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Drovers Vol. 150, No. 1
Congratulations to the U.S.-based livestock magazine, Drovers, on reaching a spectacularly-rare 150th anniversary this month.
“We celebrate the dramatic changes that transformed our industry into a modern, reliable source of high-quality protein for consumers around the world,” explained Editor Greg Henderson in the January 2023 issue. Drovers Journal was recognized as the first U.S. periodical devoted to livestock market news. Founder Harvey L. Goodall first published it “on the bricks” in the Union Stock Yards, Chicago, Illinois, on January 11, 1873. The ACDC collection contains more than 100 Drovers articles (1975 to date) about communications related to livestock. We are pleased to add anniversary news items – and other articles during the years ahead.
“Generations of Drovers editors and publishers have successfully embraced the evolution of information gathering and dissemination from its slow, cumbersome beginnings with Goodall to our modern magazine and digital platforms,” Editor Henderson observed.
“Growing hesitancy” among rural parents about COVID-19 vaccine for their children
We are adding to the ACDC collection a 2022 article in PLOS ONE about attitudes and beliefs of parents in rural Colorado. Research team members used a brief online demographic survey and in-depth qualitative interviews. Findings prompted them to report: “The growing vaccine hesitancy among parents has serious implications for disease eradication and future viral outbreaks.”
You can read the research article by open access here.
“Six rural news outlets trying to bridge the information divide”
Writing in Nieman Reports, Celeste Katz Marston recently described six local newsrooms “helping audiences better understand places sometimes dismissed as ‘flyover country’.” She described them briefly:
• The Daily Yonder https://dailyyonder.com
• Southerly https://southerlymag.org
• The News Reporter https://nrcolumbus.com
• High Country News https://www.hcn.org
• Ohio Valley ReSource https://ohiovalleyresource.org
• Mountain State Spotlight https://mountainstatespotlight.org
You can read more about them at the URLs shown above.
Antidotes against ecological forgetfulness
We recently added to the ACDC collection an essay in High Country News about how we can be good future ecological ancestors. We tend to forget most of what we see and experience in the natural world around us, noted author Jason Mark.
“Each of us can become, in our own modest way, an environmental storyteller, passing down the oral histories of the places we inherited,” he observed (e.g., epic vistas, the feeling of wind in the face, the forest’s mossy scent, the cheep of chickadees, disappearing red-winged blackbirds). His prescription: “Be outside as much as you can. Bear witness. Make a record. Pass it on.”
You can read the brief essay here.
Troubled landscape about ethics in rural health care organizations
We are adding to the ACDC collection a 2011 article that reveals a troubled landscape in the realm of ethical dilemmas related to rural healthcare. A discussion in the American Medical Association Journal of Ethics painted this picture:
• Ethics committees are less prevalent in rural hospitals, they do not fulfill the typical role and they are seldom used.
• Health care personnel in rural areas do not see bioethics analysis as applicable to the problems they face.
• A lack of consensus about what constitutes ethical behavior leads to hesitancy and inaction.
You can read the discussion here.
Communicator events approaching soon
Here are plans you may find helpful, with contact information you can use for details. We welcome suggestions or revisions for this calendar.
February 5-6, 2023
National Agricultural Communications Symposium (NACS) in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Information: https://piecenter.com/nacs-2
April 19-23, 2023
32nd Annual Conference of the Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ) in Boise, Idaho. Information: https://conference.sej.org
April 25-27, 2023
Annual meeting of the Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association (TOCA) in Portland, Maine. Information: https://www.toca.org/toca-annual-meeting
April 26-28, 2023
“Next2Now: Tap into the Future Today.” Conference of the National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) in St. Louis, Missouri.
Information: https://www.nama.org/2023-agri-marketing-conference.html
April 26-29, 2023
Conference of the International Agricultural and Extension Education Association (IAEE) in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. Information: https://aiaee.org/2023conference
June 4-6, 2023
“Putting the Spotlight on Communications.” 2023 Institute of the Cooperative Communicators Association (CCA) in Portland, Maine.
Information: CCA Institute | Cooperative Communicators Association
June 11-13, 2023
Conference of the Association for Communication Excellence (ACE) in Ashville, North Carolina. Information: https://aceweb.org/2023conference
June 13-15, 2023
Annual meeting of the Agricultural Relations Council (ARC) in Des Moines, Iowa. Information: https://agrelationscouncil.org
Oh, the complexities of life
We close this issue of ACDC News with a comforting piece of traditional Irish wisdom:
“Leave the flurry
To the masses;
Take your time
And shine your glasses.”
Best regards and wishes
ACDC is a deep and open resource for you, so please feel free to invite our help as you search for information, local to global. You are welcomed to follow us on Twitter @ACDCUIUC. And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents we might add to this unique and valued international collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Ag Comm Documentation Center, 510 ACES Library, 1101 S. Goodwin Avenue, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801) – or in electronic format sent to acdc@library.illinois.edu