ACDC Newsletter

Digital can of worms.

That is the title of an article we added recently about Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology, “known as a disruptive technology in the telecommunications industry.” This less-expensive alternative to traditional telephone service is cited as presenting a host of problems for local cities and counties, including rural areas.

“Cities and counties stand to lose billions of dollars in rights-of-way and franchise fees if VoIP remains unregulated and displaces traditional telephone service. Additionally, the technology does not connect seamlessly to emergency call centers; law enforcement agencies cannot tap into it; and users do not have to pay into the Universal Service Fund USF, which subsidizes telephone service in rural areas.”

Reference: Digital can of worms
Posted @ www.americancityandcounty.com/mag/government_digital_worms/

Rural community celebrates arrival of telephone service.

Mink, Louisiana – one of the nation’s last rural areas without regular phone service – finally got connected during late January.

According to an Associated Press report, “BellSouth Corp. spent $700,000…to extend about 30 miles of cable through thick forests to Mink, about 100 miles south of Shreveport .” The community of 15 households is in the Kisatchie National Forest near the Texas line.

Reference: Tiny Louisiana community finally gets telephone service.
Posted @ http://news.lycos.com/wired/story.asp?section=Breaking&storyId=983091

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 Students launch new international exchange.

Agricultural communication students from Canada and the U.S. joined forces in piloting a new international exchange from February 19 to March 5. This program, reported in a recent news release, involved Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow (ACT) members from the University of Guelph and the University of Florida.

“No matter which side of the border you’re on, we must communicate with each other,” said International ACT President Kim Waalderbos, referring to shared challenges facing agriculture.

Reference:Exchange program connects future leaders For more information, including daily diaries from the exchange, visit:
Posted @http://www.uoguelph.ca/~canact

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When activists confront food companies.

A recent article in the Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics shed light on that scenario. Using a game theoretical model of sequential bargaining, researchers examined the strategic interaction between food companies and activists. They observed:

“In a rather confined set of circumstances, findings indicate it is always in the best interest of the food company to comply with activists’ demands. More frequently, however, there will be cases where compliance is not optimal…”

Reference: Activists and corporate behavior in food processing and retailing .

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A great year for collecting documents.

We think any year is a great year for collecting information to improve agriculture-related communicating. However, 2004 seemed particularly noteworthy here. Our review of progress during 2004 revealed what may be record-breaking progress in the ACDC collection. Among the steps forward:

• The collection grew from 24,500 to 27,000 documents, roughly twice the long-term average.
• These numbers, in combination with deep subject indexing, are helping generate powerful searching opportunities for users. For example, by the end of 2004 users could identify more than 1,000 documents each about important subjects such as extension communications, food safety communications, farm journals, rural radio, agricultural advertising, usage of new information technologies in agriculture, and development-related communications.
• Our staff monitored 18 national and international conferences to identify more than 100 timely research reports.
• The Burton Swanson Collection, which we finished reviewing and processing, added more than 700 valuable documents to the ACDC database.

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Plenty of communicator activities approaching

April 10-12, 2005
Annual meeting of the North American Agricultural Journalists (NAAJ) in Washington, D.C. USA.
Information: http://naaj.tamu.edu/meetings.htm >

April 19, 2005
“Spring Fling.” Professional development program of the Agricultural Relations Council (ARC) in Phoenix, Arizona USA.
Information: http://www.agrelationscouncil.org/pdfs/arc-spring-fling-05.pdf

April 20-22, 2005
“Blazin’ horizons.” 2005 Agri-Marketing Conference and Trade Show of National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) in Phoenix, Arizona USA.
Information: http://www.nama.org/amc

April 29- May 2, 2005
Annual meeting of the Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association (TOCA) in Memphis, Tennessee USA.
Information: http://www.toca.org

May 15-21, 2005
“Globalization of information: agriculture at the crossroads.” Eleventh World Congress of the International Association of Agricultural Information Specialists and biennial conference of the U.S. Agricultural Information Network in Lexington, Kentucky USA.
Information: http://www.ca.uky.edu/aic/05contract.pdf

May 31- June 4, 2005
“Ideas and missions/Ideas y misiones.” Joint conferences of the Association for Communication Excellence in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Life and Human Sciences (ACE), National Extension Technology Conference (NETC), International Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow (ACT) and Extension Video Producers (EVP) in San Antonio, Texas USA.
Information: http://acenetc2005.tamu.edu >

June 4-7, 2005
“Mile high energy: reaching your communications peak.” 2005 Institute of the Cooperative Communicators Association (CCA) in Denver, Colorado USA.
Information: http://www.communicators.coop

June 9-11, 2005
“Horse by Northwest.” 2005 Seminar of American Horse Publications (AHP) in Seattle , Washington USA .
Information: http://www.americanhorsepubs.org/programs/seminars/index.html

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Ungrammatical, cheap, absurd. 

We close this issue of ACDC News with a cautionary note. It is for rural and other communicators tempted to complacency by the marvels of flinging words and images, worldwide, from centralized (often downstaffed) information centers. And it comes from a 1923 book about country journalism.

The little home paper comes to me,
As badly printed as it can be;
It’s ungrammatical, cheap, absurd,
But how I love each intimate word.

Reference:The country newspaper

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Best regards and good searching.

Please pass along your reactions, suggestions, and ideas for ACDC. Feel free to invite our assistance as you search for information. And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents we might add to this unique collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Ag Com Documentation Center, 510 LIAC, 1101 S. Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801) or electronic form at docctr@library.uiuc.edu .

March, 2005

The blog world – coming to agriculture. 

Evidence is apparent in recent documents about agriculture-related potentials for an emerging communications tool, the Web log. Blogs may have roots as publicly accessible personal online journals. However, we are adding reports of other uses. Examples:

• Blair L. Fannin and Edith A. Chenault, “Blogging agricultural news: a new technology to distribute news real-time.” Describes an experimental use in covering the 2004 Beef Cattle Short Course at Texas A&M University.

Posted @ http://agnews.tamu.edu/saas/2005/fannin2.pdf

• Chuck Zimmerman, “Blogging: coming to your computer now!” Zimmerman, of ZimmComm, Holts Summit, Missouri, describes in an Agri Marketing article how agri-firms and groups are using blogs to announce and cover meetings and conferences, create and distribute news releases, offer perspectives, invite feedback and serve other functions. The ZimmComm site, “Talking News Releases,” includes audio, photos and video as well as text.

Posted @ http://zimmcomm.blogspot.com

Viewing other ag-related blogs.

The web site, Globe of Weblogs www.globeofblogs.com, identifies hundreds of blogs that relate, for example, to activism in animal rights, conservation, food safety, genetic engineering, sustainable agriculture and sustainable development. These blogs, based in many countries, tend to be highly personal in approach and content.

The blog of the Center for Rural Affairs illustrates uses by an agricultural organization. Posted http://www.cfra.blogspot.com

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 New research reports from SAAS communications scholars.

The report from Blair Fannin and Edith Chenault (above) is one of nine papers presented February 5-9 at the annual meeting of the Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists (SAAS) in Little Rock, Arkansas. Others presented to the Agricultural Communications Section:

• “Evaluating the effectiveness of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Hueco Tanks State Historic Site orientation/conservation video: a media system dependency theory perspective.” Cindy Akers, David Segrest Jr., Mark Kistler, James Smith, Chad Davis and Matt Baker, Texas Tech University.
• “Assessing agricultural communications students’ learning styles.” Dwayne Cartmell II, Melissa Majors, Marcus Ashlock and Shelly Sitton, Oklahoma State University.
• “Cognitive responses by West Texas Hispanic/Latinos to agricultural news: a comparison of four English and Spanish presentation media.” Chad Davis, Cindy Akers, Marvin Cepica, David Doerfert, Steve Fraze and David Lawver, Texas Tech University.
• “Syndicating agriculture news with RSS.” Blair Fannin, Texas A&M University.
• “It takes two: public understanding of agricultural science and agricultural scientists.” Lisa Lundy, Louisiana State University, and Amanda Ruth, Ricky Telg and Tracy Irani, University of Florida.
• “Perceptions of job satisfaction and gender roles among select Florida agricultural communication practitioners.” Rebecca McGovney and Tracy Irani, University of Florida.
• “Distance education in the agricultural communications realm: a synthesis of research.” Emily Rhoades, University of Florida.
• “Communication preferences of politically active agricultural leaders.” Ricky Telg, University of Florida.

The papers are posted @ http://agnews.tamu.edu/saas/saasproceedings.html

We also are entering them into the ACDC search system and collection.

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“It’s time for a colossal mind shift in the local agricultural community,”

According to an executive cited in a Guelph Mercury ( Canada) article we added recently.

“We have to change this thought process in that all we are doing was feeding people,” argued Gord Surgeoner, president of Ontario Agri-Food Technologies. “Now, we’ve gone ahead and met that challenge. Now, we can look at reducing pollution, building car parts and improving health care. We have this whole new world where the basic building blocks come from plant oils and plant starches.”

Reference: Cutting a new path in farming

Posted February 1, 2005 at Food Safety Network http://archives.foodsafetynetwork.ca/agnet-archives.htm

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Nonverbal ways of communicating with nature.

In a recent book chapter, Michelle Scollo Sawyer proposed that “across cultures there is a set of related, largely nonverbal forms of communication that people use to connect with the natural world.” Examination of several cases led her to identify five dimensions that could be added to the usual framework for analyzing communication:

• Level of activity (stillness-movement)
• Pace (slow-fast)
• Sound level (silence-noise)
• Verbal activity (nonverbal-verbal)
• Quantity of verbal activity (small-great)

Reference: Nonverbal ways of communicating with nature

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Do viewers and readers respond differently to environment news?

Findings reported in Society and Natural Resources suggest that newspaper content about the environment may generate audience reactions different from those generated by television content.

“…those most exposed to the world as presented on television have potentially higher concern … and less tendency toward action … than those who have had less exposure. On the other hand, newspaper exposure was associated with lower concern but more action.”

Reference: Skepticism about media effects concerning the environment

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Preserving the embrittled. 

A newly added journal article highlights a national effort to identify and preserve agricultural literature that would otherwise be lost to decay. Twenty-three states are taking part, each identifying relevant state and local literature published between 1820 and 1945. Seminal works are then microfilmed and stored to preservation standards that provide a minimum life of 500 years. The U.S. Agricultural Information Network and National Agricultural Library, USDA, developed this program supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

We would note that agricultural journalists and communicators helped create and publish much of this important literature during the 125 years.

Reference: The national preservation program for agricultural literature

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Communicator activities approaching

April 4-5, 2005
“Beyond the mechanics: agriculture at the crossroads.” Southern RegionWorkshop of Cooperative Communicators Association in Atlanta, Georgia USA.
Information: http://www.communicators.coop

April 20-22, 2005
“Blazin’ horizons.” 2005 Agri-Marketing Conference and Trade Show of National Agri-Marketing Association in Phoenix, Arizona USA.
Information: http://www.nama.org/amc

May 15-21, 2005
“Globalization of information: agriculture at the crossroads.” Eleventh World Congress of the International Association of Agricultural Information Specialists and biennial conference of the U.S. Agricultural Information Network in Lexington, Kentucky USA.
Information: http://www.ca.uk.edu/aic/conf_home_2.htm

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A secret to success in life. 

We close this issue of ACDC News with a thought from Mark Twain, as quoted in Panic in the Pantry:“Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside.”

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Best regards and good searching.

Please pass along your reactions, suggestions and ideas for ACDC. Feel free to invite our help as you search for information. And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents we might add to this unique collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to

Ag Com Documentation Center,
510 LIAC, 1101 S.
Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801)
or electronic form (at docctr@library.uiuc.edu )

March, 2005

A look at leaders of land-grant communications and IT units.

Kimberly L. Parker used a Competing Values Framework to analyze the leadership styles of those who manage (a) agricultural communications, (b) information technology, and (c) combined units at U.S. land-grant institutions. Among findings reported in the Journal of Extension:

• Many managers were relative newcomers to their positions.
• Two-thirds were male and one-third female, with shares of males and females equal in the agricultural communications units.
• Managers in all three types of units expressed similar views of their leadership roles.
• They most closely resembled the profile of effective managers called “conceptual producers” who work well with ideas and are particularly good at coming up with new ideas and selling them.

Title: Leadership styles of agricultural communications and information technology managers [Use title as live link to citation]
Posted at: http://www.joe.org/joe/2004february/a1.shtml

Are producers more interested in better prices than lower risks?

A recent study of how U.S. agricultural producers use market advisory services addressed that question. Joost Pennings and associates reported in the Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics:

“Risk attitude does not affect the impact of MAS (market advisory service) recommendations on producers’ decisions, suggesting producers are more interested in the price-enhancing characteristics of MAS advice than in its risk-reducing features.”

Title: The impact of market advisory service recommendations

Mrs. Cookwell – a virtual mom created from focus testing.

A mythical food safety educator, Mrs. Cookwell, “has been a big hit among consumers, especially among young adults” in Canada. Created by the Canadian Partnership for Consumer Food Safety Education, she is seen live on the web site www.canfightbac.org to answer questions about food handling and storage, cooking methods and other topics. She emerged through broad focus testing among 19- to 24-year-olds. They said they go to Mom for information they trust about such matters.

Reference: Internet based food safety educator
Posted @ : www.farmscape.ca/fsa_showarchive.asp?id=2337

Also creative: using donkeys to help deliver rural information electronically.

Zimbabwe’s mobile donkey-drawn electro-communication libraries got under way during 1999 and are proving popular. The Rural Libraries and Resources Development Programme helps bring new information technologies to rural and isolated communities otherwise deprived of them.

“The cart can travel over all sorts of terrain,” explains one of two reports we have added to the ACDC collection. Using solar power generated by a unit installed on the roof, it provides access to radio, television, telephone, fax, e-mail and Internet services. It might, in the future, also feature an aerial or satellite dish for a wider and clearer electro-communication system. The communities involved initiated these donkey-drawn mobile library services and “requests from other communities for similar services are overwhelming.”

References:
Title: Donkeys help provide multi-media library services
Posted @: http://www.ifla.org/v/press/pr0225-02.htm
Title: A donkey-drawn Internet centre
Posted @
http://www.africaonline.co.zw/mirror/stage/archive/990716/national19753.html

How much are consumers willing to pay for GM-related food labeling? 

Research by Wallace Huffman and associates examined this question, using a statistically based economics experiment involving U.S. adult consumers. Participants in the experimental auctions discounted foods identified by label as genetically modified by approximately 14 percent relative to their standard-labeled counterparts.

Title: Consumer willingness to pay for genetically modified food labels

Prospects for scientific communication in biotechnology.

They are not encouraging, according to Leah A. Lievrouw in a chapter of a new book. “The growth of knowledge for its own sake, or to improve the human condition, are no longer sufficient motivations for research. Today the dominant motive is the establishment of property rights in information. It has several important effects on scientific communication…”
Effects cited:

• Retreat from publication (withheld, delayed, “trivial”)
• Publication bias (of scientists with industry ties)
• Erosion of peer review
• Constraints on informal interaction and sharing of results among scientists

Reference: Biotechnology, intellectual property and the prospects of scientific communication

Some interesting and varied information requests have come our way during recent months. 

Among them:

• Role of the Extension Service in disaster-related communicating
• Farmer-writers of the 1930s and 1940s
• Identification of farm community networks
• Credibility aspects of agricultural news on television
• Whether agricultural journalists are “blindsided by their affinity with farming”
• Efforts to “market” land-grant universities
• Newspaper coverage of agricultural issues
• Farmers’ use of the Internet
• Directions in agricultural communications research
• Background of the “consulting communicator” role in extension communications
• Impact of the documentary photo project of the U.S. Farm Security Administration

Let us know whenever we can help you identify and gain access to information about communications matters on your agenda.

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Communicator activities approaching

February 28-March 1, 2005
Midwest Region Conference of the Cooperative Communicators Association
in St. Louis, Missouri USA.
Information: Gail Miller at gmiller@growmark.com

April 4-5, 2005
“Beyond the mechanics: creativity in communications.” Southern Region
Workshop of Cooperative Communicators Association in Atlanta, Georgia USA.
Information: www.communicators.coop

May 15-21, 2005
“Globalization of information: agriculture at the crossroads.” Eleventh World Congress of the International Association of Agricultural Information Specialists
and biennial conference of the U.S. Agricultural Information Network in
Lexington, Kentucky USA.
Information: http://www.ca.uky.edu/aic/conf_home_2.htm

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Not thriving on fresh milk? 

We close this issue of ACDC News on a dairy note, offering part of a classified advertisement for the grammarians among us. It was cited in a 1908 issue of Advertisers’ Almanack:”When the baby is done drinking, it must be unscrewed and laid in a cool place under a tap. If the baby does not thrive on fresh milk, it should be boiled.”

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Best regards and good searching.

Please pass along your reactions, suggestions and ideas for ACDC. Feel free to invite our help as you search for information. And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents we might add to this unique collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to

Ag Com Documentation Center,
510 LIAC, 1101 S.
Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801)
or electronic form (at docctr@library.uiuc.edu )

Feburary, 2005

Claude Gifford contributions being processed.

We are delighted to report on recent materials from Claude Gifford, retired Director of Information and an executive in Governmental and Public Affairs with the U.S. Department of Agriculture for more than 20 years. Claude received the USDA Distinguished Service Award and other honors for his contributions. Before joining the USDA he was associate editor of Farm Journal magazine for 23 years, including responsibilities for the editorial page.

The personal collection that Claude has contributed closely matches core interests of the Agricultural Communications Documentation Center. Some materials relate to his career, to farm publishing and to information services of the USDA. Others of research interest include, for example, the speeches of former U.S. Secretaries of Agriculture Earl Butz and Clifford M. Hardin. We appreciate this generous contribution and will keep you posted as materials are processed into the ACDC collection and University Archives during the months ahead.

Images of rural areas as theme parks.

“Too many city people regard rural areas as theme parks, put there to amuse us,” noted a recent commentary in Macleans (Canada). Anthony Wilson-Smith argued: “We want everything to stay the way it’s always been, but we want city-style comforts as well. Those are largely contradicting goals, so it’s no surprise that rural people often find outside intruders so invasive and annoying.”

“If we want rural Canada to flourish – and no one is opposed to that goal – a start would be a commitment on the part of various governments to give people in those regions the high-tech tools to do more jobs. ‘Life in the slow lane’ should refer to a matter of choice – and not a trip down the information highway.”

Reference: Life in the slow lane
Author: Wilson-Smith, Anthony
Posted @
http://www.macleans.ca/topstories/canada/article.jsp?content=20041129_93803_93803

On communicating to build or restore trust. 

Public and private interest groups strive for high levels of credibility and public trust. However, recent research among rural residents living near major nuclear power and hazardous waste storage facilities led authors to conclude in Environment and Behavior that achieving trust is not a “realistic goal” for environmental risk communicators.

Instead, they proposed that strategies for risk communicating should focus not on building trust but on establishing procedures and standards that the public understands and accepts.

Reference: Is trust a realistic goal for environmental risk communication?
Posted in PDF format @ http://eab.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/32/3/410.pdf
Authors: Trettin, Lillian and Musham, Catherine

Better ways to boost credibility.

Similarly to results above, a study of public perceptions of agricultural biotechnologies in Europe led researchers to conclude that “just better public relations strategies” won’t do the job. Instead, they advised institutions to:

• Admit past errors, uncertainty and lack of knowledge
• Use input from all relevant sources (not just scientific experts)
• Be transparent about how decisions are made, including explaining how different interests, risks and benefits have been balanced against each other.
• Impose heavy sanctions in cases where mismanagement or fraud is identified.
• Demonstrate that views of the public are understood, valued, respected and taken into account by decision-makers – even if they cannot all be satisfied.

Reference: Public perceptions of agricultural biotechnologies in Europe
Authors: Marris, Claire; Wynne, Brian; Simmons, Peter; and Weldon, Sue
Posted @ http://www.lancs.ac.uk/depts/ieppp/pabe/

Tightening disclosure policies about scientist authors. 

We have added to ACDC a recent “conflict of interest” example involving the journal, Environmental Health Perspectives. Merrill Goozner examined 37 scientific studies published in EHP from December 2003 through February 2004. Only two included conflict of interest disclosure statements. Goozner investigated the first and last authors involved in the other 35 studies. Findings revealed “at least three articles (8.6%) where either the first or last authors should have disclosed conflicts in accordance with the disclosure policy.”

In response, the journal has strengthened instructions to authors and established a three-year ban on publication of information from authors who willfully fail to disclose a competing financial interest. You can track some of the dialogue about this matter at:

“Study on failures to disclose conflicts of interest in Environmental Health Perspectives”
http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/docs/2004/112-14/correspence.html

“Embracing scrutiny” (commentary by the editor-in-chief)
http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/docs/2004/112-14/editorial.html

“Journal’s new disclosure policy praised”
http://www.cspinet.org/new/200410061.html

The extension worker’s code: a classic refresher.

Professional issues such as those above remind us of T.J. Talbert’s extension bulletin, The Extension Worker’s Code. It may be 83 years old, but it breathes an enduring freshness. Talbert was superintendent of institutes and extension schools at Kansas State Agricultural College in 1922. His concise code offers 46 ever-timely points of advice for extension workers. They range from “Study and serve the people,” “Stick to the truth” and “Forget yourself” to “Watch your bank account” and “Don’t mail that sarcastic letter.”

Let us know if you would like to see this 18-page classic and do not have local access to it.

Reference: The extension worker’s code
Posted in PDF format @ http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/historicpublications/Pubs/exbul33.pdf
Author: Talbert, T.J.

How about placing government price controls on packaged foods?

The Harris Poll® #64, September 9, 2004 invited views from a national sample of U.S. adults. Responses:

Favor 26%
Oppose 70%
Not sure 4%

Posted @ http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=493

Ag radio, never in a stronger position.

Lynn Ketelsen of Linder Farm Network, based in Minnesota, expressed that view in a recent issue of Behind the Mic. Among the reasons he cited:

• “Farmers spend more time on and in vehicles than just about any consumer of information. And farm radio is with them.”
• “No matter what the size of farmer, they want information from their farm broadcaster.”
• “Farm broadcasting has adapted to a changing farmer.”
• “Never in history has there been such interest in food, diet and health.”
• “Farm broadcasting stations and networks are stronger and more committed than ever before.”

Reference: “Ag Radio, Never In a Stronger Position”
Posted @ http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb3147/is_200409/ai_n7853115

Author: Ketelsen, Lynn

Voice-recognition gremlins at work. 

• “One author was identified as being affiliated with the “Department of journalism and mask medications.”
• “One abstract about crisis communications at land-grant universities explained: “On the angry campuses. Official crisis plans are most often found at the university level…”
• “The abstract of a research paper said scholars “have advanced conceptual metaphoric ligature review.”
• “The title of one article about microcomputers referred to “OA adapters and extensions” rather than the actual “early adopters and extension.”

Best regards and good searching.

Please pass along your reactions, suggestions and ideas for ACDC. Feel free to invite our help as you search for information. And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents we might add to this unique collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to

Ag Com Documentation Center,
510 LIAC, 1101 S.
Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801)
or electronic form (at docctr@library.uiuc.edu )

January, 2005

Happy New Year

And welcome to this first 2005 issue of news from the Agricultural Communications Documentation Center. If you are new to ACDC News we hope you find it interesting and useful.

The ACDC collection topped the 27,000-document mark on January 3.

It keeps growing in size – and in value to professionals, teachers, researchers, students and others interested in communications, as related to agriculture, food, natural resources and rural matters, globally. The amount of such information “out there” continues to surprise, inspire and challenge us.

“Deep” subject indexing adds power to your scouting.

• Want to monitor attitudes? More than 2,400 documents provide survey results about attitudes of consumers, farmers, journalists, scientists and others regarding agricultural biotechnology, food irradiation, environment, animal rights, nutrition labeling, livestock diseases and other issues. To identify them: On the Database Search page of this ACDC web site, use a Subject search on the term “attitude”

• Interested in effective rural-urban interactions? You can identify more than 500 documents about this subject in the ACDC collection. Use a Subject search on the term “rural-urban communication
• Want updates on the information sources of farmers, extension workers, agricultural reporters and others? To identify more than 1,100 documents about that topic use a Subject search on “information sources”
• Interested in “farm journals” (more than 1,100 documents), rural “radio” (more than 1,700 documents), agriculture-related “advertising” (more than 1,800 documents), “media effectiveness” (more than 1,300 documents) or agriculture-related uses of the “Internet” (more than 500 documents)? Use Subject searches on terms within the quotation marks above.

Some recent documents in the ACDC collection are available online, in full text. However, most materials are not. If you lack local access to documents that interest you, contact us by e-mail at docctr@library.uiuc.edu and we will help. All are available here.

Following are a few samples of documents added recently to the ACDC collection:

Will agricultural e-commerce lead to greater openness and competition?

An analysis of the ornamental horticulture industry has led to a conclusion that “it is still far too early to predict.” This case study reported in a 2004 book, The ICT Revolution, examined the $7.7 billion global trade in cut flowers, foliage and plants. Authors reported that interest so far in a new business model using the present distribution chain streamlined by the Internet is “scant.” Few buyers have signed up for online auctions, they found. Arranging lines of credit, foreign exchange, and insurance at various auctions – necessary for selling online – has proven time-consuming and costly.

“If the physical chain, with its interdependency, remains dominant and e-commerce only intensified pre-existing developments in the industry, the barriers that producers in developing countries have to surmount to directly access consumers remain staggering.”

Reference: ICT revolution
Author: Cohen, Daniel

Coming scandal in organic foods.

“Look out for coming scandal in surging organic foods,” read the headline of an Advertising Age column – 34 years ago. In December 1971, columnist E.B. Weiss predicted a chain of events leading to regulations whereby “organic farms will be certified and inspected regularly. There will be regs in packaging and marketing.”

Reference: Look out for coming scandal in surging organic foods
Author: Weiss, E.B.

U.S. organic farmers are dissatisfied with the extension service. 

That message appeared in a 2003 journal article about responses to a national survey among U.S. organic farmers. Demand for organic information is growing rapidly, but organic producers (63% of whom are full-time farmers) are finding limited help from extension.

They “probably know more than the local extension advisor about the agroecology determining the success or failure of the organic system.” Authors urged extension to support on-farm experimentation, help producers monitor organic regulations, aid farmer-to-farmer interaction and test farm-based theories in scientifically rigorous settings.

PDF posted at:http://agecon.lib.umn.edu/cgi-bin/pdf_view.pl?paperid=6547&ftype=.pdf

ACDC Reference: Improving extension effectiveness for organic clients 
Authors: Lohr, Luanne

Information issues in the “deskilling” of farmers.

Anthropologists are noting concerns seldom heard in discussions about the effects of agricultural biotechnology. These concerns strike close to the interests of communicators.

“American history shows how closely agri-biotechnology can be linked to farmer deskilling,” noted Glenn Davis Stone in a Current Anthropology article. “…research is needed on how agricultural biotechnologies may already have caused deskilling and how information flow may be further impeded with genetically modified seeds.”

PDF posted at: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~anthro/research/BothSidesNow.pdf

ACDC Reference: Both sides now: fallacies in the genetic-modification wars
Author: Stone, Glenn Davis

Who’s going to pay? 

Will I have a voice? Will my data be kept confidential? These questions reflect major concerns of U.S. livestock producers about the lively topic of animal identification. Results emerged from a recent survey about the National Animal Identification System being implemented by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and state animal health agencies. Specifically, producers registered these as biggest concerns:
Funding 20 percent
Producer participation 17
Data confidentiality 15
Data collection and housing 11

Reference: Confidentiality and data housing
Posted @ http://www.animalagriculture.org/headline/2004NR/NR_NAISSurvey_Nov8.htm

Encouraging words we appreciate.

Communicator activities approaching

February 1, 2005
Deadline for electronic submissions of research papers to be presented at the
Association for Communication Excellence in Agriculture, Natural Resources,
and Life and Human Sciences (ACE), San Antonio, Texas, May 31-June 4, 2005.
Information by e-mail: david.doerfert@ttu.edu

February 5-9, 2005
Agricultural Communication Section, annual meeting of the Southern Association
of Agricultural Scientists (SAAS), Little Rock, Arkansas.
Information: www.saasinc.org

 Please let us know if you would rather not receive ACDC News.

Best regards and good searching.

Please pass along your reactions, suggestions and ideas for ACDC. Feel free to invite our help as you search for information. And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents we might add to this unique collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to

Ag Com Documentation Center,
510 LIAC, 1101 S.
Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801)
or electronic form (at docctr@library.uiuc.edu )

January, 2005

Establish a CIO position.

“The working relationship between the chief executive officer (CEO) and the chief information officer (CIO)…is critical to successfully leveraging information technology in the grocery industry.”

Consultant Thomas Murphy recently urged readers of the Food Marketing Institute magazine, Advantage, to establish a CIO position, fill it with a good leader and support it as a change agent for improving business. “The combination of rigorous process improvement enabled by select technologies holds the key to success for many grocers.”

Might the same be said for other parts of the food chain, from producers onward?

ACDC Reference: The executive view: perspectives on technology for the business executive 
Author: Murphy, Thomas

Generic commodity promotion. Socially beneficial?

Yes, according to an economic analysis reported in the Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics.

“A strong case is developed for the social benefit of advertising regardless of one’s view of what advertising is.” This finding is in marked contrast to some other results in a lively, continuing debate about the value of generic promotion of agricultural products and the constitutionality of commodity promotion programs.

ACDC Reference: Agricultural market structure, generic advertising, and welfare
Authors: Cardon, James H. and Pope, Rulon D.

New resources from ERIC.

Free full-text non-journal resources of the Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) recently became available for the first time. They include more than 105,000 documents authorized for electronic distribution during 1993-July 2004 and previously sold through the ERIC Document Reproduction Service.

Also, September 1 marked the introduction of a new ERIC web site that provides users with increased search capabilities.

ERIC is a rich resource of information about school-based agricultural education. To avoid duplication of effort, we do not include such documents in the ACDC collection. However, we monitor ERIC to help you locate information about extension communications and other non-formal types of education related to agriculture.

Reference: http://www.eric.ed.gov/ericwebportal/resources

Narrowing gap in rural U.S. Internet access.

The gap between Internet access of rural and urban areas of the U.S. decreased to about one percentage point between late 1998 and late 2001. So reported authors of a 2004 Telecommunications Policy article about wireless diffusion, mobile computing and the digital divide.

“The traditional groups of technology ‘have-nots,’ including females, rural areas, and minority groups, have made dramatic gains in Internet access,” authors reported. They found mobile telephone adoption positively correlated with income, size of metropolitan area and occupation (specifically sales and executive professions).

Reference: Wireless diffusion and mobile computing: implications for the digital divide
Authors: Wareham, Jonathan; Levy, Armando; and Shi, Wei
Posted @ http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=MImg&_imagekey=B6VCC-4C8NK4H-1-1T&_cdi=5951&_user=571676&_orig=search&_coverDate=07%2F31%2F2004&_sk=999719994&view=c&wchp=dGLbVlz-zSkWA&md5=a50d0fe36f143b1851e8b8071e08d165&ie=/sdarticle.pdf

“Environmental stories define problems, not solutions.”

That title of a report in the Newspaper Research Journal summarized results of a content analysis of 841 stories in 69 U.S. daily newspapers. Researchers found that 73 percent of the news leads defined the reported issue as a problem.

They concluded, “The fact that the press defines problems primarily in terms of conflict and losses instead of solutions suggests that readers are not being provided with adequate information about possible solutions to environmental problems.”

Reference: Environmental stories define problems
Authors: Major, Ann M. and Atwood, L. Erwin

The conflict language of journalists.

“Language choices by journalists and stakeholders reflected an entrenched view of the debate as a conflict,” reported a recent study about the discourse of the GM food debate. This finding is among many in a 2004 study reported by the Economic and Social Research Council, United Kingdom. It included analyses of articles published by four British newspapers and interviews with representatives of stakeholder organizations. Other findings came from focus group research among UK residents with interests such as health and nutrition, biodiversity and ethics/morality.

The project “is distinctive in its attention to the language as well as the content of the GM debate.”

Reference: The discourse of the GM food debate
Posted @ http://www.regard.ac.uk/research_findings/RES-000-22-0132/report.pdf

Americans are still relatively uninformed 

About genetically modified foods and the application of genetic engineering technology to agriculture. And their level of knowledge has not increased during the past three years. These insights emerged from the September 2004 survey among U.S. consumers by the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology. Among other findings:

• They have “heard little about genetically modified foods, and as such, have yet to roundly accept or intensely oppose them.
• They support a strong regulatory system, although they do not know much about the current system.
• Most support the labeling of GM food (92%) and GM ingredients in processed foods (91%).
• They remain most comfortable with the genetic modification of plants.
• They are most supportive of uses they feel will directly help them and their families.

Reference: Overview of findings: 2004 focus groups and poll
Author: Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology
Posted @ http://pewagbiotech.org/research/2004update/overview.pdf

Communicator activities approaching

February 1, 2005
Deadline for electronic submissions of research papers to be presented at the Association for Communication Excellence in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Life and Human Sciences (ACE), San Antonio, Texas, May 31-June 4, 2005.
Information by e-mail: david.doerfert@ttu.edu

February 5-9, 2005
Agricultural Communication Section, annual meeting of the Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists (SAAS), Little Rock, Arkansas.
Information http://www.saasinc.org

Latest word on giant beanstalks.

As this remarkable year ends

All of us here at the Agricultural Communications Documentation Center extend season’s greetings and best wishes for your year ahead. Thanks for your interest, encouragement and helpfulness.

Best wishes and good searching.

Please pass along your reactions, suggestions and ideas for ACDC. Feel free to invite our help as you search for information. And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents we might add to this unique collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Ag Com Documentation Center, 510 LIAC, 1101 S.  Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801) or electronic form (at docctr@library.uiuc.edu )

December, 2004

Cooperating in defense (and pleasure) of slow food.

We recently added to the ACDC collection a journal article about the formation of an international association, Slow Food, that promotes an unusual combination of “celebratory environmentalism.”
” Gastronomical pleasures – featuring unique local foods prepared with locally grown ingredients and creating a “firm defense of quiet material pleasure.”
” Environmental goals – protecting biodiversity and helping preserve thousands of endangered foods, plants and animals.

According to the article, food producers are part of the grassroots Slow Food groups that now number more than 700 in 83 countries.

Reference: Slow food
Author: Weismantel
Offered online at: http://www.haworthpress.com/web/JAFI.

An example of farmer-led journalism.

A self-supporting monthly farm magazine in India has “established a unique niche for itself, based on a philosophy of farmer participation in the generation of information.” Adike Pathrike, more than 15 years old, uses subscription and advertising income for financial support.

A research paper from the Overseas Development Institute described four distinctive features of Adike Pathrike:
” Insistence on farmer verification of technologies described in the magazine
” An adaptive and iterative approach to technology
” Active encouragement of farmer-to-farmer communication
” A counterbalance of government and industry promotional campaigns

Reference: Reforming farm journalism
Authors: Padre, Shree; Sudarshana; and Tripp, Robert
Paper posted online at: www.odi.org.uk/agren/papers/agrenpaper_128.pdf

When the Big Depression hit farm publishing. 

Want a view of the U.S. farm press during hard times for agriculture in the 1920s and early 1930s? We recommend a 1933 master’s thesis added recently to the ACDC collection. Hubert W. Smith used content analyses and surveys among farm editors to examine the relation of the farm press to social and economic trends in agriculture.

His data revealed, for example, how advertising lineage in eight major farm periodicals fell dramatically. “…in 1932 some publications carried less than one-fifth as much advertising for the month of October as they did in 1929, and none of those considered arrived in 1932 at as much as half of their peak of the preceding five years.”

Reference: Relation of the farm press
Author: Smith, Hubert W.

Scientists more willing to open up? 

“I’ve noticed a change in scientists in dealing with the media,” said an environmental journalist at a recent workshop in India. “They are more willing to open up and are ready to talk with us about their research activities.”

The workshop on “Covering biotechnology: issues and opportunities for the news media” was organized by the International Crops Research Institute for Semi-arid Tropics (ICRISAT), International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), Asian Media, Information Center of India and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Reference: South Asia journalists meet on biotech reporting
Posted online at: http://www.isaaa.org/kc/cbtnews/2004_issues/oct/cbt_oct_15.htm

Science journalists – crucial to development.

Participants at the recent 4th World Conference of Science Journalists in Montreal, Canada, heard that message from the leader of one of Canada’s leading aid agencies. Maureen O’Neil, president of the International Development Research Centre, argued that science journalists have a critical role to play in informing communities and influencing policymakers in the developing world.

“Journalism – and especially science journalism – can therefore make a significant contribution to ensuring that communities and their leaders implement programmes and decisions based on the best data, knowledge and evidence.”

Reference: Science journalists “play critical role in decision-making”
Author: Dickson, David
Posted online at: www.scidev.net/news/index.cfm?fuseaction=printarticle&itemid=1642&language=1

Rural distance education – 125 years ago. 

Distance education carries new excitement and promise in an era of electronic, interactive technologies. However, the concept itself has deep roots, as evidenced by an article in Agricultural History. Author Julie R. Nelson examined distance education efforts the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle between 1878 and 1900.

The Circle, based in Plainfield, New Jersey, offered men and women in rural towns throughout the Midwest an innovative opportunity for a four-year “college” degree via a correspondence course of systematic home study. It was “one of the few practical means available for earning a four-year degree,” especially for rural women.

Reference: Subtle revolution
Author: Nelson

Narrowing the digital divide in Africa. 

Romeo Bertolini identified serious obstacles in a recent report, “Making information and communication technologies work for food security in Africa:”

• “Limited access to telephone and electricity networks, especially in rural and remote areas. “Approximately 60 percent of African households do not have access to their national grid.”
• “Scarcity of telecenters to offer broader ICT services and training”

Bertolini suggested steps for the public and private sectors in this report from the International Food Policy Research Institute. Suggestions included innovative ways of combining ICT-based information sources (such as agricultural information systems) with traditional ones (such as rural radio stations).

Reference: Making information and communication technologies work for food security in Africa
Posted online at: http://www.ifpri.org/pubs/ib/ib27.pdf

Lesson for the country newspaper publisher.

This item from a 1906 issue of Agricultural Advertising [14(4) : 363] caught our eye:

• “Once there was a country newspaper man who mixed sawdust with the meal that he fed his hens. He thought they would never know the difference. But they got even. When he came to set the eggs, half the brood hatched were woodpeckers.”
• “Whatsoever a newspaper soweth that shall it also reap.”

Communicator activity approaching.

February 1, 2005
Deadline for electronic submissions of research papers to be presented at the Association for Communication Excellence in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Life and Human Sciences (ACE), San Antonio, Texas, May 31-June 4, 2005.
Information:

Best wishes and good searching.

Please pass along your reactions, suggestions and ideas for ACDC. Feel free to invite our help as you search for information. And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents we might add to this unique collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Ag Com Documentation Center, 510 LIAC, 1101 S. Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801) or electronic form (at docctr@library.uiuc.edu )

November,2004

Stirring extension in Australia.

Thanks to staff associate Liz Kellaway for alerting us to a journal article that has stirred discussion in Australia about ingredients of effective agricultural extension. In the Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture researcher F. Vanclay described 27 principles for agricultural extension in promoting natural resource management. It’s a hard-hitting list, including these examples:

• Non-adoption is not the cause of land degradation, rather practices actively promoted by extension in the past have significantly contributed to degradation.
• Farming is a socio-cultural practice and adoption is a socio-cultural process. • Profit is not the main driving force of farmers.
• Farmers’ attitudes are not the problem.
• Farmers construct their own knowledge.
• Farmers have legitimate reasons for non-adoption.
• Effective extension requires more than the transfer of technology; it requires an understanding of the worldviews of farmers.
• The 80-20 rule is a self-serving delusion. (referring to a story in extension circles that 20% of farmers produce 80% of the agricultural wealth).
• Representation is not participation.
• The best method of extension is multiple methods.

Reference: Social principles Author: Vanclay, F.

New book about North American agricultural journalists.

Fencelines, deadlines & headlines is the title of a new book in honor of the 50th anniversary of the national professional association now known as North American Agricultural Journalists (NAAJ). Don Muhm, a veteran agricultural reporter, coordinated and published this 240-page history. It ranges broadly across the development of NAAJ, the careers of legendary agricultural writers, ethics in agricultural reporting, global dimensions, the farm beat today and the challenges ahead.

“Today in this world, all of us are connected through our food supply,” said 2003 NAAJ President Jerry Perkins. In that context, Muhm suggested that having on duty a corps of educated, responsible agricultural reporters is vital to helping understand our modern, one-world society.

Reference: Fencelines, deadlines & headlines
Author: Muhm, Don
The book is printed by and available from McMillen Publishing, PO Box 887, Ames, Iowa 50010.
Online: www.mcmillenbooks.com

Consulting communicators.

A ground swell of interest? Professional communicators who work within extension services, advisory services and agricultural research organizations have talked about the “consulting communicator” role for at least a half-century. You will find, for example, dozens of documents about this role if you conduct a “subject” search on that term in the ACDC collection. They stretch from 1954 to date. And you can find hundreds of documents about related topics, using “subject” search terms such as <roles communicators>, “communication planning” and “campaign planning.”

Two 1976 reports we added recently to the ACDC collection noted “a ground swell” for training programs in basic communications planning. A small swell, apparently. The role of “consulting communicator” remains elusive, overwhelmed it seems by pressures on communicators to apply skills, on order, from clientele.

Reference 1: Recommendations for improved contribution of extension communication specialists
Reference 2: Background statement

Are agricultural journalists “blindfolded” by their affinity with farming?

Shouldn’t be, according to research among editors of three Dutch agricultural magazines. Wageningen University researcher Maartje Lof conducted the study initiated by the Dutch Organisation of Agricultural Journalism. Guild members wanted to know “whether they dared to write things farmers might not like to hear about issues concerning people outside agriculture.”

“We are journalists, not PR officers,” the interviewed editors said. Lof concluded that agricultural journalists should place more importance on informing their readers about what society is asking of agriculture and why.

This summary appeared in IFAJnews, newsletter of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists.

Reference: Write More About Society Views, Says Research
Author: Noorduyn, Leonore

History of the Missouri Ruralist. 

In a 1958 master’s thesis at the University of Missouri, Billy C. Brantley traced the origin, development and influence of the Ruralist from 1902 through 1955. His analysis highlighted influences in improving family life and farming methods, promoting better schools and roads, preventing rural crime and encouraging youth programs.

Reference: History of the Missouri Ruralist
Author: Brantley, Billy C.

A glimpse of our purpose.

Sometimes it seems few researchers, and others, are interested in documents more than a few days, months or years old. That’s when we recall a point made by Pierre R. Crosson of Resources for the Future:

“Knowledge accumulates; it is never used up.”

This insight would suggest that the future of agriculture-related communicating, as a field of serious pursuit, rests upon skilled integration of what is known of today – and of the past. ACDC pursues a vision of helping you span both dimensions.

So you would like to review articles in the journal published by ACE.

This Center contains more than 1,100 journal articles from what is now identified as the Association for Communication Excellence (formerly Agricultural Communicators in Education and American Association of Agricultural College Editors). However, the search is not straightforward because those articles appear in journals of three different titles.

• Current title: Journal of Applied Communications (1990 to date)
• Replaced: ACE Quarterly (1978-1989)
• Replaced: AAACE (1919-1977)

Here’s how you can identify articles from those ACE journals. On the “Database Search” page, use “Journal” searches on each of the three titles. Let us know if you have problems or questions.

Communicator activities approaching.

November 17-19, 2004
“60 Years of Communicating Agriculture.” Annual convention of the National Association of Farm Broadcasters (NAFB) in Kansas City, Missouri USA.
Information: www.nafb.com

Want to see some Gold Award entries? 

The Association for Communication Excellence in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Life and Human Sciences (ACE) recently posted entries that earned Gold Awards in the 2004 Critique and Awards program. Yu can see entries in writing, photography, graphic design, publishing, electronic media, distance education and instructional design, integrated communication programs and information technology.

Reference: http://www.aceweb.org/award/index.html

Best wishes and good searching.

Please pass along your reactions, suggestions and ideas for ACDC. Feel free to invite our help as you search for information. And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents we might add to this unique collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Ag Com Documentation Center, 510 LIAC, 1101 S. Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801) or electronic form (at docctr@library.uiuc.edu )

November, 2004

Farm chemical advertising – mirroring the times.

A 40-year analysis of pesticide advertising in two midwestern U.S. farm magazines identified changing images in response to changes in the socio-cultural setting. Researchers traced changes in pictorial metaphors and brand names used in advertisements during three eras – science, control and environment/nature – between 1948 and 1998.

The current trend? They found “pesticide advertisements in agricultural media create connotations and associations between pesticides and land stewardship ethics.” Biotechnology represents a “new green area for agricultural advertising.”
Author: Flora, C.B. and Kroma, M.M.
An abstract of the article was posted online at: http://ipsapp008.kluweronline.com/ips/content/ext/x/j/4478/I/25/A/3/abstract.htm

How to build coalitions.

We recently added to the ACDC collection a useful resource for education campaign planners. “How to build long lasting and effective coalitions” is the title of this “skill sheet” from the Endangered Species Coalition.

The resource offers suggestions within the context of three coalition models: endorsement, associate and partner.

Reference: How to build long lasting and effective coalitions
The resource was posted on: http://www.stopextinction.org/team/team.cfm?id=67&c=2

An invisible agricultural social science.

If you want to see where the communications discipline fit into the social science community of U.S. agriculture colleges 17 years ago, we can suggest a window for your view. Look through a document we added recently to the ACDC collection: “Proceedings of Phase I Workshop: Social Science Agricultural Agenda Project.”

This 377-page proceeding did not recognize agriculture-related communications as a rural social science. Instead, “The…areas of concern include agricultural economics, rural sociology and anthropology, agricultural history, the social science aspects of home economics, agricultural law, agricultural political science and the like.”

Ironically, reports from all four workgroups called for communications teaching and research to address information deficiencies through effective delivery and use of agricultural information/knowledge.

Reference: Proceedings of Phase I Workshop: Social Science Agricultural Agenda Project

Raising the profile of rural journalism.

“Created in 2001 and staffed in August 2004, the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues is a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional, multi-state effort, based at the University of Kentucky. Its job is to help local news organizations set the public agenda for their communities and cover regional issues, and interpret rural issues for national media.”

According to announcement documents we have added to the ACDC collection, a two-year, $250,000 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation will permit:
” A major survey of rural media
” A popular rural journalism Web site
” A class in rural journalism
” Training for rural journalists
” A conference bringing together national experts and rural journalists.

Veteran journalist Al Cross has joined the School of Journalism and Telecommunications as interim director of the Institute. A new Web log, “Rural Blog,” went online August 9.

Reference: Creation of the Institute
Information about the Institute and links to the Web log were posted online at: http://www.uk.edu/CommInfoStudies/IRJCI/welcome2.html

Examining news models for national development.

Margaretha Geertsema recently explored five models for appropriateness in post-Apartheid South Africa:
” The Western model of journalism
” Development journalism
” Development communication
” Development support communication
” Public journalism

This analysis included a description of each model, plus a review of literature identifying perceived strengths and limitations of each. Geertsema argued for implementing in South Africa a combination of public journalism and development journalism “to help with community connectedness and nation building. The traditional Western press model does not offer a constructive framework for change and reconciliation…”

Reference: New news for a new South Africa?
Author: Geertsema, Margaretha
Posted online at:http://list.msu.edu/archives/aejmc.html (September 2003, Week 5)

Development – no longer what happens “over there.” 

It is “as much in our back yards,” argued Edna Einsiedel in Redeveloping Communication for Social Change. “There is a ‘First World’ in the so-called South as there is a ‘Third World’ in our midst. … Our work as development communicators puts us squarely in the midst of a commitment to and interest in questions of equity and equality, sustainability, and issues of social justice and social change.”

Reference: Border crossings: gender, development and communication http://web.aces.uiuc.edu/agcomdb/view.asp?ID=C19604
Author: Einsiedel, Edna

Agricultural writing of 500 years ago.

An article last year in the Journal of Business Communication revealed some agricultural writing of an English family between 1509 and about 1750. The Gawdy Papers, located in the British Library, highlight generations of activities of the Gawdy family of Norfolk. Papers include correspondence and other documentation about land acquisition and management, crop and livestock production and marketing, commodity prices, collection of rent and other agribusiness interests.

Reference: Gawdy papers
Author: Richardson

Communicator activities approaching.

October 17-20, 2004
Annual convention of Communication Officers of State Departments of Agriculture (COSDA) in Nashville, Tennessee USA.
Information: www.nasda.org/cosda/annual.htm

October 20-24, 2004
Annual conference of the Society of Environmental Journalists in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USA.
Information: www.sej.org/confer/index1.htm

November 4-6, 2004
Annual workshop of the National Market News Association in Baltimore, Maryland USA.
Information: www.ams.usda.gov/nmna

November 17-19, 2004
“60 Years of Communicating Agriculture.” Annual convention of the National Association of Farm Broadcasters (NAFB) in Kansas City, Missouri USA.
Information: www.nafb.com

Great idea for the dieter.

In closing, we share this piece of food journalism reported in a journal article about on-air bloopers. According to researcher Raymond Schuessler, announcer Ed Herlihy once advised listeners: “Another delicious combination for these hot days is a Kraft chilled grease sandwich with a choke.”

Reference: Bloopers
Author: Schuessler, R.

Best regards and good searching.  

Please pass along your reactions, suggestions 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. Send

hard copies to:

Ag Com Documentation Center

510 LIAC Library

1101 S. Goodwin Avenue

Urbana, IL 61801

or electronic copies to:

docctr@library.uiuc.edu

October, 2004

Traveling the rocky (gendered) road of rural cooperatives. 

Pressures toward consolidation and squeezed profit margins are challenging farmers to retain the democratic roots of cooperatives, according to a recent article in the Journal of Applied Communication Research. Author L.M. Harter studied organizational communications in the Nebraska Cooperative Council, a support organization for more than 100 cooperatives. The Council provided “a particularly rich context in which to explore traditionally feminine ways of organizing (i.e., cooperative enactment) in a historically male-dominated arena (i.e., agriculture).” Findings explored “intersections between the social construction of masculinity(s), the agrarian frontier myth, and tensions embedded in the discourse of cooperative organizing.”

Reference:Masculinity(s), the agrarian frontier myth, and cooperative ways of organizing: contraditions and tensions in the experience and enactment of democracy
By: Harter, Lynn M.
Published: May 2004

Students produce a weekly Webzine for a rural county.

Dateline Pickens is a lively learning laboratory for – and valued service by – journalism students at the University of Alabama. It features what journalism professor Bailey Thomson describes as “service journalism,” focusing on local aspects of issues such as health care, job creation, education and the environment.

“His goal is to bring good journalism to a county that often is overlooked by the state’s media,” according to a news report that we added to the ACDC collection. The site has been up nearly two years and draws good readership as it helps students learn real world journalism “in a place that has good stories to tell if only someone will take the time to report them.”
The news report was posted on:http://pjnet.org/2003_10_01_pjnettodayarchive.html.

Farm newspapers – voice of the farmers?

You cannot assume so, according to a recent article by John J. Fry in Agricultural History. The article examined four Midwestern farm newspapers between 1885 and 1920. The author concluded, “Farm newspapers are better seen not as expressing the ideas of farmers, but providing a forum for reformers and farmers to debate proposed changes to country life.”

School consolidation provided an example of this role, according to Fry. Farm papers promoted consolidation, in line with Country Life Movement arguments that consolidated schools would improve rural education. Farm readers “chose to listen to some of the recommendations of progressive reformers and not to others.”

Reference: Good farming – clear thinking – right living
By: Fry, John J.
Published: 2004

The doctoral dissertation upon which this article was based has been posted online at the following URL:http://wwwlib.umi.com/dissertations/search.
Reading, reform, and rural change : the midwestern farm press, 1895 to 1920
By: Fry, John J.
Published: May 2002

Horrendous food PR crisis.

They’re nothing new, according to case analyses by Lael M. Moynihan. The author described what two food marketers did when “the unthinkable happened” more than two decades ago:

” Some consumers around Detroit, Michigan, reported they had found razor blades in Ball Park Franks, a popular meat product marketed by Hygrade. October 1983.
One Belgian man died and a Connecticut woman became seriously ill as a result of botulism attributed to canned salmon. February and April 1982.”

Reference: Horrendous PR crises: what they did when the unthinkable happened
Moynihan, Lael M. (Media History Digest 8(1) : 19-25).

Welcome to John Sanders, new graduate assistant in the Agricultural Communications Documentation Center.

John’s appointment began August 16. A master’s candidate in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, he brings to the Center an academic background (bachelor and master levels) in urban and regional planning. His research experience includes an international comparative study of rural communities and an innovative comprehensive plan for rural development land-use ordinance and regulation. So in addition to his core responsibilities in the Center, he will contribute in special ways to the parts of our collection that address the communications aspects of rural community development. More than 10 years of experience in retail marketing also will help John serve the Center in unique ways.

Still roaming off the beaten paths.

As you know, we regularly monitor journals known to contain literature about the communications aspects of agriculture, food and related fields. But we continue to find pleasure (and good materials) off the beaten paths. For example, here are a few recent sources:

• Journal of the West
• Social Problems
• People’s Daily
• Media Ethics
• Philosophy and Social Action
• Media History Digest
• Slovak Spectator
• Media International Australia

If you are curious about the kinds of materials we find in such journals, use the “Database Search” page to conduct “Journal” searches, by title. You will see citations of the documents we have entered from each journal.

Face-to-face meetings – gone by the wayside? 

No way, reported Den Gardner in a recent issue of Agri Marketing. In fact, he quoted the communications manager of Case IH as saying in reference to the farm equipment firm’s recent award winning event for media: “Face-to-face communications are more important than ever because we use this method less and less.”

“The point is that companies need to stay engaged with their customers,” Gardner observed. “And you can’t do it by phone, e-mail and voicemail all the time. … You can’t do that with online teleconferences, Web-casting, and other techno-gizmos being promoted today as the way to do business.”

Reference: Face-to-face meetings – gone by the wayside?
By: Gardner, Den
Published: Jun 2004.

“Spent all my money getting here
And now I can’t get away.” 

These words by Jack Bryant in his song, “Sunny Cal,” captured part of the hardship, disappointment and homesickness of farm families that migrated to California during the Great Depression. We recently added to the ACDC collection a brief report from the U.S. Library of Congress about the perceptions and experiences of migrant workers between 1929 and the early 1940s. This summary included web links to reports, popular songs and other sources of information.

Reference: The Migrant Experience
By: Fanslow, Robin A.
Published: Apr 6 1998

The report was posted online at: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/afctshtml/tsme/html
Note: At the time of publication the above URL was not in service.

Communicator activities approaching

September 30, 2004
Deadline for submission of abstracts for papers and other presentations at the U.S. Agricultural Information Network (USAIN) Biennial Conference and International Association of Agricultural Information Specialists (IAALD) XI World Congress on May 15-21, 2005, in Lexington, Kentucky USA.
Information: www.ca.uky.edu/aic/Submit_Page.htm

October 1, 2004
Deadline for submission of research and professional papers to be considered for presentation in the Agricultural Communications Section of the Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists (SAAS) conference during February, 2005, in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Information: http://aaaeonline.ifas.ufl.edu/regions/southern/saas2005/callpaperssaasagcom05.pdf

October 17-20, 2004
Annual convention of Communication Officers of State Departments of Agriculture (COSDA) in Nashville, Tennessee USA.
Information: www.nasda.org/cosda/annual.htm

Best regards and good searching.  

Please pass along your reactions, suggestions 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. Send

hard copies to:

Ag Com Documentation Center

510 LIAC Library

1101 S. Goodwin Avenue

Urbana, IL 61801

or electronic copies to:

docctr@library.uiuc.edu

September, 2004