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Tips for navigating science in the media
“With every trending scientific topic and the social media conversation that follows, it’s increasingly difficult to sift fact from fiction.” So reported the International Food Information Council in an article we added recently to the ACDC collection. Author Marisa Paipongna offered five tips for doing so:
• Be careful with clickbait
• Study the studies
• Know the lingo
• Take a deeper dive
• Beware of bias
You can read it here.
New research in the second 2022 issue of Journal of Applied Communications
“Foreseen demands for up-and-coming science communicators and recommendations for science communication training programs”
“Reporting a rural reality: A case study of an agricultural newspaper’s series on the rural opioid epidemic”
“Reporting on vital agricultural news in Ireland: A comparison between mainstream print media and the farming press”
“A scarcity of biospheric values in local and regional reporting of water issues: Media coverage in the Floridan aquifer region”
“Conservation in the news: Comparing news coverage of nutrient reduction in agricultural and non-agricultural news outlets in Iowa”
You can read these articles by open access here.
Five-year trends of how farmers buy online
That title introduces a brief 2022 research summary we are adding to the ACDC collection. It is part of an annual survey project from Farm Journal. The email study (conducted since 2018) asked farmers to report about how they buy the crop inputs they need. For example:
• Do you currently buy any of your crop inputs online?
• (For those who don’t buy online) Why?
• For the 2022 crop, what products did you buy online?
• For the 2023 crop, what products do you plan to buy online?
• What factors are important when you consider buying crop inputs?
You can read the summary here.
Dairy farmers, their veterinarians and prudent use of antimicrobials
Antibiotics journal recently published an article about how values and risk perceptions shape attitudes of Canadian dairy farmers toward prudent use of antimicrobials. Authors noted how antimicrobial resistance (AMU) is an important challenge to public health. They used an online survey among dairy farmers in Ontario and Atlantic Canada to assess farmers’ personal values, decision-making process, attitudes toward AMU reduction, and awareness of AMU. Factor analysis identified four groups of factors related to knowledge, risk perception, and emotional states among respondents. A logistic regression model identified variables associated with the probability of disagreeing with the need to increase promotion of responsible AMU in the dairy industry.
Findings provided guidance for using promising approaches to encourage and achieve prudent AMU. Among them were recommendations to develop (with veterinarians) protocols that involve more input from farmers.
You can read the article by open access here.
Movement towards transparency on European farm subsidies
“Bursting the ‘Brussels bubble’” is the title of a 2013 article we identified recently in the journal, Ethical space: The International Journal of Communication Ethics. Author Alana Mann described efforts of Farmsubsidy.org. It is a network of journalists, researchers, activists, and data analysists working together to make the European Union subsidy system more transparent. They are “pressuring the governments of member states to reveal the ‘subsidy millionaires’ who are benefiting from a system designed to assist small farmers.”
“In a democratic public sphere, the role of civil society organizations can be enhanced through targeted cooperative communication projects supported by transnational media structures that inform the public extensively about political policy, decision-making and governance.”
You can read the article here.
How to keep young people in the farming sector
Non-monetary benefits are as important as monetary benefits, according to a 2022 research report in PLOS ONE by researchers Para Jansuwan and Kerstin K. Zander. Using path analysis, they investigated which physical and psychological factors affected decisions of young farmers in Thailand to pursue three types of farming. Types included: (1) full-time profit-oriented rice farming, (2) full-time multi-functional farming in innovative mixed or organic production systems, or (3) part-time farming where young farmers worked off-farm and farmed outside regular working hours.
Young farmers choosing to pursue multifunctional farming had higher incomes. They also applied sophisticated technologies more often and farmed more sustainably than those choosing the other types of farming.
You can read the article by open access here. It stirs thinking about how to encourage young people to consider living and working in rural communities, wherever.
Communicator events approaching soon
Uncertainties of the COVID-19 health issue continue to prompt flexible event planning. Here are plans of which we are aware, with contact information you can use for details.
November 16-18, 2022
“Providing Choice Information for Agriculture.” National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB) annual conference in Kansas City, Missouri. Information: https://nafb.com/events/nafb-convention
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
At Thanksgiving
During this season of thanks for harvests, we close the November issue of ACDC News with a limerick posted by D. Wallace Peach:
A turkey who drank and gobbled
Indulged ‘til his red waddle bobbled.
He tried a straight strut
And he trotted well, but
In the end, that old turkey just wobbled.
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