Marketing Power Berries: An Importance-Performance Analysis of Blueberry Attributes

The unique health benefits of blueberries have increased consumers’ demand for this fruit. Although the demand is still low compared to other fruits including apples and grapes, consumers’ growing interest in blueberries has led to a significant increase of blueberry acreage in the U.S., causing the supply to exceed demand. To increase blueberry consumption and sales for the benefits of both consumers’ health and the blueberry industry, this study selected 18 blueberry attributes and used an online survey to examine blueberry purchasers’ perceived importance and satisfaction of these attributes. An importance-performance analysis (IPA) of these attributes was conducted to provide recommendations for future blueberry marketing and research. All examined attributes were at least slightly important to the blueberry purchasers. Among the 18 attributes, price, pesticide free, and all natural should be what producers and marketers concentrate on to create a more desirable blueberry profile. Recommendations include highlighting local blueberries when they are in season and lower priced, being transparent about pesticide use in blueberry production, and educating consumers about pesticide safety. Working with the regulatory agencies to determine if the all-natural definition used to label some meat products is appropriate for fruits and vegetables was also recommended

Identifying a knowledge gap of blueberry health benefits: The role of education, income, generation and gender

Lower socioeconomic groups may not learn as quickly or retain as much knowledge as higher socioeconomic groups because higher socioeconomic groups often have easier access to the relevant resources. With many health benefits associated with blueberry consumption, this study examined consumers’ knowledge level of blueberry benefits, and investigated whether a knowledge gap existed among high and low socioeconomic groups and among different demographic groups. An online survey using non-probability sampling was distributed to grocery shoppers from 31 states in the United States. Post-stratification weighting of data was used to adjust the bias resulted from non-probability sampling. The respondents answered on average more than half of the questions correctly about blueberry benefits. A knowledge gap exists between those with some college education or a college degree and those with a high school degree or lower education. While respondents demonstrated acceptable knowledge of blueberry benefits, an opportunity exists to increase the awareness of the health benefits of blueberries, especially among those with lower levels of education. Future research should determine the relationship between knowledge gap and a broader range of factors such as motivation and social contacts

Profiling adopters of Bt cotton in China by gender, farm size, education and communication

Bt cotton has been commercialized in China for 13 years. This study sets out to examine the pattern of Chinese farmers\u27 adoption of Bt cotton, what factors influenced adoption, and what communication channels were most effective in reaching Chinese farmers. Personal interviews were conducted among 108 farmers living in villages with Bt cotton in Shandong, China. The results show that most of the farmers are Bt cotton adopters, and they are highly similar in terms of education level, information seeking behavior, seed purchase/cotton sales behaviors, satisfaction level with Bt cotton performance, and concerns about Bt cotton. This study found the diffusion of Bt cotton among farmers in Shandong China shares some common factors with the diffusion of hybrid corn among farmers in Iowa: Neighbors and salesmen from seed companies played an important role as first sources of information about Bt cotton; Interpersonal channels were more frequently used than mass media channels and company channels like seed companies or lectures from pesticide companies; farm size was a strong predictor to distinguish Bt cotton rejecters and adopters. In China local government also played a positive role in promoting Bt cotton

The Communication Effectiveness of Scientist-Stakeholder Partnerships Addressing Agriculture and Natural Resources Issues: A Citation Analysis of the Florida Water and Climate Alliance

Public opinion on contentious agricultural and natural resource issues, such as climate change, has become more polarized and the science itself has sometimes been called into question. In response, academics and various types of stakeholders have formed organizational partnerships and collaborations to disseminate their science to inform the public and policy. These Scientist-Stakeholder Partnerships possess advantages such as technical expertise, however, such groups often face challenges in communicating effectively and establishing their reputation. This study selected Florida Water and Climate Alliance (FWCA) as an example of this type of organization and used citation analysis to measure communication effectiveness and impact. The findings suggested FWCA members were productive in authoring and being cited in academic publications. Many FWCA articles were cited by other members of the organization, suggesting an organization’s members can help create a body of literature around the organization’s interest areas. This study demonstrated the use of citation analysis as a method of evaluating the communication effectiveness of scientist-stakeholder partnerships/self-directed organizations. To be more effective with external audiences, it is recommended that such organizations invest in developing and promoting their identity, core messages and visibility with key audiences and consider moving beyond member generated efforts to work with an agricultural communications practitioner. Future research should examine public awareness and media visibility of such organizations

Predicting Consumers’ Local Food Attitude with Personal Values and Local Food Online Videos

This study assessed how the personal value associated with local food messages in an online video format influenced U.S. consumers’ attitudes toward local food. To accomplish this, we created two video treatments focusing on how local food supports the local economy and strengthens social connections, respectively. We developed two scales to measure the personal values (personal value of supporting the local economy and personal value of strengthening social connection). These values were associated to the video treatments’ message frames. Descriptive analyses revealed a neutral personal value of supporting local economy and strengthening social connection among U.S. consumers, and a positive attitude toward local food. Multiple regression indicated that the personal value associated with the video treatment was not always a stronger predictor of attitude than the other personal value. In fact, we found that the personal value of supporting the local economy was a more significant predictor of local food attitude than personal value of strengthening social connection in both video treatments

3 reasons Midwest farmers hurt by the U.S.-China trade war still support Trump

America’s farmers have borne the brunt of China’s retaliation in the trade war that President Donald Trump launched in 2018

The Effects of Online Video on Consumers’ Attitudes Toward Local Food

Marketers rate online video as their most utilized content medium. This study used a between-subject control group post-test-only experiment to investigate the effect of three local food messages delivered via online video on U.S. consumers’ attitudes toward local food. The three 30-second videos each featured one of the documented benefits of local food: high quality, support of local economy, and strengthening of social connection. Results indicated all three video treatments yielded a positive attitude toward local food, while respondents in the control group had a neutral attitude. The video treatment featuring local food’s high quality generated a significantly more favorable local food attitude than the other two video treatments. Although the social connection video treatment generated a positive attitude toward local food based on the real limits, it did not significantly differentiate from the control group. Communicators should consider using similar short, online videos for emphasizing the high quality of local food and its support of the local economy to promote local agricultural products. Future research should pair live-action or animated footage with the same messages in the video treatments to identify messages effectiveness. Researchers should also investigate why some individuals respond to local food’s benefit of social connection more readily than the others, and identify strategies to use social connection media frame to promote local food

Exploring the Role of Trust and Credibility in Science Communication: Insights from the Sixth Summer Symposium on Science Communication

The 6th ISU Summer Symposium on Science Communication was held at Iowa State University from June 7 to 9, 2018. Hosting this biennial symposium series is a central activity of the Iowa State Science Communication Project, an interdisciplinary collaboration that aims to enhance research on, education for, and the practice of public science communication. Over 60 national and international scholars and practitioners of science communication attended the symposium and engaged in frank discussion about the processes, rhetorics, perceptions, benefits and limitations of credibility and trust within the context of science communication

The Communication Effectiveness of Scientist-Stakeholder Partnerships Addressing Agriculture and Natural Resources Issues: An Analysis of the Media Attention and Media Framing of the Florida Water and Climate Alliance

Scientist-stakeholder partnerships are formed by scientists from academic institutions and industry representatives in an effort to address contingent science issues such as climate change, inform the public and influence public policies. Such organizations often lack expertise in communicating to the public and conducting outreach which are crucial components to building a good reputation. This study selected Florida Water and Climate Alliance [FWCA] as an example of such an organization, exploring its media attention and media framing to assess the visibility and reputation of [FWCA]. Results showed very limited media attention had been devoted to [FWCA]. The framing analysis results indicated that the coverage of [FWCA] is mostly introductory and descriptive information from public institutions, collaborators and funding agencies. These results demonstrate the need for such organizations to increase media visibility and build their reputations through strategic communication. Scientist-stakeholder partnership organizations like FWCA could gain from strategic collaborations with agricultural communications professionals and academic researchers. To better assist in building the reputation for these organizations, recommendations include developing strategic communication plans and conducting research about stakeholders’ and collaborators’ perceptions of an organization’s reputation

Developing Writing Self-Efficacy: Perspectives from Agricultural Communications Students

While there is mounting consensus writing is an essential skill required of agricultural communications graduates, there are opposing views as to what educators can do to improve students’ writing education and performance. Self-efficacy research provides one perspective for exploring the relationship between students’ performance and their beliefs in their writing abilities. The purpose of this study was to qualitatively explore how agricultural communications students perceive their writing self-efficacy and what underlying sources shape their self-efficacy beliefs. The findings confirmed agricultural communications students use a variety of sources to inform their self-efficacy beliefs including their interpretations of their writing performance and education; interactions with modeling and assignment expectations; feedback messages and their perceived value of writing; feelings of anxiety and optimism; self-regulated learning strategies, such as prewriting and drafting processes; different types of writing, such as academic writing versus industry writing; and different types of courses, including agricultural science and communications courses. Overall, the results were consistent with previous writing self-efficacy studies, however the differentiation between the types of courses students enroll in provided a new direction for self-efficacy research. Recommendations for practice are provided on enhancing agricultural communications students’ writing self-efficacy and improving writing instruction. Future research is needed to determine how other cognitive, behavioral, and environmental influences impact writing development