ACDC News – Issue 16-07

Drones – big data – farmer fears – hopes and plans – challenges ahead

Those attending the 2016 USDA Agricultural Outlook Forum heard a bubbling stew about farmer data in precision agriculture. The update by Mary Kay Thatcher, American Farm Bureau Federation, began with U.S. farmer concerns (77 percent worried about data security). It extended through a summary of benefits and risks of big data, principles and steps for privacy and security, and communications challenges.

Big Data is very likely to lead to more rapid consolidation in agriculture, she concluded.

You can view this PowerPoint presentation here .


Attitudes toward animals and propensity for aggression – farmers and meatworkers

A survey among male and female farmers and meatworkers in Queensland, Australia, revealed similar (utilitarian) attitudes toward animals. However, meatworkers showed significantly more propensity for aggression. Researchers from Central Queensland University reported these findings in the journal, Society and Animals . They also unexpectedly found that female participants in both groups revealed less empathy for animals and greater propensity for aggression than the male participants.

Authors called for further investigation of the potential psychological damage done to employees within meat processing plants.

This article is not available by open access. You can read a summary at

https://www.animalsandsociety.org/human-animal-studies/society-and-animals-journal/articles-on-farming-and-farmed-animals/a-different-cut-comparing-attitudes-towards-animals-and-propensity-for-aggression , reach author contact Prof. Tania Signal at t.signal@cqu.edu.au or check with us at docctr@library.illinois.edu for help in gaining access to the full article.


Traditional media surviving the test of time

Storytelling, songs, dancing, town criers and other traditional media are holding their own, “notwithstanding the fast means of communication gadgets in our time.” Uche A. Dike of Niger Delta University offered that perspective in a recent issue of the Open Journal of Philosophy . The communicating culture of the Ogba society in Nigeria served as basis for this analysis.

“African traditional means of communication has survived the test of time,” the author concluded. “If democratization of communication means making the communication media to be more representative of the audience, we can practically conclude that the Ogba traditional media and their communication patterns qualify in this connection.”

This pattern matches reported continuities in use of traditional media of all kinds in other cultures.

You can read this open-access journal article here .


“Are food exchange websites the next big thing in food marketing?”

A survey among 6.000 vegetable and livestock producers in four southeastern U.S. states addressed that question. Food exchange websites are operated by university extension services (e.g., MarketMaker) and private organizations (e.g., Local Orbit). Most respondents were reluctant to register in such websites, a result not surprising to the researchers. They noted that relatively few producers currently market products over the internet. Respondents interested in food exchange websites expressed willingness to pay an average of $55.69 a month if an online marketplace is offered. Willingness to pay for advertising on social media averaged $20.43 a month.

You can read this conference paper here .


Can you identify these 10 food words?

We raise that question because of a recent book, 100 words for foodies , added to the collection here.  Executive Editor Joseph P. Picket observed that “no area of English comes from such a wide array of languages as the words we use for the foods we eat.”

Many of our readers are serious about food, we know.  How many of these 10 foods can you (from memory) describe and identify by the countries or regions from which they originated?

  • Ponzu
  • Gravlax
  • Tomalley
  • Madeleine
  • Biryani
  • Waterzooi
  • Bruschetta
  • Ceviche
  • Kimchi
  • Gado gado

Please send your total to one of our ACDC cuisine specialists, Cailin Cullen caculle2@illinois.edu or Joyce Wright jcwright@illinois.edu . We may be able to round up prizes for winners. And you might tell us how you happen to know of those foods.


Media use by farmers – 65 years ago (an echo)

Recently we added to the ACDC collection a 1949 Journal of Marketing article entitled, “Farmers’ sources of information.” That research among Iowa farmers invites analysis of changes during the past 65 years. And the findings reveal interesting continuity, even across decades marked by the emergence of television, computers and a stream of other new media serving farmers.

Here are the 1949 rankings among 13 categories of information sources:

General information sources of farm operators:

  1. Farm papers and farm and non-farm magazines
  2. Radio
  3. Newspapers

Advice on present livestock and grain markets

  1. Radio
  2. Newspapers
  3. Farm papers and farm and non-farm magazines

You can read the article here .


Communicator activities approaching

July 13-17, 2016
“Sustainable agriculture – made in Germany.” 2016 Congress of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) in Bonn, Germany.
Information: https://ifaj2016.de/en/programm/main-congress/

July 23-27, 2016
“Your gateway to excellence.” Agricultural Media Summit in St. Louis, Missouri. Joint meeting of the American Agricultural Editors’ Association (AAEA), Livestock Publications Council (LPC) and Agri Council of American Business Media. Also annual meeting of Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow (ACT).
Information: http://www.agmediasummit.com

September 21-25, 2016
Annual conference of the Society of Environmental Journalists in Sacramento, California.
Information: http://www.sej.org/calendar/sej-26th-annual-conference

November 9-11, 2016
National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB) annual conference in Kansas City, Missouri.
Information: info@nafb.com


More on the role of food in mediation

We close this issue of ACDC News with thanks to a memory reported by Dick Schingoethe, RES Ltd., Palatine, Illinois. It parallels our recent item about the role of food in mediation. He recalls this expression from a veteran creative director of an advertising agency, referring to agency/client business, creative conceptualization and campaign development issues:

“You can get a lot done over groceries.”


Best wishes and good searching

Please pass along your reactions, suggestions and ideas. Feel free to invite our help as you search for information. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @ACDCUIUC . And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents we might add to this unique and valuable collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Ag Comm Documentation Center, Room 510, 1101 S. Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801) or in electronic format sent to docctr@library.illinois.edu