Research Library

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic caused mainstream food supply chain disruptions, increased food security concerns, and impacted agri-food production and distribution systems. Short food supply chains provided consumers with an alternative method to acquire food outside conventional food supply chains. In this paper, innovation was seen as a solution to external challenges or problems in global […]

While Extension communication units have seen success in implementing brand strategies to raise awareness of Extension, the public value and need for Extension programming continue to be misunderstood. College students have the potential to ensure the future of Extension is viable. To expose undergraduate students to the brand and value of Extension, a public relations […]

Rural communities are vital to the foundation of American agriculture and are currently disproportionately affected by health and environmental challenges that will require broad scientific solutions. Cooperative Extension professionals and agricultural communicators are increasingly tasked with communicating about the science surrounding these topics and need effective tools for determining strategic communication tactics to influence personal […]

This publication is AEC771, one of a series of the Department of Agricultural Education and Communication, UF/IFAS Extension. Original publication date June 2023. Visit the EDIS website at https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu for the currently supported version of this publication.

Social media platforms like Facebook offer farms a chance to reach larger audiences and gain connections through online engagement. Previous work demonstrates that online engagement can lead to increased sales. However, much work in tracking benchmarks for social media metrics has been outside of an agricultural context. This study aimed to benchmark the presence of […]

This publication is AEC771, one of a series of the Department of Agricultural Education and Communication, UF/IFAS Extension. Original publication date June 2023. Visit the EDIS website at https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu for the currently supported version of this publication.

Innovation contributes critically to business recovery following major crises. Traditionally, business innovation is characterized by a series of choices and actions over time. During COVID- 19, however, businesses throughout the agri-food supply chain were forced to innovate rapidly due to sudden unforeseen policy changes. To understand innovation induced by COVID-19, we analyze 297 usable responses […]

While urban communities experienced high levels of infection at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, rural communities experienced an increase of confirmed cases during the fall months of 2020. Rural Americans were also among the most hesitant to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of [State] extension […]

The spread of accurate and inaccurate information happened quickly in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic and understanding how this occurred is important to prepare for communication of future disease outbreaks. The purpose of this study was to understand Americans’ information seeking and sharing behaviors during the early stages of COVID-19 and was guided […]

This document is AEC765, one of a series of the Department of Agricultural Education and Communication, UF/IFAS Extension. Original publication date December 2022. Visit the EDIS website at https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu for the currently supported version of this publication.

The purpose of this study was to identify the demographic characteristics, career motivations, and professional development of American equine journalists. An online survey was distributed to equine journalists identified through their professional organizational membership. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. Equine journalists were found to be predominately female, Caucasian, and averaged 53 years […]

Extension faculty are tasked with developing and communicating educational programs to local clientele, and communication skills are a considerable piece of the Extension faculty job. Thus, UF/IFAS Extension included a communication portion to the on-board training for newly hired Extension faculty to develop their design skills so they can more effectively communicate through their educational […]

The novel coronavirus was first discovered in Wuhan, China in December 2019. This zoonotic disease quickly spread through over 100 countries, including the U.S. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global health emergency by the end of January 2020. Soon after, many U.S. states issued mandatory stay-at-home orders, which caused adverse effects for agricultural […]

This publication is AEC752, one of a series of the Department of Agricultural Education and Communication, UF/IFAS Extension. Original publication date March 2022. Visit the EDIS website at https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu for the currently supported version of this publication.

Mosquitoes are both a nuisance and public health threat. In recent decades, outbreaks of dengue, chikungunya, and Zika in Florida have raised awareness of the importance of domestic and peri-domestic container mosquitoes, Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. The synanthropic nature of these species, coupled with their preference for human bloodmeals, makes them a concern of […]