Agricultural communication

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Four people speaking with a farmer in Nigeria Communication with Rural farmers.jpg
Four people speaking with a farmer in Nigeria

Agricultural communication, or agricultural communications, is a field that focuses on communication about agriculture-related information among agricultural stakeholders and between agricultural and non-agricultural stakeholders. Agriculture is broadly defined in this discipline to include not only farming, but also food, fiber (e.g., cotton), animals, rural issues, and natural resources. [1] Agricultural communication is done formally and informally by agricultural extension and is considered related to science communication. [2] However, it has evolved into its own professional field.

Contents

By definition, agricultural communicators are science communicators that deal exclusively with the diverse, applied science and business that is agriculture. An agricultural communicator is "expected to bring with him or her a level of specialized knowledge in the agricultural field that typically is not required of the mass communicator". [3] Agricultural communication also addresses all subject areas related to the complex enterprises of food, feed, fiber, renewable energy, natural resource management, rural development and others, locally to globally. Furthermore, it spans all participants, from scientists to consumers - and all stages of those enterprises, from agricultural research and production to processing, marketing, consumption, nutrition and health.

A growing market for agricultural journalists and broadcasters led to the establishment of agricultural journalism and agricultural communication academic disciplines.

The job market for agricultural communicators includes:

History

The academic field originated from communication courses that taught students in the agricultural sciences how to communicate. Originally, agricultural journalists were needed to report farm news for a much larger agricultural and rural audience. As people moved from the farm to cities and suburbs, a much greater proportion of the population had less direct knowledge and experience regarding agriculture. While a need still exists for agricultural journalists, an equal, if not greater need exists for agricultural communicators who can act as liaisons between an industry with deeply rooted traditions and values and a public with little to no understanding of how agriculture operates and why it is the way it is. [4]

Research

The key journal in the field is the Journal of Applied Communications. [5] Researchers have focused on a variety of areas examining consumer attitudes toward agricultural products and practices including genetic engineering [6] and genetically modified food, [7] natural and organic food and production, [8] and food-related risks. [9] Another area of research has been media coverage of agriculture and agricultural issues. Topics have included media coverage of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease), [10] [11] YouTube videos of California Proposition 2 (2008), [12] and television news coverage of food safety scares. [13]

The Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, [14] maintained by the University of Illinois, compiles research and articles related to agriculture and communications as well.

Agricultural journalism

This section is an excerpt from Agricultural journalism.[ edit ]

Agricultural journalism is a field of journalism that focuses on the various aspects of agriculture, including agribusiness, best practices and changing conditions for agriculture. Agricultural journalism is part of agricultural communication, an academic and professional field focused on best practices for communicating about agriculture. This kind of knowledge transfer, both identify the perspectives of agriculturalists in larger news stories, such as weather or economics, and transfers knowledge from knowledge holders, policy makers and researchers, to agricultural producers and other implementers involved in growing or processing food. [15]

Agricultural journalism has its roots in other forms of rural journalism in the mid 19th century. [16] In the United States, journalism focused on agriculture was an important part of rural society, and has become an important source of historical material for researchers of economics and rural society. [17] [18] The late-20th century saw increasing commercial pressure and retraction of the industry. [19] [20] However, recent studies of Agricultural Journalism, suggest that farmers adopt new technologies and methodologies through journalism venues, especially in communities in the Global South. [21] [22] Even with this growth in attention, a study by the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists, found that that average agriculture journalism organization employed less than 5 people. [15]

There is a wide variety of agricultural newspapers and magazines throughout the world. Radio programmes are frequently used for agricultural communication and Farm Radio International is a leading organization in providing programming to developing countries. There are over 55 professional organizations, such as the National American Agricultural Journalists in the United States, and the majority of these organizations are part of the federated international organization: the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (initially formed in 1933). [15] [23] [24] These associations improve standards, coordination and training across the discipline. [23] [24]

Academic programs

Several colleges offer formal education at the undergraduate and graduate levels in the field of agricultural communication. What follows is a list with links directly to the programs.

Approaches

A sign saying that the "Agricultural Electronic Commerce Information Centre" is open Agricultural Electronic Commerce Information Centre.jpg
A sign saying that the "Agricultural Electronic Commerce Information Centre" is open

Conceptually speaking, agricultural communication is an applied theoretical field. The academic curriculum and scholarly endeavors typically stay within the context of agriculture, natural resources, and occasionally, the life sciences. It examines communication and human dimension issues as they relate to a variety of issues in agriculture and natural resources. Agricultural journalism is not always differentiated from agricultural communications in research. One could argue that when research focuses on media coverage of agricultural issues or when it examines issues within agricultural journalism specifically (i.e., what influences editors of agriculture magazines to publish risk information), then it is more within the realm of agricultural journalism. Journalism is often seen as a subset of communication that is supposed to be fair and balanced like traditional journalism, whereas the broader field of agricultural communication could potentially be viewed as advocacy communication.

Agricultural communicators are expected to have a certain amount of knowledge and familiarity with agriculture. One could also add to that definition and say the communicator also brings with him or her an appreciation, or even affection, for the agriculture industry. While this is also probably true of agricultural journalists, they at least need to be cognizant of their potential bias to ensure they ask critical questions and present unbiased information. Agricultural journalists are trained like traditional journalists, but bring with them an understanding of agricultural systems and science either through experience and/or academic training.

Related Research Articles

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to agriculture:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Communication studies</span> Academic discipline

Communication studies or communication science is an academic discipline that deals with processes of human communication and behavior, patterns of communication in interpersonal relationships, social interactions and communication in different cultures. Communication is commonly defined as giving, receiving or exchanging ideas, information, signals or messages through appropriate media, enabling individuals or groups to persuade, to seek information, to give information or to express emotions effectively. Communication studies is a social science that uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge that encompasses a range of topics, from face-to-face conversation at a level of individual agency and interaction to social and cultural communication systems at a macro level.

Development communication refers to the use of communication to facilitate social development. Development communication engages stakeholders and policy makers, establishes conducive environments, assesses risks and opportunities and promotes information exchange to create positive social change via sustainable development. Development communication techniques include information dissemination and education, behavior change, social marketing, social mobilization, media advocacy, communication for social change, and community participation.

Agricultural economics is an applied field of economics concerned with the application of economic theory in optimizing the production and distribution of food and fiber products. Agricultural economics began as a branch of economics that specifically dealt with land usage. It focused on maximizing the crop yield while maintaining a good soil ecosystem. Throughout the 20th century the discipline expanded and the current scope of the discipline is much broader. Agricultural economics today includes a variety of applied areas, having considerable overlap with conventional economics. Agricultural economists have made substantial contributions to research in economics, econometrics, development economics, and environmental economics. Agricultural economics influences food policy, agricultural policy, and environmental policy.

Agribusiness is the industry, enterprises, and the field of study of value chains in agriculture and in the bio-economy, in which case it is also called bio-business or bio-enterprise. The primary goal of agribusiness is to maximize profit while satisfying the needs of consumers for products related to natural resources such as biotechnology, farms, food, forestry, fisheries, fuel, and fiber.

Agricultural extension is the application of scientific research and new knowledge to agricultural practices through farmer education. The field of 'extension' now encompasses a wider range of communication and learning activities organized for rural people by educators from different disciplines, including agriculture, agricultural marketing, health, and business studies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agricultural education</span> Training in farming, natural resources, and land management

Agricultural education is the systematic and organized teaching, instruction and training available to students, farmers or individuals interested in the science, business and technology of agriculture as well as the management of land, environment and natural resources.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Science journalism</span> Journalism genre

Science journalism conveys reporting about science to the public. The field typically involves interactions between scientists, journalists and the public.

Environmental journalism is the collection, verification, production, distribution and exhibition of information regarding current events, trends, and issues associated with the non-human world. To be an environmental journalist, one must have an understanding of scientific language. The individual needs to put to use their knowledge of historical environmental events. One must have the ability to follow environmental policy decisions and environmental organizations. An environmental journalist should have a general understanding of current environmental concerns, and the ability to communicate information to the public in a way that is easily understood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Environmental communication</span> Type of communication

Environmental communication is "the dissemination of information and the implementation of communication practices that are related to the environment. In the beginning, environmental communication was a narrow area of communication; however, nowadays, it is a broad field that includes research and practices regarding how different actors interact with regard to topics related to the environment and how cultural products influence society toward environmental issues".

The School of Communication and Information (SC&I) is a professional school within the New Brunswick Campus of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. The school was created in 1982 as a result of a merger between the Graduate School of Library and Information Studies, the School of Communication Studies, and the Livingston Department of Urban Journalism. The school has about 2,500 students at the undergraduate, masters, and doctoral levels, and about 60 full-time faculty.

The Science Communication Observatory is a Special Research Centre attached to the Department of Communication of the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain, set up in 1994. This centre is specialized in the study and analysis of the transmission of scientific, medical, environmental and technological knowledge to society. The journalist Vladimir de Semir, associated professor of Science Journalism at the Pompeu Fabra University, was the founder and is the current director of the centre. A multidisciplinary team of researchers coming from different backgrounds is working on various lines of research: science communication; popularization of sciences, risk and crisis communication; science communication and knowledge representation; journalism specialized in science and technology; scientific discourse analysis; health and medicine in the daily press; relationships between science journals and mass media; history of science communication; public understanding of science; gender and science in the mass media, promotion of scientific vocations, science museology, etc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences</span> Agricultural school of the University of Wisconsin-Madison

The University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences is one of the colleges of the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Founded in 1889, the college has 17 academic departments, 23 undergraduate majors, and 49 graduate programs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Medical journalism</span>

Medical journalism is news reporting of medical news and features. Medical journalism is diverse, and reflects its audience. The main division is into (1) medical journalism for the general public, which includes medical coverage in general news publications and in specialty medical publications, and (2) medical journalism for doctors and other professionals, which often appears in peer-reviewed journals. The accuracy of medical journalism varies widely. Reviews of mass media publications have graded most stories unsatisfactory, although there were examples of excellence. Other reviews have found that most errors in mass media publications were the result of repeating errors in the original journal articles or their press releases. Some web sites, such as Columbia Journalism Review and Hippocrates Med Review, publish and review medical journalism.

The Faculty of Agriculture of Kagawa University specializes in pure and applied research in bioscience and biotechnology.

Agricultural literacy is a phrase being used by several universities to describe programs to promote the understanding and knowledge necessary to synthesize, analyze, and communicate basic information about agriculture with students, producers, consumers, and the public. These programs focus on assisting educators and others to effectively incorporate information about agriculture into subjects being taught or examined in public and private forums and to better understand the impact of agriculture on society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alison Van Eenennaam</span> American biologist

Alison L. Van Eenennaam is a Cooperative Extension Specialist in the Department of Animal Science at the University of California, Davis and runs the Animal Genomics and Biotechnology Laboratory. She has served on national committees such as the USDA National Advisory Committee on Biotechnology in the 21st Century (AC21) and was awarded the 2014 Borlaug CAST Communication Award. Van Eenennaam writes the Biobeef Blog.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources</span> University in Malawi

The Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) is a university outside Lilongwe, Malawi. It was formed in 2011 by a merger between Bunda College of Agriculture of the University of Malawi and Natural Resources College (NRC).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott H. Irwin</span> Economist at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)

Scott H. Irwin is the Laurence J. Norton Chair of Agricultural Marketing and professor in the department of agricultural and consumer economics at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Agricultural journalism is a field of journalism that focuses on the various aspects of agriculture, including agribusiness, best practices and changing conditions for agriculture. Agricultural journalism is part of agricultural communication, an academic and professional field focused on best practices for communicating about agriculture. This kind of knowledge transfer, both identify the perspectives of agriculturalists in larger news stories, such as weather or economics, and transfers knowledge from knowledge holders, policy makers and researchers, to agricultural producers and other implementers involved in growing or processing food.

References

  1. ↑ Doerfert, D. L. (Ed.) (2011). National research agenda: American Association for Agricultural Education’s research priority areas for 2011-2015. Lubbock, TX: Texas Tech University, Department of Agricultural Education and Communications.
  2. ↑ Treise, D., & Weigold, M. F. (2002). Advancing science communication: A survey of science communicators. Science Communication, 23(3), 310-322.
  3. ↑ Boone, K., Meisenbach, T., & Tucker, M. (2000). Agricultural communications: Changes and challenges, Iowa State University Press.
  4. ↑ Evans, J. (2008). Agricultural Communication Oral History Project. Agricultural Communications Documentation Center. http://www.library.illinois.edu/funkaces/acdc/oralhistory/podcasts.html Archived 2012-10-02 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ↑ Journal of Applied Communications. http://journalofappliedcommunications.org.
  6. ↑ Irani, T., Sinclair, J., & O'Malley. (2002). The Importance of Being Accountable The Relationship between Perceptions of Accountability, Knowledge, and Attitude toward Plant Genetic Engineering. Science Communication, 23(3). doi : 10.1177/107554700202300302
  7. ↑ Meyers, C. A., & Miller, J. D. (2007). Selected Consumers’ Evaluations of Genetically Modified Food Labels. Journal of Applied Communications, 91(1-2).
  8. ↑ Abrams, K. M., Meyers, C. A., & Irani, T. A. (2009). Naturally confused: Consumers’ perceptions of organic and all-natural pork products. Journal of Agriculture and Human Values [in press]. doi : 10.1007/s10460-009-9234-5
  9. ↑ Tucker, M., Whaley, S., & Sharp, J. (2006). Consumer perceptions of food-related risks. International Journal of Food Science and Technology, 41(2), 135-146.
  10. ↑ Ruth, A., Eubanks, E., & Telg, R. (2005). Framing of Mad Cow Media Coverage. Journal of Applied Communications, 89(4) 39-54.
  11. ↑ Ashlock, M., Cartmell, D., & Kelemen, D. (2006). The Cow That Stole Christmas: Framing the First U.S. Mad Cow Crisis. Journal of Applied Communications, 90(2) 29-46.
  12. ↑ Goodwin, J., & Rhoades, E. (2009). Agricultural legislation: The presence of California Proposition 2 on YouTube. Paper presented at the National American Association for Agricultural Education Conference, Louisville, KY. Available from http://www.aaaeonline.org/files/national_09/papers/2.pdf%5B%5D
  13. ↑ Irlbeck, E., & Akers, C (2009). The Summer of Salmonella in Salsa: A Framing Analysis of the 2008 Salmonella Outbreak in Tomatoes and Jalapenos. Paper presented at the National American Association for Agricultural Education Conference, Louisville, KY. Available from http://www.aaaeonline.org/files/national_09/papers/5.pdf%5B%5D
  14. ↑ Agricultural Communications Documentation Center. http://www.library.illinois.edu/funkaces/acdc
  15. 1 2 3 Nelson, William; Doerfert, David; Meyers, Courtney; Baker, Matt; Akers, Cindy; Yamada, Masaru; Nanseki, Teruaki; Roberts, Owen (2014-12-01). "An Examination of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists' Involvement in Agriculture Knowledge Mobilization". Journal of Applied Communications. 98 (4). doi:10.4148/1051-0834.1095. ISSN   1051-0834.
  16. ↑ Marti, Donald B. (1980). "Agricultural Journalism and the Diffusion of Knowledge: The First Half-Century in America". Agricultural History. 54 (1): 28–37. ISSN   0002-1482. JSTOR   3742591.
  17. ↑ Scruggs, C. G.; Moseley, Smith W. (1979). "The Role of Agricultural Journalism in Building the Rural South". Agricultural History. 53 (1): 22–29. ISSN   0002-1482. JSTOR   3742856.
  18. ↑ Shulman, Stuart W. (1999). "The Progressive Era Farm Press: A Primer on a Neglected Source of Journalism History". Journalism History. 25 (1): 26–35. doi:10.1080/00947679.1999.12062507. ISSN   0094-7679.
  19. ↑ Pawlick, Thomas (2001). The Invisible Farm: The Worldwide Decline of Farm News and Agricultural Journalism Training. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN   978-0-8304-1582-3.
  20. ↑ Reisner, Ann; Walter, Gerry (1994-09-01). "Journalists' views of advertiser pressures on agricultural news". Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics. 7 (2): 157–172. doi:10.1007/BF02349035. ISSN   1573-322X.
  21. ↑ Yaseen, Muhammad; Karim, Mujahid; Luqman, Muhammad; Mehmood, Muhammad Umer (October 2019). "Role of Agricultural Journalism in Diffusion of Farming Technologies: Journal of Agricultural Research (03681157)". Journal of Agricultural Research (03681157). 57 (4): 289–294.
  22. ↑ Bassey, Offiong (2021-01-01). "AGRICULTURAL JOURNALISM AN IMPERATIVE FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA 1". GSJ.
  23. 1 2 "North American Agricultural Journalists". North American Agricultural Journalists. Retrieved 2024-04-08.
  24. 1 2 "IFAJ - our history". IFAJ. Retrieved 2024-04-08.
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