The purpose of this paper is to analyse the current use of social media in agriculture. The primary focus of the research is to understand the messages and compare social media…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the current use of social media in agriculture. The primary focus of the research is to understand the messages and compare social media adopters with non-adopters. The paper addresses wider questions of the use of social media to support on farm entrepreneurship and business and considers what barriers to take up exist within the industry.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper adopts a case study approach utilising qualitative and quantitative methodology; combining survey data on Welsh farms and semi-structured interviews to gain a deeper understanding of social media use. The research is further informed by online documentary evidence gathered from agricultural Facebook pages and Twitter accounts. The discussion section develops a conceptual model that provides a novel perspective on social media usage in agriculture-based enterprises and discusses the potential for further uptake.
Findings
The paper identifies barriers to adoption of social media by agriculture-based enterprises. In conclusion, although there are barriers and objections to social media use, its mass influence provides opportunities to engage with stakeholders and develop more entrepreneurial activity. The risk aversion of some users prevents them from moving from the observational mode into one of engagement.
Originality/value
This paper brings an insight into social media’s potential to assist agriculture-based enterprises in dealing with the tensions between pressures to improve core farming practice and other entrepreneurial activity. The paper raises important implications for policy approaches that might seek to promote a complementary approach to farm technology adoption and entrepreneurial stance.
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The Report states that the population of Queensland continues to increase. In January 1947 it was estimated to be just over a million. There was an increase of 57,785. The…
Abstract
The Report states that the population of Queensland continues to increase. In January 1947 it was estimated to be just over a million. There was an increase of 57,785. The population of Brisbane at the same time was 400,000 and the increase was 46,400. From these figures it seems that while the population of the State, excluding Brisbane, increased by less than 6 per cent the population of the capital city increased by more than 11 per cent. The Report remarks “ it is disturbing to find such a drift to the city as in the past Queensland had the lowest proportion of metropolitan population of any State except Tasmania.” “ Drift ” is the keyword to the statement just quoted. It suggests a sort of haphazard migration by twos and threes into the city with a corresponding decrease in the population of the countryside. This is surely not what the State of Queensland wishes to encourage. Queensland has an area of some six hundred and seventy thousand square miles and a population of a million and a half all told. Apart from mining and existing primary and secondary industries the State has unlimited pastoral and agricultural possibilities. With regard to agriculture, after allowing for districts difficult of access by present means of transport or naturally unsuitable, there remain great areas of excellent land only waiting for the plough to turn—things hoped for into things done. It is said in the Report that Queensland is “ the only place in the world where large numbers of white men continually perform hard manual labour without any coloured help whatsoever in a tropical climate.” Queensland is therefore a white man's country. It wants men who will go on the land and make good in some capacity or another. We judge that those who hanker after a town life are somewhat out of focus. Coloured labour is not wanted. Men from these islands would be welcome if suited by physique and by temperament for life on the land. Moreover they are followers of the political and social traditions common to the Australians and ourselves. In a word they would fit readily into the conditions of life they would find in Queensland. The alternative is to look for immigrants from Europe. From what the writer has seen in Europe and in the United States of such people, it seemed to him that they would require in many cases a good deal of licking into shape before they conformed to the social and other requirements of Anglo‐Saxon civilisation. It would in fact become a matter for the close attention of the Public Health Authorities. The administration of the Health Acts, 1937–46, and the local regulations based thereon, has always been limited in its scope due to the great area to be administered and with a staff, energetic and efficient as they undoubtedly are, are numerically unequal to the task. Thus in one case journeys of 4,000 miles had to be taken ; in another 7,700 miles and both by means of train, car, and boat. A mere recitation of the mileage covered is not the main point. Anyone living ten miles out of London and whose daily work takes him into London travels about the same distance every year, but the conditions of travel in the two are too obviously different to need more than passing mention. Hence visits by the health inspectors to the townships are short and “ in the country settled farming districts and small mining communities are entirely neglected and never receive assistance, advice, or any supervision.” It may be remarked that to the disadvantages arising from the shortage of technical help in the field must be added those due to shortage of labour and of materials of all kinds. The rat nuisance, perhaps danger is the better word, is always present. Control may be obtained here and there, but eradication is impossible. The Brisbane river frontages have had no rat proofing from 1941 to 1947. It is “ a big engineering job.” The war and shortages already referred to are the cause of the delay. Mosquito control is quite as urgent. The Government subsidy inaugurated in 1943 on a 50–50 basis by approved schemes of concreting, draining and so forth has up to date cost the Treasury £216,000—Brisbane has had about 70 per cent of this. The figure just given is a measure of the need for adequate control. The apparently high prevalence of malaria in the medical returns is largely due to the contraction of the disease by troops during their period of active service overseas.
Chiara Bartoli, Enrico Bonetti and Alberto Mattiacci
This paper analyses the impact of digitalization in the marketing of geographic indication (GI) products. Specifically, the objective is to provide a systemic and comprehensive…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper analyses the impact of digitalization in the marketing of geographic indication (GI) products. Specifically, the objective is to provide a systemic and comprehensive view of marketing issues and challenges arising from evolving digitalization in the agriculture sector.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors employed an explorative cognitive mapping technique on a sample of key informants among Italian companies and a consortium of registered food, spirits and wine products.
Findings
This study describes the key concepts dominant in the discourse of informants concerning digitalization and its influence on the GI market. Three clusters and two loops were also identified to explain the relationship among key concepts, which stress changes regarding the relationship with the consumer, product experience and innovation, and the integration between physical and virtual space.
Research limitations/implications
This is the first attempt to apply cognitive maps to GIs. However, the study does have limitations: it was conducted on a small number of producers and was restricted to only Italy. Another limitation is that interviews were conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Practical implications
The results suggest important practical implications that stress the need for learning and increased digital competences for the efficient embedding of digital technologies in all business areas, increase product value and innovation, and the need for governance in support of digital transformation.
Originality/value
This work creates the new and valuable literature on food marketing and, specifically, on a changing market environment resulting from digitalization, by providing a holistic overview of digitalization in reference to the marketing of GIs.
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THE joint publication, by the Institute and Society of County Treasurers, of Public Library Statistics for 1963–4 provides material of considerable topical interest at this time…
Abstract
THE joint publication, by the Institute and Society of County Treasurers, of Public Library Statistics for 1963–4 provides material of considerable topical interest at this time. The Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964 came into force on 1 April 1965 and only a day or so before this date the Department of Education and Science issued Circular 4–1965, which, in addition to giving a general description of the provisions of the Act, includes an appendix drawing attention to the report of the Ministry of Education published in 1962 (“Standards of Public Library Service in England and Wales”) which, the Circular says, “gives guidance on the factors to be taken into account in considering the adequacy of the service”.
Elsewhere in this issue we review the First (Interim) Report of the Joint Survey of Pesticide Residues in Foodstuffs, published by the Association of Public Analysts (Editor: Mr…
Abstract
Elsewhere in this issue we review the First (Interim) Report of the Joint Survey of Pesticide Residues in Foodstuffs, published by the Association of Public Analysts (Editor: Mr. D. G. Forbes, B.Sc., F.R.I.C.). The Scheme, planned with meticulous care and executed with the best spirit of co‐operation, sets a pattern for this type of investigation; there are other problems which could be studied in the same manner. Such a response from the bodies representing the major local authorities of the country and their food and drugs administrations—inspectors, food sampling officers, public analysts—is evidence of the concern felt over this particular form of contamination of food. It constitutes a public health problem of world‐wide dimensions. The annual reports of public analysts show that many are examining foods outside the Survey lists now that gas/liquid chromatography, spectroscopy and other highly refined methods of analysis are available to them.
This annotated listing of 131 United States Government bibliographies with 1973 imprints partially represents the broad scope of Federal interest. THE MONTHLY CATALOG OF U.S…
Abstract
This annotated listing of 131 United States Government bibliographies with 1973 imprints partially represents the broad scope of Federal interest. THE MONTHLY CATALOG OF U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS was the primary index searched in locating these documents, though other conventional and unconventional methods were used. Since the search cut‐off date was the February 1974 MONTHLY CATALOG, a number of 1973 bibliographies may not be listed here. However, it is the compiler's objective to include all 1973 bibliographies in a forthcoming Pierian Press publication, BIBLIOGRAPHY OF UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT BIBLIOGRAPHIES 1968–1973.