tobacco industry and the “Keep America Beautiful” litter awareness group. Writing in PR Watch, Walter Lamb reported that the industry effort is designed to help downplay the global environmental issue of litter from cigarette butts, “the most prolific form of litter in the world.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Keep America Beautiful”) or author search (Lamb) for the full citation. The report is posted online at: www.prwatch.org/prwissues/2001Q3/kab.html

Consumer views of organic foods. 

Research among consumers in England reveals possible changes in attitudes. Research by Mintel during 2001 showed that 18 percent of adults considered organic foods “better for you than their standard equivalent.” This was a decline from 22 percent in 1999.

“Perhaps the real hurdle though is price – 40 percent of people say the cost – often twice that of normal produce – is the most off-putting factor concerning organic food.”

The Soil Association of UK said it “disputes Mintel’s findings,” pointing to nutritional and health benefits of organic foods.

Reference: Use a title search (“Organic turn-off?”) for the Mintel citation. The news report is posted at: www.channel4.co.uk/news/home/20020104/Story02.htm
Use a title search (“Soil Association disputes”) for the Association citation. The Soil Association press statement is posted at:www.soilassociation.org/sa/saweb.nsf/librarytitles/News04012002.html.

Professional activities approaching.

March 29, 2002
Deadline for 1- to 2-page abstracts to be submitted for papers proposed for presentation during Research Special Interest Group sessions of the Agricultural Communicators in Education meeting, Savannah, Georgia USA, during August.
Information: Sherrie Whaley at whaley.3@osu.edu

April 17-19, 2002
“Catch the rhythm,” Agri-Marketing Conference and Trade Show in Nashville, Tennessee USA. Sponsored by National Agri-Marketing Association.
Information: www.nama.org

April 18, 2002
Public relations sessions and annual member meeting of Agricultural Relations Council (ARC) in Nashville, Tennessee.
Information www.nama.org/arc

May 18-22, 2002
“Innovation through cooperation,” National Extension TechnologConference (NETC) at Pennsylvania State University USA. For personsinterested in using or supporting technology in extension.
Information: www.NETC2002.psu.edu

Best regards and good searching.

Please pass along your reactions, questions and ideas for ACDC. Feel free to invite our help as you search for information. And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents that we might add to this unique collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Ag Com Documentation Center, 69 Mumford Hall, 1301 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL 61801) or electronic form (docctr@library.uiuc.edu)

ACDC News – Issue 02-01

Posted on by Elizabeth Ray

It’s bad. Could it happen? We don’t know that it can’t. 

That’s a common format for media coverage of food safety issues, according to a commentary in Meatingplace.com. Writer Dan Murphy said that even in the aftermath of 9/11 the media are still lured “to explore yet more concerns about the alleged dangers Americans face – not on the battlefield, but at the breakfast and dinner tables.” He pointed to speculative media reporting on potential problems about mad cow disease, biotechnology, irradiation, foot-and-mouth disease “and a host of other issues on the horizon.” Examples from Wall Street Journal and the “West Wing” television series came into his line of fire.

Reference: Use a title search (“Media still the fear factor”) or author search (Murphy) for the full citation.Archived (November 30, 2001) at: www.plant.uoguelph.ca/safefood/archives/fsnet-archives.htm.

Europeans say journalists lack appropriate background. 

More than one-half (53.3 percent) of those questioned in a recent Eurobarometer said they believe that most journalists dealing with scientific topics do not have the appropriate background or training to do so. Other responses to this survey among 16,029 Europeans in all member states of the European Union indicated that two-thirds feel they are not well informed about science and technology. Findings such as these underscore the importance of professional communicators that understand the complex food/agriculture/natural resource interests of our societies.

Reference: Use a title search (“Europeans, science and technology”) for the full citation. Full report posted at: http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/press/2001/pr0612en-report.pdf

“Can you tell me exactly what a person that works in ag communication does?” 

The question came to us recently from a college student who was preparing to give a presentation for her final examination in a college class. It’s a good question – and one not easy to answer, given the many kinds of work in which agricultural communicators are involved these days. The answer would have been simpler even a few years ago.

We responded to the student’s question, as requested. Our reply included suggestions about how she might use the ACDC web site to gather various kinds of career information.

Do you have suggestions about what to tell this student and others that ask? Do you know of useful descriptions of the work of agricultural communicators?

If so, please forward them to us at docctr@library.uiuc.edu.

A digital gender divide. 

A recent article in Development journal examined what the author describes as a digital gender divide. Susanne Hamm wrote that “access by women to the Internet is far less open than access by men.” She cited a 1999 United Nations study showing contrasting levels of Internet access by women in the Arab states (4%), China (7%), Russia (16%), Japan and South Africa (17%) and the United States (38%).

Reference: Use a title search (“Information communications technologies”) or author search (Hamm) for the full citation.

The blind chicken problem: untangling numbers from beliefs. 

Last month a National Public Radio (U.S.) program described an animal welfare dilemma. Paul Thompson, philosophy professor at Purdue University, posed it as a “real philosophical conundrum.” He described a strain of chickens that are blind. They don’t mind being crowded, so one could suggest using those birds in confinement systems. “If you think that it’s the welfare of the individual animal that really matters here.then it would be more humane to have these blind chickens. On the other hand, almost everyone that you ask thinks that this is an absolutely horrendous thing to do.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Debate over genetically altered”) or author search (National Public Radio) for the full citation. Archived at:
www.plant.uoguelph.ca/safefood/archives/animalnet-archives.htm

“Of polls and loaded questions.” 

A commentary from Americans for Medical Progress (AMP) described differing responses to public surveys about the use of animals for research. Two examples cited:

  1. “56 percent of respondents said they would be more likely to donate to a health charity that had a policy against conducting or paying for animal experiments than they would to a charity that did not have such a policy.”
  2. “When asked ‘Do you believe the use of animals in medical research is necessary for progress in medicine?’ 71% of the respondents in a 1998 poll said ‘yes’.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Of polls and loaded questions”) for the full citation. Posted online at: www.amprogress.org/news/index.htm

Mega-websites – poor models for supporting development? 

Researchers Joel Samoff and Nelly P. Stromquist raised this question in their analysis of the role that large research databases can play in national development. They wrote recently in a Development and Change article:

“In practice, distilled digested mini-facts disseminated electronically risk perpetuating rather than reducing dependence. A banking model of knowledge and knowledge sharing stymies learning because it undermines and devalues learners’ initiative and responsibility. . Problem-solvers must be directly involved in generating the knowledge they require.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Managing knowledge and storing wisdom”) or author search (Samoff) for the full citation.

Rethinking action research. 

Ruth Beilin and Lucia Boxelaar, University of Melbourne, Australia, recently presented a thoughtful analysis of connections between theory and extension practice. They hypothesized that “action research is popular among extension practitioners because it offers.democratic research opportunities. However, at times this has led to the neglect of theory.” Authors examined ways in which theoretical perspectives such as those offered in cultural studies and critical theory can be tools that strengthen participatory approaches.

Reference: Use a title search (“Rethinking action research”) or author search (Beilin) for the full citation. Posted at www.regional.org.au/au/apen/2001/BeilinR.htm

Development-related books added recently. 

Two books identified recently for the ACDC collection may serve those interested in communications aspects of agricultural and rural development.

Subhash Bhatnagar and Robert Schware (eds.), Information and communication technology in development: cases from India. Sage Publications, New Delhi, India. 2000. 230 pages.

Srinivas R. Melkote and Sandhya Rao (eds.), Critical issues in communication: looking inward for answers. Essays in honor of K.E. Eapen. Sage Publications, New Delhi, India. 2001. 491 pages.

Professional meeting approaching.

February 2-6, 2002
Agricultural Communications Section of the Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists (SAAS) convention, Orlando, Florida.
Information: http://agnews.tamu.edu/saas/

Past the 19,000-document mark. 

Recent days brought not only a new year, but also a new milestone in the Center. It is a pleasure to report that this collection now includes more than 19,000 documents about the communications aspects of agriculture (broadly defined) throughout the world. All documents can be identified through online searching. All are available. Now we head toward the 20,000 mark — and welcome your help.

Best regards and good searching.

Please pass along your reactions, questions and ideas for ACDC. Feel free to invite our help as you search for information. And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents that we might add to this unique collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Ag Com Documentation Center, 69 Mumford Hall, 1301 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL 61801) or electronic form (docctr@library.uiuc.edu)