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How consumers define “truth”
in food and agriculture these days
“New consumer research from The Center for Food Integrity (CFI) in partnership with FMI – The Food Industry Association – challenges conventional wisdom about what’s considered credible and ‘true’ in today’s food system.” We are adding this 2025 research report to the ACDC collection.
Online behaviors of 4,000 U.S. consumers over a two-year period revealed that consumers in the largest of five consumer segments – “comfort seeker” – tended to see truth grounded in reassurance (simple, safe and familiar). Interestingly, consumer orientation to the “rationalist” segment (truth grounded in science, research, reason) represented only 19 percent of the population and 15 percent of the conversation owned by that segment.
You can read “New research reveals how consumers define ‘truth’ in food and agriculture” by open access.
New book about farm country (and rural journalism)
We are especially pleased to add to the ACDC collection a 2024 book about “a journalist’s decadeslong search for the soul of rural America in a changing world.”
We feel this pleasure because books reflecting the efforts and lives of agricultural journalists and communicators are few and far between. Jim Patrico’s Dispatches from Farm Country reflects his more than 40 years of experience interviewing and photographing rural residents in varied enterprises and communities throughout the nation.
“Dispatches from Farm Country tells intimate stories that enchant and inform. They give the reader a better understanding of rural America and help bridge the gaps between cities and small towns.” You can learn more about it at: https://jimpatrico.com/book
“2025 NAFB Listenership Research”
We also are adding to ACDC a 21-page report of findings from a new national farm radio listenership study involving 1,001 U.S. farmers and ranchers who listen to agricultural radio. Kynetec Research conducted it online and by phone during January and February 2025 for the National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB). Among the findings:
- Typically, farmers and ranchers listen while driving a vehicle or operating farm equipment
- More than one-third said they tune in more than once a day
- Ag markets and local weather are the most important kinds of information for which they tune to ag radio
- 42 percent of respondents selected radio as their first choice source for trustworthy ag news and information
- 59 percent said that hearing a farm broadcaster mention a product or company has an impact on their perception of the product/company
You can read “2025 NAFB Listenership Research” by open access.
Key focus areas for grocers as they look ahead
Online grocery shopping is becoming mainstream, according to results of a 2024 survey by VTEX, a commerce platform for business-to-consumer and business-to-business brands and retailers. VTEX surveyed 1,000 U.S. adult consumers and reported:
- 47 percent of respondents said they order 26-50 percent of their groceries online
- 60 percent prefer home delivery for their online grocery orders
This finding “underscores the importance of grocers prioritizing their digital offerings.” It suggests that brands which fail to meet these evolving consumer preferences risk losing market share to more digitally savvy competitors.”
You can read “VTEX survey reveals 69% of consumers…” by open access.
Congratulations, Yanling Liu
We are delighted to learn that ACDC associate Yanling Liu was announced this month as recipient of the 2024-2025 Outstanding Graduate Student Award. The award recognizes graduate student employees for exceptional accomplishments and service to the University of Illinois Library.
Yanling is a candidate for the Master of Science degree in Library and Information Science here. She contributes importantly to the Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (including ACDC News) as a graduate assistant in the Funk Library of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES).
Communicator events approaching
Here are agricultural communicator event plans you may find helpful, including contact information you can use for details. We welcome suggestions or revisions for this calendar.
April 29-May 1, 2025
Annual meeting of the Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association (TOCA) in Charleston, South Carolina.
June 16-18, 2025
“Say cheese!” Annual conference of the Association for Communication Excellence (ACE) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
June 24-25, 2025
“Kickin’ it in KC” Annual conference of the Agricultural Relations Council (ARC) in Kansas City, Missouri.
July 9-13, 2025
Annual conference of the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors (ISWNE) in Brookings, South Dakota.
July 27-30, 2025
Agricultural Media Summit in Rogers, Arkansas. Member associations include Ag Media Council of SIIA AM&P Network, Agricultural Communicators Network and Livestock Publications Council.
July 27-29, 2025
Annual conference of National Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow (ACT). This student organization meets in collaboration with Agricultural Media Summit in Rogers, Arkansas.
“Listen to me”
We close this April issue of ACDC News with a Welsh proverb. We, too, observe that the tendency may apply beyond birds.
“Every bird relishes its own voice.”
A friendly reminder:
ACDC is a deep and open resource for you, so please feel free to invite our help as you search for information, local to global. 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 Agricultural Communications 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