ACDC Newsletter

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Mere grist for the image control mill.

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

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

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

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

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

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“Ignorance is no bliss.

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

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

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How farmers gather information these days.

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

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

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

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Trends in Australia’s agricultural media sector. 

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

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

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

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Cooking schools come back. 

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

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

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Professional meetings approaching.

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

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

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

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

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

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Best regards and good searching.

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

Agricultural print media – the Big Bang of extension. 

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

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

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Watching for food from abroad. 

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

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

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

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

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

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Also some misleading GM-free claims on food labels. 

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

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

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

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

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

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Tobacco litter – out of the public eye?

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

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

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Consumer views of organic foods. 

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

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

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

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

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Professional activities approaching.

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

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

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

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

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Best regards and good searching.

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

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

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

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

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Europeans say journalists lack appropriate background. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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A digital gender divide. 

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

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

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The blind chicken problem: untangling numbers from beliefs. 

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

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

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“Of polls and loaded questions.” 

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

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

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

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Mega-websites – poor models for supporting development? 

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

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

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

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Rethinking action research. 

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

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

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Development-related books added recently. 

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

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

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

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Professional meeting approaching.

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

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Past the 19,000-document mark. 

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

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Best regards and good searching.

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

“Whenever possible, we need to be there.” 

So concluded the president of North American Agricultural Journalists in a recent thought piece about the drawbacks that confront journalists in this communications age. “We live in an era when technology of communication has never been easier, more cost-effective or profuse,” said Laura Rance of Manitoba Co-operator. Then she asked, “So why do we find it so hard to stay connected with our sources? Why is it getting harder to tell a story?”

“A pitfall of having access to so much information.is that we mistake an exchange of information with true communication. . For us to truly tell the stories of the people we cover, we need to truly communicate with them, not simply exchange information and data. Whenever possible, we need to be there. We need to get out of our offices and into the lives of the people we cover so we can accurately portray who they are, and what they have to say. . We have to create ways to overcome barriers that technology creates.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Communications age has its drawbacks”) or author search (Rance) for the full citation. Posted online at: http://naaj.tamu.edu/naajJul01.htm

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Food safety – the environmental issue of this decade? 

John Wright, senior vice-president of public affairs for Ipsos-Reid, Canada, put it this way in a recent report on consumer attitudes: “At the outset of the last decade it was rocks, water, lumber and recyclability. Now we’re less concerned about the bottle as what’s in it.” This poll indicated that 74 percent of Canadians worry about the safety of their food.

Reference: Use a title search (“Food safety worries Canadians”) or author search (Foss) for the full citation. Archived (October 10, 2001) at: www.plant.uoguelph.ca/safefood/archives/fsnet-archives.htm

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Neglected stakeholders in biotechnology discussions. 

A commentary in Nature Biotechnology suggests that the needs, interests and concerns of primary stakeholders – the “commoners” – have been neglected in the biotechnology arena.

“Biotechnology’s future ultimately relies on governing institutions listening and responding to the public, rather than discounting key stakeholders as irrational, scientifically illiterate, or technophobic.” Authors offer suggestions for doing so.

Reference: Use a title search (“The tragedy of the commoners”) or author search (Sagar) for the full citation. Posted at: http://biotech.nature.com

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Scientists “will earn public trust by not betraying it. 

We must conduct only those experiments we know to be meaningful and reject those we know aren’t. If an experiment is unlikely to contribute data increasing our understanding of a GMO, then it is not worth doing.” Alan McHughen, University of Saskatchewan, offered this advice to fellow scientists at the close of the 6th International Symposium on the Biosafety of Genetically Modified Organisms. He asked what will replace scientific analysis in evaluating risk if the public rejects the legitimacy of it. His answer: “Non-science, or nonsense. Witchcraft.”

Reference: Use a title search (“The road ahead”) or author search (McHughen) for the full citation. Posted online at: www.ag.usask.ca/isbr/Symposium/Proceedings/Section11.htm

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Extension reports from Australasia Pacific. 

Thanks to ACDC Staff Associate Liz Kellaway for alerting us to the proceedings of an interesting recent Extension conference. The 2001 International Conference of Australasia Pacific Extension Network (APEN) took place October 3-5 at the University of South Queensland, Toowoomba. We are entering into the ACDC collection more than 70 refereed papers presented during that conference. A few sample topics:

•     “Challenges for contemporary extension: the case of biofertilizer in Vietnam”
•     “Assisting indigenous extension services”
•     “How to win growers and influence change”
•     “The role of science communication in natural resource planning”
•     “Information in extension: a poverty of theory”
•     “Reflections on the development of Landcare in the Philippines”
•     “Rethinking action research: theory and extension practice”

Reference: Citations for these and other papers from the conference are being processed into ACDC and will be accessible by subject, author and title. You can see the full proceedings online at: http://www.regional.org.au/au/apen/2001/

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Indigenous knowledge: is it scientific?

In Naked Science, anthropologist Laura Nader asks:

“If knowledge is born of experience and reason.and if science is a phenomenon universally characterized (after the insight) by rationality, then are not indigenous systems of knowledge part of the scientific knowledge of mankind?”

You can follow developments in this important field of rural communications through “IK Pages – Gateway to Indigenous Knowledge on the Internet.” http://nuffic.nl/ik-pages/index.html

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“The age of the ‘specialist’ in our business is over.” 

Barry Jones offered this view recently when he accepted the ACE Professional Award, highest recognition given by the Agricultural Communicators in Education organization. Speaking to communicators who work in colleges and universities, government agencies and development organizations, he said:

“The communicators of tomorrow are coming to the workplace with a set of skills that is far broader than what we have ever demanded before, and they are flexible enough to apply those skills in many ways. I could not have imagined in the 1970s or 80s that I would have writers and publications editors or graphics artists who would become ‘new media specialists’ or ‘Web content developers’ or ‘digital image editors’.”

Reference: Use a title search (“ACE Professional Award”) or author search (Jones) for the full citation.

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How to make working from home work. 

That is the title of a recent article by agricultural writer Susan K. Davis. She offered six suggestions, based on her 13 years of working from home.

Reference: Use a title search (above) or author search (Davis) for the full citation.

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Helping you gain online, full-text access.

You may have noticed that, increasingly, we are trying to provide you with online access to full-text documents that we are entering into the ACDC collection. Using the live links that we identify, you can visit web sites on which an increasing amount of literature about agricultural communications is being posted. We hope this service is useful to you and welcome your reactions and suggestions.

For archiving purposes, we collect such materials in paper and/or electronic format so they will be available to you after their often-brief, elusive web life ends. We want to help you gain access to them in the future – 5, 10, 50 years or more from now.

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As you tap into more online information 

You also will find increasing value in searching the ACDC database to identify the full range of items in the collection that may be relevant to you.

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Thanks for your continuing encouragement.

As this year draws to a close, we ACDC team members want you to know how much we appreciate your interest and encouragement. Words of encouragement (such as the following recent comments) mean much to us, as do your suggestions about how ACDC can serve you better:

•    “Your operation is great..;
•    “I find it very useful.”
•    “I really appreciate receiving this information each month.”
•    “.inevitably there’s something in here I am interested in.”
•    “Thanks for managing this important service.”

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Season’s greetings and good searching.

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

Protecting food from bio-attacks –

New focus for crisis communicators. Effective communicating comes to the forefront as the food industry considers how to increase biosecurity. “Communication is one of the most important areas for dealing with any biosecurity threat,” public relations executive Jere Sullivan is quoted as saying in a news report added recently to the ACDC collection. He described five criteria for a crisis communication plan.

Reference:  Use a title search (“Biosecurity and crisis communication”) or author search (Russell) for the full citation. Archived online (October 15, 2001) at: www.plant.uoguelph.ca/safefood/archives/fsnet-archives.htm

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Social movements – 

Powerful voices in the biotech debate. In a “perspectives” article for FarmWeek newspaper, Ann Reisner of the University of Illinois highlighted social movement organizations that are expressing concerns about genetic engineering in agriculture. Among them: health food movement, alternative agriculture movement, consumer and health movements, environmentalists, peace organizations, labor, human rights, international and nationalist, and animal rights organizations.

“.unusual is the degree to which various organizations are adopting and using arguments typical of other organizations,” she observed, and added: “Incorporating each other’s concerns increases the likelihood that these organizations will work together in other arenas.” She argued that to ignore their concerns in the ongoing debate on biotechnology “would be a move with potentially disastrous consequences.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Social movements raising opposition”) or author search (Reisner) for the full citation.

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“.. it’s still a face-to-face, hard-copy world.” 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Cooperative Services recently funded a survey project among members of cooperatives in the upper Midwest, USA, to learn their preferred sources of cooperative news.

“Face time with co-op employees and managers ranked first and second on a list of 10 communications preferences,” reported researcher David Trechter. “So informal communications channels are still hugely important.” Cooperative newsletters ranked third. Electronic communications channels ranked tenth, prompting this advice to cooperative communicators: “.don’t rely too heavily on e-mail or a Web site to keep members up-to-date.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Communications linked to loyalty”) or author search (Campbell) for the full citation.

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Growing gaps in stocks of scientific knowledge.

A report from the International Food Policy Research Institute assesses evidence regarding new knowledge being generated through investments in agricultural research and development by public and private agencies. Findings suggest that growth in R&D spending during the 1990s slowed dramatically in many parts of the world. And “the large and growing gap in research intensity between rich and poor countries continues to widen further in terms of total (public and private) spending.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Slow magic”) or author search (Pardey) for the full citation. Posted online at: www.ifpri.org/pubs/pubs.htm#fpr

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Internet being under-used for online meetings? 

The question arises in a report prepared recently for the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation in Australia. Authors observed after a two-year pilot study of joint research involving farmers and their advisers:

“There appears to be a general under-appreciation evident of the potential to conduct highly interactive online meetings, within agriculture. There are plentiful references to web pages, web page content, interactive web pages, and chat facilities; however, there is little if any reference to using the internet for interaction between people for the purposes of completing time sensitive tasks at reduced cost.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Farmers, advisers & researchers interacting on the net”) or author search (Hargreaves) for the full citation. Posted online at: www.rirdc.gov.au/reports/HCC/00-54.pdf

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Don’t forget giveaways. 

An article in the Cooperative Communicators Association newsletter, CCA News, offers five tips from members about planning successful annual meetings. Free food tops the list, but “giveaways – from cash prizes to cars – are as important as free food to boosting attendance.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Making meeting magic”) or author search (Simmons) for the full citation.

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Clouds over commodity promotion. 

A news article in Rural Cooperatives discusses implications of a U.S. Supreme Court decision siding with those who oppose mandatory checkoff programs for commodity promotion. The decision “puts in question a dozen generic product marketing programs with a combined budget of about $500 million to promote fruits, vegetables, meats and dairy products.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Supreme Court ruling clouds commodity marketing promotion”) for the full citation.

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Here are topics raised in some recent inquiries that have come to the Center:

• Sample television spots for corn herbicides during the past few years
  ·        Impact of the Internet on agriculture, now and in the future
  ·        Historical tapes of radio farm broadcasts
  ·        Factors influencing the farmer adoption process
  ·        Techniques for crisis management planning
  ·        Effectiveness of radio advertising among rural audiences
  ·        Careers open to agricultural communicators

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Welcome to a new staff associate. 

This month we welcome Liz Kellaway of South Australia as a new staff associate in the Center. Liz is general manager of Turnbull Porter Novelli Adelaide, a public relations consultancy that specializes in rural and regional communications. She also is regional vice-president/South Pacific of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ). We became acquainted during 1999 when, as a Churchill Fellow, Liz visited the University of Illinois and the Center during her study of agricultural communications strategies and methods in various countries. An avid learner, she knows the value of sharing professional knowledge and appreciates the mission of this international knowledge-sharing endeavor. In turn, we keenly appreciate her interest and volunteer support, and we look forward to working with her. You can reach her at LizK@porternovelli.sa.com.au.

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“This is the place in time.”

We close this issue of ACDC News with a poem presented by Pirjo Kontio at the farewell dinner of the 45th Annual Congress of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists, Savonlinna, Finland, on September 9. The poem, cited in a recent issue of IFAJ News, was written by Finnish poet Tommy Tabermann.

This is the place in time.
For a moment
lightning is frozen in the sky
and the cranes discover
the south in their feathers.
This is the moment in the night,
filled with us to the brim.
This is the place in time.
Forward we cannot
proceed, backward
we would not want to go,
here we are unable
to stay for long.
In this place
I would like to lay my head to rest.

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Best regards and good searching.

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

U.S. agricultural writers report increasing advertiser pressure.

Findings of a 10-year comparison suggest that agricultural writers are facing increasing pressure, in terms of advertiser influence on editorial matter. An article in the Journal of Applied Communications reports on research examining trends in power relationships among agricultural advertisers, periodicals and producer readers. Researchers Steve Banning and Jim Evans analyzed the current perceptions of American Agricultural Editors’ Association (AAEA) members. They also used results of an identical study a decade earlier as the basis for a 10-year comparison. Findings suggested that advertisers are becoming more aggressive in requesting editorial space and that writers see agricultural publications increasingly catering to advertisers.

Reference: Use a title search (“Fading voices”) or author search (Banning) for the full citation.

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” Will agriculture’s Woodward and Bernstein please stand up?” 

The question heads a recent article in the newsletter of North American Agricultural Journalists. Author Mike Warner, a North Dakota farmer who has had many dealings with journalists, challenged readers:

“You are the journalists who cover this immense, great, absolutely fascinating mega-industry called ‘U.S. and World Agriculture.’ It is an industry of such profound importance, scope and magnitude that it makes Bill Gates and his little company, Microsoft, like the corner drug store. It is the stuff of which governments lock horns and argue to stalemates. Food remains a major piece in the great political chess game of the world, as it always has and probably always will. The ability to feed people drives not just individual economies, but is arguably the lynch pin of the entire world economy.”

“World agriculture is filled with all the basic elements of great investigative journalism.”

Warner urged NAAJ members: “So if you have been doing this, I challenge you to do more. If you haven’t, I say ‘Get into the game’.” He also offered questions that he thinks need to be answered through good journalism.

Reference: Use a title search (above) or author search (Warner) for the full citation. The URL for online access is: http://naaj.tamu.edu/naajJul01.htm

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Don’t focus on stopping a practice or urging change.

That is the advice given by researchers who studied how to communicate with farmers about skin cancer. Reporting in Human Communication Research, the researchers recommended what they described as the behavior adaptation model. That is, they said, “acknowledge the practice and advise one that ‘when you do that, also do this.'”

Reference: Use a title search (“Communicating to farmers”) or author search (Parrott) for the full citation.

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Ahh, the rural life: less Type A tendency?

A research report that we entered recently from Norway was “supportive of the view that people living in the countryside express less of the Type A tendencies than do those living in urban settings.” Researchers reporting in Psychological Reports attended to the competitive, hard driving component of Type A behavior that has been implicated in the development of coronary heart disease. They examined the prevalence of such behavior in a rural and urban sample of Norwegian men.

Reference: Use a title search (“Type A/B behavior pattern”) or author title (Mellam) for the full citation.

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“The danger of the dance.”

“We may end up at the end of this process as nice, brown white people – just part of the melting pot,” says a former president of the Dene Nation in an article about problems in bringing radio and television to the Canadian North. This article explores the issue of cultural dominance as broadcasts from the U.S. reach into other cultures.

Reference: Use a title search (“Joining the global village”) or author search (Denton) for the full citation. For additional information about this general subject, use subject searches on terms such as “cultural dominance” or “intercultural communication.”

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Farmers as environmentalists. 

Results of a study reported recently in Human Organization identify areas of similarity in viewpoints of farmers and environmental professionals. Researchers Michael Paolisso and R.S. Maloney conducted an anthropological study of environment and pollution on Maryland’s lower Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay. They observed that a “dominant perception” of area farmers as being polluters “contrasts sharply with how they perceive themselves – as stewards of the land.” Even so, one Eastern Shore farmer commented, “.all the gun has to do is be smoking and you’re guilty.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Recognizing farmer environmentalism”) or author search (Paolisso) for the full citation.

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Wake-up call to journalists (and journalism educators) 

In Issue 01-17 we mentioned a graduate thesis by Thomas F. Pawlick examining agricultural reporting and agricultural journalism training in three global regions: North America, the former Soviet Bloc and Africa. Pawlik’s research led him to conclude that current issues involving food and agriculture are “not only newsworthy, but crucial to the future of the human species itself.” Also, “.both farm coverage and the resources available for training farm journalists are inadequate – in some cases, grossly inadequate.” Well, that research report has come off the press as a new book: Thomas F. Pawlick, The invisible farm: the worldwide decline of farm news and agricultural journalism training. Burnham Inc., Publishers, 222 N. Canal Street, Chicago, Illinois 60606. 2001. 202 pages. $23.95 paper.

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New edition of Writing for Agriculture 

The popular textbook by Claron Burnett and Mark Tucker is now available in a second edition, published by Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, 4050 Westmark Drive, Dubuque, Iowa 52002. 2001. 243 pages. The book (formatted for use in a ringbinder) was planned for writing classes in colleges of agriculture. Chapters feature gathering, writing and editing information for news stories, reports, business letters, broadcast media and personal columns. Other chapters focus on illustrating the news and carrying out public relations efforts. Each chapter includes discussion topics, assignments and exercises. And all examples and assignments involve agricultural and environmental subjects.

A new appendix is designed to help writers address contemporary agricultural issues in balanced and objective ways. A four-dimension “ecological paradigm” encourages agricultural writers to consider whether solutions or recommendations being reported:

• Maintain production efficiency
• Are economically viable
• Are environmentally compatible
• Are socially responsible

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New ACDC associate. 

Welcome to Yiqi Zhou who joined the Documentation Center team in mid-November as graduate research assistant. A degree candidate in the School of Library and Information Science, Yiqi brings to ACDC a variety of valuable skills and experiences. She majored in arts in literature and linguistics at Hunan University, China, earning honors for scholastic excellence. Her experiences include teaching, news translating and editing, cataloging, database management, web design and online searching. She looks forward to helping the Center grow and serve.

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Best regards and good searching.

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

Wising up to the limits of an “information approach.” 

Recent research from the United Kingdom points to a “fundamental limitation of information provision in assisting public enlightenment on new technologies or products.”  Researchers at the Centre for the Study of Environmental Change, Lancaster University, examined public interactions with new technologies such as biotechnology and information technology.  Results led researchers to call for industry and government to change their approach to market communication – from “information” to “interactive understanding.”  Some requirements for such a change:

• A revised understanding of people – as “people” first and “consumers” second
• A shift from the understanding of technologies and their associated products as “tools” to an understanding of them as “social processes”
• More “socially sensitive antennae” incorporated into the very processes of technological innovation
• A “new spirit of humility by ‘experts”

Reference:  Use a title search (“Wising up”) or author search (Grove-White) for the full citation, including URL for online access.

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Ineffective information systems in rural development.

A theme similar to the one noted above appears in a book that we identified recently for the ACDC collection.  The book explores lessons from rural development projects of the World Bank and U.S. Agency for International Development.  A sample point:

“Information has become confused with knowledge: more information is assumed to yield more knowledge.  In practice, this has led to an increasing dependence on technology, that is, the more processed information is, the better it is assumed to be.  But is it?  And, if so, for what purpose can it be used?  More information in itself is worthless unless the capacity exists to analyze, criticize, and reflect on it.”  (p. 177)

Reference:  Use a title search (“Ineffective information systems”) or author search (Gow) for the full citation.

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$1.5 billion for bridging the digital divide.

We have added to ACDC a description and background study about the Virtual Colombo Plan that was announced during August.  The Australian Government and the World Bank announced this $1.5 billion partnership to combat global poverty with a state-of-the-art distance education initiative.  Key principles cited:

• Provide assistance that is demand-driven and locally appropriate.
• Design activities that test innovative concepts and make full use of modern monitoring and evaluation techniques to provide regular feedback on performance.
• Allow for technical, institutional and financial sustainability as critical considerations.
• Mainstream gender considerations.
• Ensure that expertise is properly adapted to developing country circumstances.

Reference:  Use a title search (“Virtual Colombo Plan”) for the full citation, including URL for online access.

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A caution for rural communities investing in telecommunications.

“…rural communities and policy makers are investing in telecommunications projects without good data on positive and negative impacts and the comparative efficacy of different implementation models.”  That finding comes from an analysis by Gwen H. Wolford and C. Ann Hollifield of existing literature on telecommunications and U.S. rural development.  Their 1997 conference paper also lays out an agenda for future research.

Reference:  Use a title search (“Impact of telecommunications”) or author search (Hollifield) for the full citation.

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Seven myths about GMOs.

Research among European publics has prompted Marris Claire, social scientist at the French National Institute for Agronomy Research, to identify seven myths about public reactions to genetic modified organisms:

1. The public either accepts or rejects GMOs.
2. People who oppose GMOs are irrational; if only they understood the science better.
3. People are obsessed with the idea that GMOs are “unnatural.”
4. People are concerned about the use of GMOs in agriculture, but not about their use for the production of pharmaceuticals.
5. Reactions against GMOs are due to an unfortunate series of previous and ongoing food scandals in Europe.
6. People demand “zero risk.”
7. People do not realize that GMOs can improve food production in developing  countries, and would prefer to block such use.

Reference:  Use a title search (“Public views on GMOs: deconstructing the myths”) or author search (Claire) for the full citation, including URL for online access.

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Agricultural sellers as losers:  “the curse of knowledge.”

Results of a recent laboratory market experiment suggest that “there is evidence of a curse of knowledge for sellers…when quantity traded for the entire market is known.”  Researchers found that public information may improve the bargaining position of buyers relative to sellers in private negotiation trading with spot deliveries.  This finding holds special interest in an era when “trading institutions in agriculture are evolving from auction to private negotiation.”

Reference:  Use a title search (“Bilateral trading and the curse of knowledge”) or author search (Menkhaus) for the full citation, including URL for online access.

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Rural learners as losers: a case of misdirected education.

“Education programmes appear to oppose nomadic culture at all levels,” according to a review of literature about education for nomadic pastoralists.  Saverio Kratli’s analysis revealed, for example, that most of the education provision as conceived, designed and delivered:

• “competes (from a position of power) with the generation, distribution and reproduction of pastoral specialisation, and in so doing creates a threat to the livelihood of the pastoral household…”
• “undermines pastoral societies’ potential for endogenous change – paradoxically, at the very moment in which it presents itself as an instrument of change…”
• ignores the “unintended social, political and economic effects that may result from the [educational]policy and its implementation.”

The 2001 report includes a Mongolia case study and identifies nine key issues for future policy.

Reference:  Use a title search (“Education provision to nomadic pastoralists”) or author search (Kratli) for the full citation, including URL for online access.

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Requirements of a healthy rural journalism.

A book from India, Rural press: problems and prospects, puts it this way:

“Healthy rural journalism is 100 per cent purposive, promotional, field-based and result-oriented.  It is expository, incisive and interpretive, it is investigative and educative – all packed into one.  It requires the ability of a news-hound, the professional skill of a quick-witted and resourceful editor, a fleet footed reporter, an agile publisher, a fairly good printer, a creative typographer and lay-out artist and an enterprising circulation and advertising manager.  It also warrants the quality of a roving and sensitive cameraman, a competent interviewer, prober and researcher and a persuasive writer.  In short, rural journalism is instantaneous and participatory, requiring barefoot and missionary zeal, spontaneity, resourcefulness and innovativeness on the part of rural journalists.”

Reference:  Use a title search (above) or author search (Press Institute of India) for the full citation.

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Professional activities approaching:

November 14-18, 2001
“Every day is game day: there is NO off season.” Annual convention of the 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 pass along your reactions, questions and ideas for ACDC. Feel free to invite our help as you search for information. And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents that we might add to this collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Ag Com Documentation Center, 69 Mumford Hall, University of Illinois, 1301 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL 61801) or electronic form (docctr@library.uiuc.edu. Thank you.

“Don’t get discouraged,” Smokey.

That’s the advice of April Baily, a U.S. Forest Service officer, in her 55^th birthday letter to Smokey the Bear. The letter appeared in the Fall 1999 issue of Fire Management Notes and was added recently to the campaign-related documents in our ACDC collection.

Can a public information campaign be too successful? Not this one, Baily thinks. “I know lots of people lately have criticized your prevention message, saying that the years of prevention have actually made the fire problem worse by allowing fuels to build up to the point where a conflagration is inevitable when a spark is struck. But I know that your message was always aimed at keeping people from carelessly starting the fires that destroy not just trees, but also the homes of people who share your woodlands.”

Reference: Use a title search (“A birthday letter to Smokey”) or author search (Baily) for the citation, including URL for online access.

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U.S. farmers to rely less on print media? 

Representatives of competitive media are pointing to indications in the 2001 Ag Media Research study that producers may consider doing so. A National Association of Farm Broadcasters news release added recently to the ACDC collection reports on responses from nearly 5,000 producers in 19 states. According to the release, “print magazines currently are rated by 84% of the producers as their primary source of in-depth information when given a choice of magazines or the Internet. . However, when producers were asked what their best in-depth source would be just five years from now, 45% of the producers that currently held magazines as their top choice, believed their use could change.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Farmers predict radio and Internet to survive”) for the full citation.

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Building traditions in rural broadcasting

Thanks to J. Steven Smethers of Oklahoma State University for providing two reports of his recent research on the development of rural radio and television programming traditions in the U.S. They are:

• “Community programs: surrogate radio stations for rural Midwestern communities.” This journal article describes an era when “stringer” reporters aired death notices, birth announcements, hospital admissions, club meetings and other local news.

• “Unplugged: developing rural Midwestern television audiences without live network service, 1949-1952.” This study documents the development of television from a local perspective – “when television was not yet a household word and the task of providing a continuous program service was much more complicated than merely building a program lineup around network programming.”

Reference: Use title or author searches (above) for the full citations.

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Congratulations to the National Agricultural Library

For adding the 4-millionth record on July 9 to the AGRICOLA (AGRICultural OnLine Access) database of citations to the agricultural literature. AGRICOLA is the largest bibliographic database for agriculture in the world and has been available for free public use via the World Wide Web since 1998 (www.nal.usda.gov/ag98).

We search AGRICOLA to identify agricultural communications documents for ACDC, using an extensive protocol of subject search terms. It helps alert us to relevant documents from many sources.

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Optimistic about e-commerce, but not using it yet.

A recent study among Ohio fruit and vegetable growers showed that 78 percent own or have access to computers and 71.4 percent use the Internet. However, researchers Stan Ernst and Mark Tucker found:

“.while these producers and distributors of fruits and vegetables generally demonstrate and claim optimism about the positive role of information technologies and E-Business strategies within their firms and overall industry, only a distinct minority are participating in the New Economy as either online buyers or sellers.”

Only 5.6 percent reported using computers “very often” for buying business inputs; 52.2 percent had never done so. Only 1.8 percent reported using computers “very often” for selling products over the Internet; 63.4 percent had never done so.

Reference: Use a title search (“Perceptions and adoption of information technologies”) or author search (Ernst or Tucker) for the full citation and details about electronic access.

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A long view of farmers’ involvement in the consumer culture.

Today’s discussions in the U.S. about corporate versus family farms and farming as a business or way of life carry a familiar ring in a recent historical analysis by David Blanke. The title of his book: Sowing the American dream: how consumer culture took root in the rural Midwest. Blanke suggests that “Midwestern farmers, between 1820 and 1900, consciously took advantage of the evolving modern consumer culture in order to better compete in the marketplace. At the same time, they protected what they believed to be vital notions of the community.” His analysis highlights innovative early efforts by farmers to bolster purchasing power through their organizations, such as the Grange. His research also examines marketers, such as Montgomery Ward and Company, that recognized special potentials in rural areas and creatively developed new mail order marketing systems as rural free delivery emerged.

Reference: Use a title search (“Sowing the American dream”) or author search (Blanke) for the full citation.

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Getting more than table scraps.

Findings of a new global study by Euro RSCG Worldwide suggest that pets “are now being treated as surrogate children, lavished with premium foods and a wide array of extravagant playthings and accessories.” The white paper cites a survey by the American Animal Hospital Association showing that 84 percent of owners said they consider their pets their children and that 74 percent would be willing to go into debt to provide care for their pets. A cited survey by a pet supplies retailer revealed that “28 percent of pet owners spend more on Christmas gifts for their pets than for their spouses.” It seems that communicating about companion animals holds plenty of potential.

Reference: Use a title search (“Pets are masters”) for the full citation, including URL for online access.

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Whew. Lots of biotech communicating.

We notice that the ACDC collection now contains nearly 550 documents that involve communications aspects of biotechnology. In fact, we have added more than 70 documents so far in 2001. Many of these documents track public knowledge and attitudes about agriculture-related uses of biotechnology and genetic engineering. Some analyze media coverage and offer perspectives on the biotechnology debate. Some involve labeling considerations, publicity efforts of interest groups, education campaigns and other communications aspects of this complex topic. In total, they involve dozens of countries.

Reference: For a quick look at this growing body of literature in ACDC, use a subject search on the term <biotechnology> and scroll through the list of titles.

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Conflicting interpretations (from the same survey). 

A recent article in Nature Biotechnology highlights a dilemma that faces communicators and others involved in agricultural biotechnology. The article describes two independent reports that “have, in the main, analyzed the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Chemical Use Survey.” The survey looked at herbicide use between 1995 and 1998.

• One report, from Idaho, concluded that Roundup Ready soybeans “clearly require more herbicides than conventional soybeans” and can yield “up to 10% less.”
• The other report, from the Netherlands, concluded that Roundup Ready soybean cultivation across the U.S. has led to “a modest reduction in herbicide-use.” It said that data available about the impacts on yield “are too small to be useful.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Jury out on environmental impact”) or author search (Heselmans) for the full citation, including URL for online access.

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Best regards and good searching.

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