Ray Elizabeth

Internet marketing for farmers.

That is the title of an informative resource offered by the King County staff of Washington State University Cooperative Extension. It is directed toward use in small-scale farming operations. Main sections include:

Reference: Search on title (Internet marketing for farmers) for the full citation. The document is posted online at: http://king.wsu.edu/Ag/internetmarketing.htm

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The ARC website is available again.

You can view the Agricultural Relations Council site at a new home: http://nama.org/arc The “Useful Links” page of the ACDC web site provides direct contact with it.

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You will also find two new links

On the “Useful Links” page. They include the Agricultural Publishers Association and a teaching/practice resource, Agricultural Communications Case Studies.

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More perspectives in the biotech “dialogue:”

“Eat margarine and go blind. It’s hard to believe that even lawyers and senators peddled such drivel (decades ago). But, then again, we do have some heavyweights in our current political arena who are raising some equally-tenuous fears about genetically-modified foods.” (Reference: “Debate over margarine still spreads a nasty echo”)

“The architects of heaven always end up designing a hell.” (Reference: “Beware the appliance of science.”)

“In both the short- and longer-term, education of the public and of opinion leaders is…. essential, if we are to avoid making public policy in a way that resembles uncannily the 17^thCentury Salem witch trials.” (Reference: “Biotech offers [baby] food for thought.”)

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Seven “attitudinal sins” of researchers and research administrators.

A science interpretive writer, Walter von Wartburg, recently described seven “attitudinal sins, the things researchers and research administrators should not do” in dealing with public issues.

Wartburg spoke, along with four other writers, during a panel discussion, “Communicating about biotechnology and addressing public concerns,” last October at an international conference in Washington, D.C. The conference, “Agricultural biotechnology and the poor,” was convened by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.

Reference: Search by author (Persley) or title (Communicating about…) to see the full citation. The proceedings are at: http://www.cgiar.org/biotech/rep0100/contents.htm

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Contributing to agricultural communications research – after retirement.

The recent passing of John C. Baker reminds us of a special way in which dedicated professionals can contribute to what is known about agriculture-related communicating.

After John retired in 1970 he researched and wrote a 342-page book, Farm Broadcasting: The First Sixty Years (Iowa State University Press, Ames. 1981). He had been among the early U.S. farm broadcasters, starting as an extension broadcaster at Purdue University in 1930. Through his post-retirement effort, he contributed the first book dealing with radio and television programs for farmers, nationwide.

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Some recent inquiries.

Here are some kinds of questions to which Center staff members have responded recently:

Let us know if we can help you gather information for communications projects that are on your agenda.

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One way to put it.

Here’s how an unfortunate motorist described a traffic accident: “Coming home, I drove into the wrong house and collided with a tree I didn’t have.”

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Professional meetings approaching.

Here are the approaching meetings of several U.S. professional agricultural communicator organizations:

May 6-8, 2000
East Region Meeting of the National Association of Farm Broadcasters in Washington, D.C.
Information: nafb-east@excite.com

May 10-11, 2000
“Communicating science: taking the risk.” A superworkshop on risk communication for scientists, communicators and administrators. Sponsored by Agricultural Communicators in Education (ACE) and Extension Service (CSREES) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Information:http://www.aceweb.org/superworkshop2000/superworkshop.html

May 18-20, 2000
“T2K.” Texas 2000, the American Horse Publications annual meeting and seminar in Irving, Texas. The event will also feature a 30^th anniversary celebration.
Information: http://www.americanhorsepubs.org

May 21-24, 2000
“Fast chips and hot salsa.” National Extension Technology Conference (NETC) in College Station, Texas.
Information: http://netc2000.tamu.edu

June 1-4, 2000
West Region meeting of the National Association of Farm Broadcasters in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Information: Don Wick at wick@wcco.com

June 24-27, 2000
Cooperative Communicators Association (CCA) Institute in Whitefish, Montana.
Information: http://www.CoopComm.com

July 23-26, 2000
U.S. Agricultural Communicators Congress (USACC) in Washington, D.C. Involves professionals from Agricultural Communicators in Education (ACE), American Agricultural Editors’ Association (AAEA), National Association of Farm Broadcasters (NAFB), Agricultural Relations Council (ARC) and Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow (ACT).
Information: USACC2000@aol.com

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Best regards and good searching.

Please let us know if we can help you find information and/or if you can suggest documents that we might add to this collection.

What do daily newspaper editors and reporters want from agricultural news sources these days?

They want ready access to “unbiased, non-judgmental, accurate analysis and interpretation of complex issues.” These desires emerged in the research completed recently by Sharon B. Stringer at Pennsylvania State University. Her doctoral dissertation, “An evaluation of sources of agricultural news,” (December 1999) involved a survey among 76 editors and reporters in Pennsylvania.

“Editors and reporters did not agree on the importance of their gatekeeping tasks relative to agricultural news sources. However, they did agree that agricultural news sources are important in helping them to inform the public as quickly as possible, provide problem analysis and interpretation of complex issues, and ensure that all sides of a story are presented.”

Details: Search on author (Stringer) or title (above) for the full citation. The text is available online at: http://etda.libraries.psu.edu/theses/available/etd-0112100-085353/

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Consumers and editors: differing views about the importance of food safety. 

A“significant gap” exists in the views held by U.S. consumers and newspaper editors regarding the importance of food safety. The CMF&Z 1999 Food Safety Study revealed that 83 percent of a probability sample of consumers rated food safety as “very important,” compared with 53 percent of the newspaper food editors interviewed. In the eyes of consumers, food safety is one of the most important issues associated with personal and environmental safety. It ranks high, along with drinking water safety (86 percent), crime prevention (83 percent) and health and nutrition (81 percent).

This CMF&Z study, conducted annually since 1993, also:

Details: Search by author (CMF&Z) to get the full citation and document number. Contact us about availability of the report, and of previous ones in the series.

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Other lively views in the GMO “dialogue.”

“Look, if you want us to eat this stuff it’s not enough to tell us it won’t kill us!” (from a biotech critic)

“Maybe the pro-biotechnology side needs not more facts, but more passion.” (from a Canadian seed marketer)

“It is hardly surprising that so many researchers fail to see that no scientific issue is only a scientific issue.” (from a writer in an England newspaper)

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How to locate documents about biotech-related communications

In the ACDC collection. As you know, the wording keeps changing in this dynamic subject area: genetic engineering, biotechnology, GMO, GIO, GE, etc. So when you search the ACDC collection online you might search on several subject terms. Terms such as “biotechnology” and “genetic engineering” may produce the best response for you. We are not entering “GMO,” “GIO” or “GE” as subject terms, although our search system identifies them when they appear in the titles of documents.

At a broader level, you might also use subject terms such as “risk communication” and “food safety” to identify documents related to the communications aspects of biotechnology.

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New IFAJ web site.

The web site of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists can be reached at a new URL: http://www.uoguelph.ca/research/ifaj

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Ah, the election rhetoric

(as reported by Farmer’s Digest). The candidate, known for his anti-agricultural stand, flashed a bright smile at the audience in a packed hall.

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Professional meetings approaching.

Here are the approaching meetings of two U.S. professional agricultural communicator organizations:

May 10-11, 2000
“Communicating science: taking the risk.” A super workshop on risk communication for scientists, communicators, and administrators. Sponsored by Agricultural Communicators in Education (ACE) and Extension Service (CSREES) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Information:http://www.aceweb.org/superworkshop2000/superworkshop.html

May 18-20, 2000
“T2K.” Texas 2000, the American Horse Publications annual meeting and seminar in Irving, Texas. The event will also feature a 30th-anniversary celebration.
Information: http://www.americanhorsepubs.org

May 21-24, 2000
“Fast chips and hot salsa.” National Extension Technology Conference (NETC) in College Station, Texas.
Information: http://netc2000.tamu.edu

June 1-4, 2000
West Region meeting of the National Association of Farm Broadcasters in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Information: Don Wick at wick@wcco.com

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Best regards and good searching.

Please let us know if we can help you find information and/or if you can suggest documents that we might add to this collection.

Agricultural communications programs expanding – and scouting for strength.

Enrollments have grown during the past five years in eight of the nine agricultural communications programs offered by universities in the 13-state southern U.S. region. Professors Randy Weckman and Deborah Witham, University of Kentucky, and Ricky Telg, University of Florida reported this finding and others last month.

At the same time, responses from faculty members who work with those programs identified needs for increased support (funding, space, personnel), accreditation and greater understanding about what ag communications is as a field. Two-thirds of the respondents indicated that a national agricultural communications accreditation process would benefit their programs.

The paper can be viewed online at: http://agnews.tamu.edu/saas/

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Thanks to Ted Hutchcroft for adding generously to his ACDC contributions.

His three additions to the Center last month include one rare and privately printed book, a master’s thesis and a doctoral dissertation. They include:

• William E. Ogilvie, Pioneer agricultural journalists: brief biographical sketches of some of the early editors in the field of agricultural journalism. Arthur G. Leonard: Chicago. 1927.
• Theodore Hutchcroft, The agricultural television package service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture – after five years. Master’s thesis, American University, Washington, D.C. 1959.
• Theodore Hutchcroft, The Council for Agricultural Science and Technology: an innovation in public affairs education. Doctoral dissertation, Iowa State University, Ames. 1978.

These probably are not available to you locally, so check with us if you would like to discuss access.

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Tips on promoting one’s communications business.

“Practical and (almost) easy self-promotion and marketing” is the title of a presentation made by Sharlet R. Teigen at the recent National Association of Farm Broadcasters (NAFB) meeting in Kansas City, Missouri. She is principal of S. R. Brown Marketing Communications, Camp Crook, South Dakota. Her presentation covered a wide range of ideas, from image planning to publicity methods.

Details: Use title search (above) for full citation. Contact us if you would like a copy.

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Getting breaking news to media: no longer “one size fits all.”

In the current issue of the Cooperative Communicators Association (CCA) newsletter, a director of corporate relations for a major rural cooperative emphasizes how news services are no longer the size of a business envelope. Lani Jordan of Cenex Harvest States Cooperatives outlines the pros and cons of these options: U.S. mail, fax, e-mail, web sites and distribution services. She reports: “…we’ve found that by using a combination of tools, we’re able to get our releases to the right place at the right time and get the media coverage we want.”

Details: Use author search (Jordan) or title search (Weighing the options for news release distribution) for full citation. Inquire if interested in getting access to the article.

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New planning resource for crisis communication.

The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs has an informative new crisis response and communication planning manual and workbook. S.E. Grant and D. Powell, University of Guelph, prepared these resources for the Ministry (June 1999, revised January 2000).

The manual (18 pages) describes stages of crisis management, principles of planning and elements of a crisis communication/response plan. It also outlines steps and techniques for crisis communication, including guidelines for testing the plan. The workbook (30 pages) covers aspects such as the crisis audit, identification and location of resources, crisis response team membership and responsibilities, contact lists, scenario modules, crisis documentation and crisis recovery.

Details: Use author search (Grant or Powell) or title search (Crisis response and communication planning manual and workbook) for full citation. Contact the Ministry (lou_donofrio@omafra.gov.on.ca) or us about access to the documents.

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Signs of confusion among consumers about GMO.

Sixty percent of consumers in a recent Canadian survey “believed that a crop sprayed with chemicals or hormonal agents constituted genetically engineered foods.” The same survey, conducted in Quebec and Ontario, also “found that consumers believed irradiated food was also genetically modified.”

Details: Use author search (Lyons) or title search (Labels could confuse GMO issue) for full citation. Contact us about access to the document.

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Big gaps exist between U.S. consumers and farmers 

In their opinions about the impact of agriculture on the environment. Evidence appeared in 1999 Gap Research conducted by Roper Starch Worldwide Inc. on behalf of the Philip Morris family of companies and The American Farm Bureau Federation. Results indicated that consumers are more than twice as likely as farmers to think that agricultural chemicals in the water supply present a major problem. For example, 68 percent of consumers in the survey viewed pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers entering ground water as a major problem, compared with 29 percent of farmers surveyed.

Details: Use author search (Roper Starch) or title search (1999 gap research: consumer and farmer opinions about food and agriculture) for the full citation. Contact us about access to the document.

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Professional meetings approaching.

Here are the approaching meetings of two U.S. professional agricultural communicator organizations:

April 12-14, 2000
“All that jazz.” National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) conference and trade show. Site: Kansas City, Missouri.
Information: agrimktg@nama.org

May 21-24, 2000
“Fast chips and hot salsa.” National Extension Technology Conference (NETC) in College Station, Texas.
Information: http://netc2000.tamu.edu

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Best regards and good searching.

Please let us know if we can help you find information and/or if you can suggest documents that we might add to this collection.

New research from agricultural communicators at SAAS.

Here are the titles of some of the interesting conference papers added recently to the ACDC collection. They come from the Agricultural Communications Section of the Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists (SAAS), which met January 30-February 1 in Lexington, Kentucky.

• “May I take your order? Marketing Extension information in the commercial world”
• “The Florida agricultural community’s communications efforts during the 1997 and 1998 infestations”
• “Lessons learned on the journey to ‘team management’ in the agricultural communications unit”
• “A working strategy to inform urban public opinion leaders about agribusiness and its impact on economic development: a case study”
• “Hit me baby! Attracting readers to educational web sites through commercial partnerships”
• “Effective information campaigns that meet the needs of diverse audiences”
• “Firefighter public information officers’ communication effectiveness with the media during the 1998 Florida wildfires”

You can view the texts of these and other papers online at http://agnews.tamu.edu/saas/

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“Making wise choices” was the theme and purpose

Of a 1997 conference about telecommunications and rural community viability. A copy of the proceedings went into the ACDC collection recently as Document No. C10352. You can view the proceedings online at http://www.soc.iastate.edu/rdi-tech/

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How to organize dialogue meetings.

Here is an informative source of information about how to achieve dialogue through round table meetings. It comes from “Dialogue in biotechnology,” a report of a workshop conducted in Belgium during April 1998. And it offers specific “how-to” information, organized within a 10-point framework.

The European Federation of Biotechnology Task Group on Public Perceptions of Biotechnology and three other organizations sponsored this workshop. The report can be viewed online at: http://www.kluyver.stm.tudelft.nl/efb/tgppb/main.htm

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Does public information drive private information providers out of business?

Not necessarily, according to four agricultural economists. S. Wu, D. Just, D. Zilberman and S. Wolf presented a paper, “Demand for agricultural economic information,” at the annual meeting of the American Agricultural Economics Association in August 1999.

They found that the government provides the very general information input used by private information providers to bring a specialized piece of information to a specific audience. Intermediaries (such as media, commercial information vendors, commodity associations and brokers) rely heavily on the government for information. However, end users (such as farmers, banks, elevators and input suppliers) do not.

Details are available online at http://agecon.lib.umn.edu/

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More interesting quotes in the GMO debate

“Let’s stop eating plants and animals altogether. It’s a shame we did not have this information millions of years ago. It would have been so easy to avoid the perils of life.” Barbara Hohn, Friedrich Miescher Institute, in response to a call for a ban on transgenic crops containing a certain promoter. (Title: Scientists avert new GMO crisis)

“Biotechology isn’t science.” B. M. Alfred, National Post. (Use title search: Biotechnology science)

“I have more respect for a critical, informed opponent than for a blind follower.”

Alan McHughen. (Title: The role of geneticists in the public debate over genetically modified organisms)

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Making money communicating with pets.

A three-CD set of calming tunes for pets has been a fast seller since its release in June 1999 by a marketing firm, Incentive Media. Pets hear soft instrumental music blended with pleasant nature sounds. Forbes Magazine considers this business idea one of the most “idiotic” of the year, but more than 50,000 units had sold by year-end.

Is this uptake surprising to agricultural communicators who know how many producers play music to livestock in dairy barns and other buildings?

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Professional meetings approaching.

Here are the approaching meetings of several U.S. professional agricultural communicator organizations:

March 7-9, 2000
Back to the future.” Annual meeting and professional development conference of Agricultural Relations Council (ARC) in Orlando, Florida. Information: arc@nama.org

April 12-14, 2000
“All that jazz.” National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) conference and trade show. Site: Kansas City, Missouri.
Information: www.nama.org

May 21-24, 2000
Fast chips and hot salsa.” National Extension Technology Conference (NETC) in College Station, Texas.
Information: http://netc2000.tamu.edu

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Best regards and good searching.

Please let us know if we can help you find information and/or if you can suggest documents that we might add to this collection.

Remembering Larry Tennyson.

Our thoughts are with the family of Larry Tennyson, recently retired South Dakota State University faculty member who died January 10 of a heart attack. He will be missed. Larry’s interests included preserving and sharing information about agricultural communications. He had, in fact, visited the Documentation Center last March to discuss progress and plans.

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The Internet is an efficient, preferred response medium

According to a speaker at the recent Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow (ACT) workshop at the University of Illinois. Craig Pessman, business partner technical manager for IBM, offered data that compared the cost per lead from messages delivered by print, direct mail and the Internet.

ACDC reference: Use Title search (Communications & marketing in the e-life) to get the citation. Contact Center for a copy of the presentation.

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Some interesting expressions in the GMO debate

“Although food labels are much more reliable and informative than they were at the beginning of the 20^th century, modern day ‘snake oil’ claims will still be a problem in the 21^stcentury.” Bruce Silverglade, Center for Science in the Public Interest (Title: Are food labels Y2K ready?)

“The quality of information provided by many of the most easily accessed (Internet) sites is poor.” E.S. Allen, J.M. Burke, M.E. Welch and L.H. Rieseberg, Indiana University.
(Title: How reliable is science information on the web?)

“Where does the university come down on biotechnology? Are we for it or against it?” Chris Sigurdson, Purdue University, and Tom Knecht, Mississippi State University.
(Title: The academy and biotechnology)

“The biotech companies danced into this minefield with all the grace of an elephant in jackboots.” Maria Margaronis, The Nation. (Title: As biotech ‘frankenfoods’ are stuffed down their throats, consumers rebel)

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“Kinder, gentler” communications with animals

(Article by John Hiscock in the National Post, Canada). Author suggests that “kinder, gentler cattlemen are heading for a showdown with traditional cowboys over the use of ‘holistic’ herding.” This story explained that “sensitivity is now the watchword on the range. No longer are the cowpokes allowed to shout “git along” in case they hurt the animals’ feelings. Instead, they must speak softly, talk nicely and give them space and respect.”

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Some public relations lessons the tobacco industry has learned.

Jay Poole, vice president for agricultural relations, Philip Morris Management Corporation, offered these lessons at the AAEA convention in July 1999:

• Lesson 1 Opponents aren’t enemies.
• Lesson 2 Don’t view yourself as a victim
• Lesson 3 Be careful where you choose to make your stand.
• Lesson 4 Never stonewall. Issues don’t go away if you ignore them.
• Lesson 5 Never try giving anybody the silent treatment.
• Lesson 6 Whenever possible, be first with an issue.
• Lesson 7 Work to understand the groups and individuals who are making public opinion.
• Lesson 8 Look for allies.

“The real question,” he says, “is whether we can broaden our own vision. Those of us who communicate for a living pride ourselves on our ability to see an issue from many perspectives, to be objective and non-judgmental. But when we’re honest with ourselves, we discover that each of us has a position we gravitate toward, a perspective we tend to think of as the ‘right’ one.”

Title: Public relations lessons from the tobacco industry.

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A new edition of The Communicator’s Handbook is available.

This Fourth Edition, written by members of Agricultural Communicators in Education (ACE), covers topics such as: writing, photography, graphic design, video and radio production, presentation visuals, exhibits, media relations, media campaigns, crisis management, instructional design for distance learning, the Internet, organizational marketing. It is available as a book or as a three-hole punched, shrink-wrapped package suitable for placing in a notebook. Information: ace@gnv.ifas.ufl.edu

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Professional meetings approaching.

Here are the approaching meetings of several U.S. professional agricultural communicator organizations:

January 30-February 2, 2000
Agricultural Communications Section, annual meeting of the Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists. Site: Lexington, Kentucky. Information: http://cals.agnis.vt.edu/~saas/

February 10-11, 2000
Roads to the future.” Workshop offered by the Cooperative Communicators Association (CCA) for communications and member relations professionals involved in cooperative communications within the Midwest Region. Site: DoubleTree Club Hotel Riverport, St. Louis, Missouri.
Information: lgunlock@pla-corp.com

March 7-9, 2000
Back to the future.” Annual meeting and professional development conference of Agricultural Relations Council (ARC) in Orlando, Florida.
Information: arc@nama.org

April 12-14, 2000
“All that jazz.” National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) conference and trade show. Site: Kansas City, Missouri. Information: www.nama.org

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Best regards and good searching.

Please let us know if we can help you find information and/or if you can suggest documents that we might add to this collection.

Best wishes to you as a new year begins.

Those of us in the Agricultural Communications Documentation Center will continue to do our best to gather information that can be useful now and in the years to come.

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How many years?

We can reach back 100 years and more to find considerable information about agriculture-related communications. Will we be able to do the same 100 years and more from now? If so, what forms will the information take, what technologies will it involve and through what channels will it flow? Depositories such as ACDC face serious challenges in trying to select valuable information from the torrent passing by, then preserve it in ways that can assure it will be available across all of the changes that our future may bring.

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Improved access to historical materials about farming and agriculture 

Is available through a new U.S. Department of Agriculture web site. A searchable guide helps users explore more than 200 years of U.S. farming history (1761-1994) in the Agriculture History Collection. Totaling 650 cubic feet, the collection includes a wealth of reports, statistical tables, speeches, biographies, audiovisuals, photos and other materials. Many involve communications. Some examples: attitudes and opinions of farmers, promotion campaigns, newsletters (e.g., Farm Paper Letter), press releases, marketing research, food consumption surveys and campaigns against animal and plant diseases.

The URL: http://www.nal.usda.gov/speccoll/collect/history/index.htm

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What ethical issues are reflected in agricultural communications literature these days?

Here are some topics of ethics-related documents that have been added recently to the ACDC collection:

You can identify specific documents by using the term “ethical issues” in an online Subject search of the ACDC collection.

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“Can we not all just get along?”

That’s the title of an article by an agricultural public relations professional in the October 1999 issue of ByLine, newsletter of the American Agricultural Editors’ Association. Gary Vincent, vice president of public relations at Thomas C. Porter & Associates, has 22 years of reporting experience and 10 years of public relations experience. He says that editors and public relations practitioners can get along and, in fact, help each other be more effective in their work. He offers some guidelines for doing so.

ACDC reference: Use Title or Author search for full citation. Contact the Center if we can help you gain access to the article.

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If you have opportunities to talk with young people about careers 

In agricultural communications you should know that a PowerPoint presentation is available online. The Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow organization added it recently to the ACT web site. This presentation deals with the need for agricultural communications as a career field and identifies some schools that offer study programs to prepare for the field. The site: http://www.ifas.ufl.edu/~natact/presentationpages.html

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Professional meetings approaching.

Here are the approaching meetings of several U.S. professional agricultural communicator organizations:

January 14, 2000
Making Lemonade in January.” Risk communication workshop organized by the American Agricultural Editors’ Association (AAEA). “To help you navigate tricky topics, earn audience trust and squeeze the most from situations gone sour.” Site: Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota.
Information: thimsen@collemcvoy.com

February 10-11, 2000
Roads to the future.” Workshop offered by the Cooperative Communicators Association (CCA) for communications and member relations professionals involved in cooperative communications within the Midwest Region. Site: DoubleTree Club Hotel Riverport, St. Louis, Missouri.
Information: lgunlock@pla-corp.com

March 7-9, 2000
Back to the future.” Annual meeting and professional development conference of Agricultural Relations Council (ARC) in Orlando, Florida.
Information: arc@nama.org

 

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Question of the week – about animals communicating.

If a hog loses its voice is it disgruntled?

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Thanks for your kind response to improvements made recently in our web site.

We welcome your suggestions about how to make the site more attractive and user-friendly, our service more effective.

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Best regards and good searching.

Please let us know if we can help you find information and/or if you can suggest documents that we might add to this collection.

A new look on the web site.

You may already have noticed more color and graphics, improved readability and easier movement within the ACDC web site. The staff team redesigned it this fall and put it “on line” December 1. We hope that you enjoy it. As always, we welcome your reactions and suggestions.

And, yes, you can almost see the Center if you look in the far-left area of the campus photo. See those arms waving “hello”?

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In Canada, a pioneering academic program in agricultural communications

Recently gained financial support that will help it develop at the University of Guelph, Ontario. A news report from the CanAdapt program http://www.adaptcouncil.org/new.html says that a three-year grant will launch a drive to establish Canada’s only university-level, integrated communications program. CanAdapt is Ontario’s portion of the Canadian Adaptation and Rural Development fund of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

The initiative is being led by Owen Roberts, the University of Guelph director of research communications, course instructor and coordinator of an award-winning program, Students Promoting Awareness of Research (SPARK).

ACDC reference: Use Title search (Integrated agricultural communications program launched with CanAdapt support).

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“The mouse that roared: health scares on the Internet”

Is the arresting title of an article published this summer by the International Food Information Council Foundation. It identifies several recent scares, urges caution and suggests ways in which the “cyber-citizen” can judge validity of such information on the Internet.

“While the Internet can be a valuable source for scientifically accurate health information, it can also be a frontier town with no sheriff for assuring the truth of the information presented.”

The article also summarizes research showing how the information channels from which consumers get most of their nutrition information (television, magazines, newspapers) are quite different from channels they consider most credible (doctors, dietitians).

ACDC reference: use Title search (The mouse that roared) for citation details.

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Twenty-nine percent of U.S. farms now have Internet access

According to a recent report from the National Agricultural Statistics Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture. Findings came from a survey conducted during June 1999. Internet access on U.S. farms has more than doubled since 1997 when only 13 percent reported access. Forty percent reported that they now own or lease a computer, up from 31 percent in 1997.

View online at: http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/us…/nassr/other/computer/fmpc0799.txt

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After 40 years, food consumers “more sophisticated and skeptical.”

A report from the American Council on Science and Health notes that 40 years have passed since the cranberry scare of 1959 set off a national food panic. Several scientists cited in the article review progress in public understanding since then. Says one:

“In the past 40 years – having endured nearly a dozen similar food scares – Americans have become more sophisticated and skeptical about claims of ‘carcinogens’ in food.”

ACDC reference: use Title search (40 years ago this month) for details.

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Communicating by name, shame and blame.

“Whilst open information is a laudable aspiration, and one all workers in communicable disease surveillance and control would aspire to, ‘name, shame and blame’ may not be the best, and is not the only way to get there,” according to a respondent on the ProMED web site http://www.promedmail.org. The respondent says that commonly used approach may cause many countries to withdraw from collaboration in surveillance activities as they fear the economic consequences of admitting a problem. The document identifies other possible approaches.

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Concerns among consumers about biotech label messages.

Here are some research findings reported at a conference during late October by Sylvia Rowe, president of the International Food Information Council:

• Most labeling messages proposed worldwide would not be understood
• “Contains genetically modified X” is misinterpreted and evokes concern
• Many messages are “complex, unreadable”
• “Do not contain X” puts down competitors
• “May contain” – manufacturers should know

ACDC reference: Use Author search (Rowe) or Title search (Understanding the consumer) for citation details.

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Professional meetings approaching.

Here are the approaching meetings of several professional agricultural communicator organizations:

December 14, 1999
Developing a marketing plan for the future of agriculture.” Workshop offered by the National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) at Radisson Governor’s Inn, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.
Information: http://www.nama.org

February 10-11, 2000
Roads to the future.” Workshop offered by the Cooperative Communicators Association (CCA) for communications and member relations professionals involved in cooperative communications within the Midwest Region. Site: DoubleTree Club Hotel Riverport, St. Louis, Missouri.
Information: lgunlock@pla-corp.com

March 7-9, 2000
Back to the future.” Annual meeting and professional development conference of Agricultural Relations Council (ARC) in Orlando, Florida.
Information: arc@nama.org

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Best regards and good searching.

Please let us know if we can help you find information and/or if you can suggest documents that we might add to this collection.

More than 40 documents that Mason E. Miller contributed recently are being processed into the ACDC collection.

They come from the personal library of one who has effectively stimulated and strengthened agricultural communications research throughout his career in academic and government service. These documents include reports, articles, discussion papers and other valuable materials published between 1963 and 1982. Almost all are new to the ACDC collection and not easy to locate elsewhere.

Among the topics: social science research on development, consequences of innovations, group methods to actualize human potential, international communication policy and flow (bibliography), social action in community and area development, technical writing for scientists and women’s role in farming and agriculture (bibliography).

During the weeks ahead you will be able to identify these within ACDC through an online Title search using the topic titles listed above. For a complete listing of Mason Miller’s contributions to this collection, use an Author search (Miller).

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Suggestions for aspiring communicators.

Here are titles of several presentations offered November 5-6 during a career-oriented workshop for Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow (ACT) members. Students from Purdue University and the University of Illinois took part in this workshop on the University of Illinois campus. We are depositing the discussion materials used by professionals who led the sessions. Titles to request from ACDC:

• “Finding your niche in ag advertising”
• “Where do you fit in ag PR?”
• “Developing your broadcast portfolio”
• “Print portfolios: the best opportunity to sell your talents”

We also hope to collect materials presented during career sessions about agricultural writing, editing, photography and “online” technologies. Let us know if you would like to see some of the timely suggestions offered during this workshop.

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What’s the current public image of America’s farmers and ranchers?

ACDC has obtained the summary of a nationwide consumer survey commissioned during 1999 by the American Farm Bureau Federation. Results suggest that “consumers typically rank farmers high for positive attributes and in overall job performance.” Some of the attributes examined: contribution to society; innovativeness; care about the quality and safety of food produced; care about water quality, farm animals and the land; production of genetically-modified food crops.

Title to request from ACDC: “American Farm Bureau Federation: farmers again rank high with American consumers”

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Are writers evaluated on quantity?” 

That’s the title of an article in the current issue of ByLine, newsletter of the American Agricultural Editors’ Association. Author Jodie Wehrspann reports the results of her national survey among U.S. editors of magazines and newspapers. She found that half of the editors surveyed use quantitative evaluations. However, the ability to generate a lot of copy quickly was not so important to them relative to other measures such as accuracy, clarity, proper grammar/syntax and ability to generate useful story ideas.

Title to request from ACDC: “Are writers evaluated on quantity? If so, how?”

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Women: untapped information source.

The October 1995 issue of 2020 News & Views(from the International Food Policy Research Institute) suggests that women may hold the key to feeding the world by 2020. However:

“Women may be a storehouse for a lot of knowledge and indigenous information that we’re not tapping into,” according to one speaker at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Bejing, China, during 1995. The article also highlights other gaps and opportunities that were discussed.

Online access: http://www.cgiar.org/ifpri/2020/newslet/nv_1095/nv_1095a.htm

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Approaching deadline for proposals.

November 19 is the deadline for submitting proposals for papers to be presented at the National Extension Technology Conference May 21-24, 2000. Details are available at: http://netc2000.tamu.edu

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A toxicology and risk communication symposium is scheduled

For November 17 at the National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, Maryland. The National Capital Area Chapter of the Society of Toxicology hosts this one-day symposium. It may interest scientists and other professionals who have a stake in effective risk communication. Information: http://first.fda.gov/news/NCACFall.doc

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Watching our kitchen sink.

A reader of the New Scientist has heard that dishwashing liquid contains substances that cause feminization of alligators. In response, however, another reader writes: “After extensive investigation at great personal risk, we have established that all the alligators entering our kitchen sink are already female. The males, like their human counterparts, shun the washing up. Hence we believe that this environment poses no threat.”

Another writer, from the Soap and Detergent Industry Association, assures that dishwashing liquids in Britain contain neither estrogen mimics nor carcinogens.

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Best regards and good searching.

Please let us know if we can help you find information and/or if you can suggest documents that we might add to this collection.

1998-1999 Ag Media Report added to ACDC collection.

This report highlights results of telephone interviews with 2,443 farmers in the U.S. with farm income of $40,000+. The study, sponsored by the National Association of Farm Broadcasters, featured three waves of interviews during April 1998, September 1998 and February 1999.

Findings identify farm publications read, radio listening, television viewing, electronic data service usage, Internet usage and kinds of information that farmers need and want.

Title to request: “Ag Media Report 1998-1999”

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“Are agricultural communicators really listening?“

Julie Gay asked this question in a recent issue of the Agricultural Relations Council newsletter, ARCLight. She observed that in agribusiness communications the farmer’s voice is being repeatedly filtered. “Typically one farmer message must go through the following filters,” she explained.

1. Local dealer
2. District manager
3. Sales and/or marketing manager
4. Market research firm
5. Market research telephone surveyor
6. Communications agency account supervisor
7. Communications agency account executive
8. Communications agency creative staff
9. Communications agency media director
10. Top decision maker in client company

“How many of these 10 filters have actually talked to the farmer?” she asked. She said the accuracy of market research also needs to come into question because “farmers aren’t necessarily telling the truth when they answer the phone call, or fill out the form” …and “women…aren’t counted.” She believes it isn’t clear what will be needed to hear the farmer voice.

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Recent references about crisis communication.

Following are several documents that provide useful background information and detailed procedures related to the growing interest in risk communication. You can see them on the AgriFood Risk Management and Communication web site http://www.oac.uoguelph.ca/riskcomm or check with us.

• “An introduction to risk communication and the perception of risk” (1996)
• “Crisis response and communication planning manual” (1999)
• “Crisis response and communication planning workbook” (1999)

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GMO issues stirring media reports on food safety.

Here are some of the documents added to the ACDC collection during recent weeks from media coverage of this issue. You can use these titles to search for the sources or to request help from us in getting access to them.

• “The biotech rumor mill”
• “Protest may mow down trend to alter crops. Biotech: public outcry over genetically modified foods has the agricultural industry backpedaling”
• “Biotechnology companies face new foe: the Internet”
• “Consumer attitudes toward food biotechnology – Wirthlin Group Quorum surveys”
• “Smoke and mirrors about genetic food labelling”
• “Shoppers ‘need more assurance over food safety’”
• “GMO labelling issue may seem funny in retrospect”

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How biotech companies can ensure that consumers won’t accept their products.

Conrad Brunk, dean and professor of philosophy at the University of Waterloo, Canada, offered these tips during his presentation at the recent International Molecular Farming Conference in London:

• Tell the public that there’s no risk with the products.
• Cut funding to agencies which regulate the products.
• Have a bad incident to discredit the product, which should results in a trust problem.
• Deprive people of their control of the risk, such as opposing labelling. That creates the view that one is being exposed to an involuntary risk.
• Create the perception that others than the risk bearers will benefit, such as that the profits from the sale of the products go to large multi-national corporations or that the products benefit the bottom lines of farmers.
• Label critics as paranoid trouble makers.

Author and title of reference: John Greig, “The biotech equation now involves scientists, patients and grandmothers”

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Working on a grant proposal related to agricultural communications?

Let us know if we can help you carry out a literature review of the subject matter involved in your proposal.

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Whoa, Bessie.

The Ottawa (Canada) Citizen is carrying lively discussion about a decision by the Central Experimental Farm’s decision to stop naming its cows after women. According to a news report of October 11, “In the face of the public’s ire with the new policy, staff at the Agricultural Museum have been told not to discuss the cow-naming controversy.”

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Professional meetings approaching.

Here are the approaching meetings of several professional agricultural communicator organizations:

November 10-14
Annual conference, National Association of Farm Broadcasters, at Westin Crown Center, Kansas City, Missouri.
Information: www.nafb.com

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Best regards and good searching.

Please let us know if we can help you find information and/or if you can suggest documents that we might add to this collection.

New literature about risk communications in agriculture.

Here are titles of recent documents we have added to the Agricultural Communications Documentation Center:

• “Scare stories do us all harm”
• “Monsanto ads censured but safety claims backed”
• “A mutable feast: will the fight over gene-altered food products leap across the Atlantic?”
• “Support continues for consumer food safety education”
• “Farmers likely to be targeted in next food protest” (Canada)
• “GM backlash leaves U.S. farmers wondering how to sell their crops”
• “Public reaction to genetically-modified foods in the UK”

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Folk media alive and well, with a modern twist.

Storytelling, music, puppetry, drama, dance and other folk media have long been recognized throughout the world as effective ways to teach. (You can see dozens of samples by searching on the “traditional media” subject term in the ACDC collection.) An extension food toxicologist at the University of California is using a folk approach with electronic technology. Dr. Carl Winter records and performs musical parodies of popular songs with a food safety/science twist. Here are a few examples of songs on his latest CD:

• “I sprayed it on the grapevine” (to the tune, “I heard it through the grapevine”)
• “Food busters” (to the tune, “Ghostbusters”)
• “You’d better wash your hands” (to the tune, “I want to hold your hand”)
• “USDA” (to the tune, “YMCA”)
• “Food irradiation” (to the tune, “Do the locomotion”)

You can get details about this novel communications effort at the following URL: http://foodsafe.ucdavis.edu/music.html

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New food safety information service announced.

The Food and Drug Administration has opened a new Outreach and Information Center to help inform the U.S. public about food safety.

URL: www.hhs.gov/news/press/1999pres/990909.html
Public information line: 1-888-SAFEFOOD

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Center welcomes student assistant.

Rosie Subat, agricultural communications senior from near Yorkville, Illinois, joins the ACDC staff this month as a part-time student assistant. Rosie is completing the news-editorial option of her major, with special interest in photography. She will help identify, gather and process documents for the collection, as well as handle requests from clients.

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Unusual communications experiences this summer.

Paul Hixson, administrative coordinator of the Center, got two valuable intercultural experiences recently.

• As a vacationing volunteer, he worked with his son and others on an archeologist team that is doing mapping and preliminary exploratory excavations in the ruins of a large, ancient Maya city, Chunchukmil, in the northern Yucatan peninsula of Mexico. He helped create a video to explain the significance of this site to local residents.

• Later he worked for two weeks with the faculty at Sitting Bull College on the Standing Rock Sioux reservation in North Dakota. He helped the faculty explore possibilities for expanding the distance teaching program of the College.

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Internet use among rural community leaders.

Thanks to Professor Kris Boone for contributing a report about recent research among chamber of commerce directors, city mayors, county commission chairmen and business executives in 684 rural Kansas communities:

Ron Wilson and Kristina Boone, “Internet use among community leaders in rural Kansas.” Report of Progress 838, Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, Manhattan, Kansas. July 1999. 17 pp.

Results showed that nearly 62 percent of respondents said they used the Internet in one form or another. The most common use of the Internet was for finding information, with e-mail a close second. Researchers suggested that the Internet offers a significant opportunity for rural communities in reaching and serving clientele, distance learning and electronic commerce.

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Farm broadcasts of nearly 60 years ago preserved.

The National Association of Farm Broadcasters archives now has examples of 1941 farm radio programs that can be heard by anyone interested. Details are available from NAFB Historian Dix Harper at dix@execpc.com The organization also welcomes samples of other early farm broadcasting.

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Can we help in your research, teaching or other day-today projects?

Please let us know if we can help you, your associates, your clients or your students find information. Examples: literature searches for research projects, how-to information about various kinds of communications skills, career information, explorations of issues and trends in agricultural communications. We do our best to provide helpful, timely service.

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Professional meetings approaching.

Here are the approaching meetings of several professional agricultural communicator organizations:

September 23-26
Conference ’99, Canadian Farm Writers Federation, at Laval, Quebec.
Information: http://www.uoguelph.ca/Research/cfwf/

October 3-6
“Image and Imagination,” North Central Regional Workshop, Agricultural Communicators in Education, at Madison, Wisconsin. Features hands-on intermediate photoshop workshop, creativity workshops and tours, and strategies for enhancing personal and professional effectiveness.
Information: www.cals.wisc.edu/media/ace

October 21-22
Regional workshop, Cooperative Communicators Association, at Doubletree Club Hotel/Riverport, St. Charles, Illinois. Features employee communications, communicating about mergers, and uses of digital technology in communications.
Information: Lisa Gunlock at lgunlock@pla-corp.com

November 10-14
Annual conference, National Association of Farm Broadcasters, at Westin Crown Center, Kansas City, Missouri.
Information: www.nafb.com

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Best regards and good searching.

Please let us know if we can help you find information and/or if you can suggest documents that we might add to this collection.