New education partnership to benefit IFAJ members.

We are most pleased to announce a new pilot project that involves the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) and the Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC). Plans for this partnership have taken form during the past year.Several new efforts are designed to expand professional development opportunities and resources for IFAJ members. They began during May:

• Center staff members are providing news and how-to features for issues of IFAJ E-News and the professional development section of the IFAJ Web site.
• New IFAJ pages on the Center Web site offer tips for finding information that is especially useful to agricultural journalists.
• IFAJ is forming an ad-hoc advisory committee to strengthen the Center by helping identify useful agricultural journalism literature being generated throughout the world.

Special thanks to David Markey, President; Owen Roberts, Vice President for Professional Development and Education; and other members of the IFAJ Executive for helping envision and initiate this pilot effort. At the Center, Joe Zumalt, Jim Evans and others are assembling and providing information to serve IFAJ members.

IFAJ web site: www.ifaj.org

Rural small businesses not benefiting fully from broadband services.

A speaker at the 2006 Agriculture Outlook Conference, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, cited evidence of this gap. Stephen B. Pociask of TeleNomic Research concluded that, "compared to their urban counterparts, rural small businesses are not seeing the benefits resulting from the investment and use of broadband services." He also presented evidence that consumers in rural areas have fewer choices among broadband providers, "confirming the existence of a rural digital divide."

Title: Broadband use by rural small businesses
Posted at: http://www.usda.gov/oce/forum/2006%20Speeches/PDF%20speech%20docs/Pociask2706.pdf

The cell phone — “real bridge across the digital divide.”

 We have added to the ACDC collection an article from OneWorld South Asia about benefits that cell phones can offer rural residents in that region. Author Swaminathan A. Aiyar suggested, "I believe that the cell phone, not the computer, will be the real bridge across the digital divide." His reasons? It does not require continuous power. It costs a "tiny fraction" of what computers cost. It provides access to the Internet. And the cost of calls "has crashed."Aiyar cited results of a research project in which Kerala fishermen used cell phones to reduce volatility of fish prices, eliminate wasted catch, and increase their incomes as well as the incomes of merchants with whom they traded. Consumers benefited through reduced prices as the waste ended.

Title: Cell phones bridge the digital divide
Posted at: http://southasia.oneworld.net/article/view/128332/1/

Frank discussions with Wal-Mart.

Thanks to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues for reporting on a session involving Wal-Mart executives at the 2005 convention of the National Newspaper Association [NNA] in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Here are some of the concerns expressed by small-town newspaper representatives at the session:

• The company buys relatively little newspaper advertising.
• It puts out of business the local firms that formed the retail and advertising bases of small communities.
• It replaces retailers who supported youth, educational, civic and church programs. "We don't see that coming back from Wal-Mart to our communities."

About 2,500 newspapers, mostly weeklies, make up the NNA membership. A 2005 survey of members "found that 87 percent had a Wal-Mart in their coverage area, and 67 percent said the presence of the company had a negative impact on their paper."

Title: Small-town newspaper folks have frank discussions
Posted at: http://www.uky.edu/CommInfoStudies/irjci/nnawal-mart.htm

An early online agricultural information service.

Would you believe it existed 94 years ago? We have added to the ACDC collection a Hartford Courant article of February 1912, entitled "The 'Phone in the Farmhouse." This article described a circular published by the British post office and addressed to farmers. It pointed out that if at least five subscribers living on or near a country road leading to a town with a telephone exchange would agree to use one line, "they can telephone as much as they please to people on that exchange." The circular emphasized these advantages to the farmer:

• Latest market information for best advantage in the sale of produce and stock;
• Weather reports and forecasts;
• Arrangements with the railway station for delivery of goods;
• Telegrams sent without going or sending to the post office;
• Accelerated cooperative sale movements among farmers; and
• Fewer long and expensive journeys.

The cost? £3 [$14.60] a year.
Title: The 'phone in the farmhouse

Environmental journalism meets development journalism.

Two streams of journalism are coming together and have much to learn from each other, according to Guy Gough Berger of Rhodes University in South Africa. His 13-page report in Intermedia examined the roots of these two streams, the styles of each and ways they can enrich each other."The point argued in this article is that the convergence of environmentalism and developmentalism underlines a beneficial exchange of media traditions and insights. Going further, it also gives weight to the importance of reporting environmental stories as being simultaneously development ones, and to development stories as having environmental significance."

Title: All change: environmental journalism meets development
Posted at: http://www.iicom.org/intermedia/Dec02/berger.html

Communicator activities approaching

July 17-18, 2006
"Ready, Set, Plan." Crisis response workshop in Kansas City, Missouri. For organization administrators, communicators and others interested in executing functional risk and crisis responses. Sponsored by USDA-CSREES, Extension Disaster Education Network, K-State Research and Extension, and National Center of Food Protection and Defense.
Information: http://www.communications.ksu.edu/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=706

July 23-26, 2006
"Meet us at the Summit." Agricultural Media Summit, a joint meeting of American Agricultural Editors' Association [AAEA], Livestock Publications Council [LPC], ABM Agri-Council, Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow [ACT], and Agricultural Relations Council [ARC] in Portland, Oregon.
Information: http://www.agmediasummit.com

August 12-16, 2006
"Feed your Senses." Fiftieth Anniversary Congress of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) in Hamar, Norway.
Information: http://www.ifaj2006.com

October 25-27, 2006
World Congress on Communication for Development in Rome, Italy. Organized by the Development Communication Division, World Bank; Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; and The Communication Initiative.
Information: http://www.devcomm-congress.org/worldbank/macro/2.asp

Concerns about sheep advertising.

 The advertising industry of the Netherlands is turning sheepish, according to a New York Times report by Doreen Carvajal. It seems an online reservations company is displaying its corporate logo on blankets worn by sheep along highways. Company sales and Web site visits have increased, according to the report. However, at least one town is fining the company "because advertising on livestock violates its ban on advertising along highways."Title: Baa code the sheep of things to come?
Posted at: http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/baa-code-the-sheep-of-things-to-come/2006/04/24/1145861285790.html#

Effects of a rural newspaper revolution.

Media South Asia has published a two-part series about the impacts of recent efforts by some newspapers in India to generate more local news through district editions."By increasing distribution centres, using an improved road network to reach newspapers further into the hinterland by early morning, and hiring stringers to send news from very local centres for separate district pages, publishers are making an aggressive push to increase their circulation."

You can learn from these reports about the techniques used and impacts observed among rural families and communities.

Title: Does the rural newspaper revolution promote development? Part I
Posted at: http://www.thehoot.org/story.asp?storyid=Web210214207141Hoot94627%20PM1365&pn=1&section=S13#

Title: Does the rural newspaper revolution promote development? Part II
Posted at:
http://www.thehoot.org/story.asp?storyid=Web61952349Hoot41830%20PM1375&pn=1&section=S13

New communication initiatives in peri-urban agriculture.

 Thanks to Harsoyo Oedijono, an agricultural communications faculty member at Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia, for alerting us to recent networking initiatives involving peri-urban agriculture. Connections between urban and rural sectors of all nations call for more attention. The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and other development agencies are taking active steps to address nutritional, health, environmental and other urgent issues at the rural-urban interface of societies. According to CGIAR, “Urban agriculture is far more than farms or gardens in an urban environment. Urban agriculture includes livestock raising, water management, and organic waste management.”
For example: http://www.cipotato.org/urbanharvest/home/about_ua.htm An information network, Peri Urban Development in South East Asia (PUDSEA), was established in 2001 to involve several Asian and European universities in such an effort.
Information: http://www.pudsea.net

Effective communication will be a key to the success of such endeavors and we wish to actively scout for information to address that challenge. Can you help? Please call our attention to documents about the communication aspects of urban and peri-urban agriculture.

Water music: a multimedia environmental message.

A creative approach to public education about protecting the Earth’s waters has taken shape through the efforts of art and magazine photographer Marjorie Ryerson and associates. Her book, Water Music, features 100 of her water photos, accompanied by “the writings and musical contributions of 66 world renowned musicians, who have creatively responded to the meaning and value of water in their lives.”All net royalties go to the Water Music Fund of the United Nations Foundation. In addition, a larger Water Music Project – involving concerts, lectures, educational programs and other events – will add revenue to the Fund.

For consideration: What new and creative multimedia approaches to public education might highlight important dimensions of food and agriculture?

Title: Water music
Posted at: http://www.water-music.org

How consumers view the globalization of food.

We have added to the ACDC collection a Journal of Food Distribution Research article featuring results of two U.S. consumer surveys, one in South Carolina and one nationwide. Questions covered aspects such as:

• What words consumers associate with "globalization"
• How globalization has affected their personal lives and communities
• Their comparative views about seven attributes of domestic and imported foods
• Foods for which they are willing to pay more, in terms of production practices and location of production
• Safety of various kinds of food
• Their opinions about genetically modified crops and foods
• Trustworthiness of nine sources of information about the safety of food

Title: The globalization of food
Posted at: http://agecon.lib.umn.edu/cgi-bin/pdf_view.pl?paperid=17261&ftype=.pdf

Topics seldom addressed in the U.S. farm press?

Al Tompkins, columnist for Poyteronline, (published by the Poynter Institute) has addressed several of such topics during the past year or so. Here are three of his columns we added recently to the ACDC collection:Title: Rural areas still pay highest price in Iraq war
Posted at: http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=85646

Title: Farmers and suicide
Posted at: http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=73331

Title: Fraud on the farm
Posted at: http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=92354

50th anniversary congress of the IFAJ

Bookings close May 31 for this year’s 50th anniversary congress of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ). It takes place in Norway during August 12-16, using the theme “Feed Your Senses.” The congress will be held at Hamar, one of Norway ‘s most versatile farming regions, a short drive from picturesque mountain ranges and valleys. The program includes briefing sessions on agricultural and trade issues; excursions looking at dairying, pig production, culture and food, forestry, science/biotech and horticulture; and professional development seminars. Both pre- and post- congress tour packages are also available. For more information and to register, visit www.ifaj2006.com.

Communicator activities approaching

June 2-6, 2006
“Excellence en communications.” International conference of the Association for Communication Excellence in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Life and Human Sciences (ACE), in Quebec, Ontario, Canada.
Information: http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/ace2006/

June 13, 2006
“Getting the word out. Are we communicating effectively?” A food safety communicators conference hosted by the Food Safety Network at the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
Information:
http://www.foodsafetynetwork.ca/en/article-details.php?a=3&c=32&sc=419&id=874

June 17-20, 2006
“Brewing success.” 2006 Institute of the Cooperative Communicators Association (CCA) in Portland, Oregon.
Information: http://www.communicators.coop

June 19-23, 2006
“Networking communication research.” Conference of the International Communication Association (ICA) in Dresden, Germany.
Information: http://www.icahdq.org/events/conference/2006/conf2006_program.asp