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Addressing fraudulent pesticides in the agrifood sector
We are adding to the ACDC collection a 2022 article in Agronomy journal about farmer perceptions of fraudulent pesticides in Egypt. Factorial analysis of data from 394 farmers revealed several critical drivers related to buying fraudulent pesticides: beliefs, health and environmental risks, recognition of quality, price, and policies. Findings led the researchers to recommend these actions:
• Reinforce the extant pesticide laws and administration of regulations
• Increase public awareness of the consequences of fraudulent pesticide use
• Improve recognition behavior by detecting fraudulent pesticides with digital technologies among all stakeholders
We note that the pesticide issue extends well beyond one country. You can read the article by open access here.
“Down and Dirty” – A branding campaign among country-lifestyle teens in Virginia
A campaign to assess attitudes and inform teens in Virginia about the risks of chewing tobacco showed results in an article we identified recently in Health Education and Behavior. Youths who “live and breathe country lifestyles” got special attention in this campaign, which involved traditional, digital, and social media. A total of 1,264 13- to 18-year-olds were recruited as participants.
Three waves of attitude assessment during the campaign revealed greater odds of strong attitudes against chew during Waves 2 and 3, compared with Wave 1. Results also indicated that odds of chew use were lower for these high-risk, country-engaged teens at later points of the campaign.
You can read the article by open access here.
Exploring disconnects between cooperatives and their members
Agricultural cooperatives must invest in a mixed strategy of communication channels to reach all profiles and preferences of their members. That advice came from the report of a literature review published earlier this year in the International Journal on Food System Dynamics. Authors searched for empirical articles in five international databases. Findings suggested that “agricultural cooperatives are slow to incorporate more diverse and effective means of communication to reach their varied audiences. … Inconsistent and ineffective communication between agricultural cooperatives and their members can create a disconnect ….”
You can read the article here.
Freedom within a cage
A 2021 article in BMJ Global Health examined how patriarchal gender norms limit women’s use of mobile phones in rural central India. Authors noted that India has one of the highest gender gaps in mobile phone access in the world. Their study focused on a sample of young married women in rural Madhya Pradesh. Findings revealed that phone use among these women was rarely constrained by overt gatekeeping. However, it was limited in ways such as:
• Narrow range of socially acceptable uses for women, compared with men
• Dependence on men for phone ownership
• Lower proximity to phones
• Poorer functionality of women’s phones
• Limited digital skills
• Constraints in time available to use phones.
You can read the article by open access here.
Case study of farmers as drivers of innovation
“Farmers are often overlooked and undervalued as sources of information, but can be powerful drivers of ingenuity and development.” A team of researchers at the University of Western Australia led with this observation in a 2022 research report published in Prometheus.
As a case example, team members evaluated historical developments in the Australian subterranean clover seed production industry. They identified lessons for agricultural innovation in the future and concluded: “Harnessing the creative power of farmers has potential to accelerate agricultural innovation and contribute to solving the considerable challenges facing global agriculture.”
You can read the case study here.
Welcome to our new ACDC associate
We are delighted to welcome Precious Olalere as new graduate assistant in the Agricultural Communications Documentation Center. She joined us during mid-August with a part-time appointment as she undertakes her graduate studies in the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois.
Precious earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Library and Information Science from the University of Ilorin, a federal government-owned university in western Nigeria. She brings research and analytic software experience from Scholars Academy and the Nigerian Stored Products Research Institute (NSPRI) Library.
Communicator events approaching
Uncertainties of the COVID-19 health issue continue to prompt flexible event planning. Here are plans of which we are aware, with contact information you can use for details.
September 21-22, 2022
Professional Development Workshop sponsored by the Cooperative Communicators Association (CCA) in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Information: https://communicators.coop/professional-development/workshops/
September 22, 2022
“Usage of satellite imagery in agricultural journalism.” Online workshop via Zoom, European Network of Agricultural Journalists (ENAJ). Presenter Jan Labohý is chief executive officer of World from Space.
Information: https://enaj.eu/usage-of-satellite-imagery-in-agricultural-journalism/
October 10-12, 2022
“Cultivating. Connecting.” Fall conference of the National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Information: https://nama.org/2022-fall-conference.html
October 13, 2022
Annual Harvest Service and Lunch, British Guild of Agricultural Journalists, in London, England. Information: https://www.gaj.org.uk/harvest-service-and-lunch
October 21-25, 2022
“ScienceWriters 2022.” Meeting of the National Association of Science Writers
(NASW) in Memphis, Tennessee.
Information: https://www.nasw.org/events/sciencewriters-2022-memphis/
November 16-18, 2022
“Providing Choice Information for Agriculture,” National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB) annual conference in Kansas City, Missouri. Information: https://nafb.com/events/nafb-convention
When you gain lots of influence
We close this issue of ACDC News with a piece of Old Farmer’s Advice which associate Paul Hixson shared with us:
“If you get to thinking you’re a person of some influence, try ordering somebody else’s dog around.”
Best regards and wishes
ACDC is an open resource for you, so please feel free to invite our help as you search for information. You are welcomed to follow us on Twitter @ACDCUIUC. And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents we might add to this unique and valued international collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Ag Comm Documentation Center, 510 ACES Library, 1101 S. Goodwin Avenue, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801) – or in electronic format sent to acdc@library.illinois.edu