The number of farmers markets in the United States increased from 3,706 in 2004 to 8,268 in 2014 (Agriculture Marketing Service, 2014). Often times, small-scale agricultural producers do not harvest enough goods to be sold in large grocery store corporations and thus have turned to farmers' markets, roadside stands, you-pick operations, and community supported agriculture (CSA) shares as pathways for reaching customers directly (Chase & Winn, 1981; Payne, 2002). The purpose of this study was to explore and describe how such small-scale producers who participate in farmers' markets gain and develop business-related information and business skills. A single case study design developed and applied to explore the entrepreneurial learning environment relevant to small-scale agricultural producers in Cochise County, Arizona. The current study is framed conceptually by Politis's (2005) entrepreneurial learning model. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews, observations, and relevant documents. Data was organized and analyzed both ideographically and nomothetically. The findings indicate that some small-scale agricultural producers who reside in Cochise County, Arizona participate in Southern Arizona farmers' markets for economic viability and/or lifestyle reasons. The producers who participate in Southern Arizona farmers' markets as their sole means of generating income and/or to continue to be able to afford their engagement in agricultural activities were categorized under the economic viability theme. Those producers who participate in Southern Arizona farmers' market primarily to socialize and to exchange knowledge with community members and other farmers or ranchers were categorized under the lifestyle theme. The data also revealed that the participants engaged in entrepreneurial learning primarily within informal settings and through corresponding channels. While, informal learning is likely to remain the primary method of knowledge sharing across the small-scale agricultural producer community in Cochise County, Arizona. However, by providing such producers with greater opportunities to develop deeper and more robust knowledge and skills specific to entrepreneurship and small business development and management through non-formal learning opportunities (e.g., innovative Extension program), the number of producers with enhanced training capacities and cutting edge knowledge will increase across Cochise County.

Master of Arts / Department Not Listed / Colene Lind / The world relies on agriculture and its producers for food, fuel, and fiber. These agricultural producers make up approximately two percent of the United States population, and they attempt to feed the world even as a minority group (American Farm Bureau, 2017). A growing world population and depleted natural resources challenge the global food system, agricultural producers, and everyone who eats. However, the two percent, who are the most directly involved and knowledgeable, are not talking about the problems or processes of agriculture with others (Higgins, 1991). Feeding the world’s population increasingly will demand personal and collective decision-making that would be aided by a fully engaged and informed public. But only if those in agriculture talk about their livelihoods can we close the communication gap between producers and non-producers and thereby work together to solve the shared problems in and of agriculture. Through qualitative interviews with agricultural producers, this study used Social Identity Theory (SIT) and intergroup communication to explore how producers understood their social identity, as well as how their social identity impacted communication with non-producers. This study is unique in that it uses SIT as the guiding theory, focusing on how agricultural producers identify as compared with the relevant out-group, non-producers. This study finds two major themes in producer self-understandings. First, this study shows that agricultural producers view themselves as high in social status while they presume that others do not afford them the same respect. Second, agricultural producers orient themselves to non-producers in two different ways, including the Determined and the Resigned, with each holding a different sense of their ability to bridge the communication gap. This thesis makes several contributions to communication scholarship and practice. First, the findings suggest that social competition and social creativity—two strategies for gaining and maintaining group status—might have different communication and group-relation outcomes when enacted via direct contact with the out-group. Future research is therefore needed to potentially extend SIT theory in regard to these status strategies. Second, the findings suggest that group members who could speak to the tensions within their social identity engaged with out-group members, also prompting the need for more research to clarify this phenomenon relative to SIT. Third, a striking cleavage between those who seek to engage with the out-group as compared to those who do not merits further study, and this study offers several possible avenues for explaining this difference. Fourth, and more practically, the study suggests that producers ought to be introduced to the concepts of social identity and competition to reduce tensions and to encourage interaction between producers and non-producers.

Master of Science / Department of Communications and Agricultural Education / Lauri M. Baker / Peter J. Tomlinson / The purpose of this study was to determine specific communication accommodations used by county agricultural and natural resource agents/educators when discussing complex, scientific topics like climate change. Four research objectives were used to determine 1) background and experience of agents/educators, 2) how agents/educators are communicating on complex, scientific topics, 3) climate-change information received and preferred method of receiving future training, and 4) agents’/educators’ communication adjustment. This study was guided by Communication Accommodation Theory to understand how agents/educators are adjusting their communication when speaking to producers with varying education levels, grammar usage, and seeking different types of climate information. This study utilized a mixed method, quantitative and qualitative, survey (n = 42). Extension in Kansas and Oklahoma had not publicized an organizational stance on climate change. Kansas agents and Oklahoma educators had access to climate-change information through a variety of internal and external sources. Agents/educators had a strong background in agriculture and varying ranges of experience in the position. The main communication channel producers utilized to contact agents/educators was the telephone (52.24%). Both states indicated they are conducting an average of five on-farm visits a month. Over half (25) of agents/educators indicated they had received some form of climate-change information since becoming an agent/educator. Agents/educators indicated they received this information from sources external to Extension in Kansas and Oklahoma. They also indicated future training should be interactive and close to home. This study found agents/educators are accommodating in their responses to agricultural producers’ requests for climate-change information, but also showed nonaccommodating tendencies. Agents/educators were viewed as nonaccommodating when they used improper grammar, improper email format, or told the producer there was no need for concern on their perceived climate issue. Agents/educators offered to make site visits to the producers’ field, referred to specialists, and worked to establish credibility. This study determined agents/educators have the background and information sources to adequately and effectively answer producers’ questions about climate change. It was determined the reason agents/educators do not want climate-change conversations is because of a lack of formal training on the matter, and they do not feel comfortable. This study recommends Extension provide communication and climate-change training for agents/educators. It also recommends agents/educators continue to conduct on-farm visits as they are vital to interpersonal communication with agricultural producers. Extension should take steps to reach a younger audience and help young people become involved in agriculture.

The main objective of this work is to evaluate the dependency of the price of beef in the income of households. For the six selected EU will be examined twelve consecutive period from 2001 to 2012 will be used for the calculation of trend analysis, the coefficient of elasticity and correlation index. On the basis of these results was to confirm that the four selected countries dependence prices of beef in the income of households. These states are the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany and Austria. In Poland and Hungary dependence was refuted.

Abstract This study describes the central views of MTK on Finnish environmental policy during the period 1980-2000. The empirical material is collected from the magazine Maataloustuottaja. The data is analyzed using ethnographic content analysis and examining the central arguments and discoursive structures of the texts. The study begins with a description of the development of Finnish agriculture and of MTK. The first chapter also presents and evaluates empirical studies on the environmental views of Finnish farmers. The following chapter discusses some theoretical and methodological issues in environmental sociology. The theoretical foundation of this study is grounded in the idea of ecological modernization and social justice in environmental issues. The essential methodological tension that underpins environmental sociology is between critical realism and social constructivism. The starting point of this research lies between critical realism and moderate constructivism; in other words, naïve realism and strong constructivism or scientism and relativism have been abandoned. This starting point is also closely connected to environmental pragmatism. The empirical part of the study begins with a thematical discussion on changes in the views that MTK has adopted toward environmental policy issues. Although these views have not changed significantly over the years, MTK has shown an increased interest in organic production and in cooperation with consumer and worker organizations to promote "environmentally pure", local food production and the social sustainability of Finnish food production and countryside. The second part of the empirical study reveals some stable discoursive practices in the environmental rhetoric of MTK that has traditionally accentuated the connection between nature and agriculture and the notion of farmers as stewards of nature. At the same time, MTK has emphasized the alienation of urbanites and environmental policy-makers from nature and countryside. MTK has also expressed a concern about private property rights, economic expenses and a variety of practical problems caused by nature conservation and preservation. MTK's attitude towards family farming is contradictory: they are regarded as the models of agriculture, while the scale of production is growing. / Tiivistelmä Tässä tutkimuksessa kuvataan MTK:n ympäristökäsityksiä vuosina 1980-2000. Tutkimusaineistona on käytetty sen julkaiseman "Maataloustuottaja" -lehden ympäristökysymyksiä käsitteleviä kirjoituksia. Aineiston käsittely perustuu etnografiseen sisällönanalyysiin tavoitteena tarkastella MTK:n ympäristöpoliittista argumentaatiota ja etsiä tekstin diskursiivisia rakenteita. Tutkimuksen alussa tarkastellaan MTK:n ja Suomen maatalouden kehitystä sekä viljelijäväestön ympäristökäsityksiä historiallisen ja yhteiskuntatieteellisen tutkimuksen sekä tilastojen valossa. Seuraavassa luvussa tarkastellaan ympäristösosiologian teoreettis-metodologista kysymyksiä ja niihin liittyviä ajankohtaisia kiistoja. Tutkimus rakentuu lähinnä ekologisen modernisaation teorian käsitteistölle täydennettynä ajankohtaisella, ympäristökysymyksiin liittyvän yhteiskunnallisen oikeudenmukaisuuden pohdinnalla. Ympäristösosiologian viimeaikainen metodologinen keskustelu on liittynyt kriittisen realismin ja konstruktionismin välisiin kiistoihin. Tutkimuksessa päädytään naiivin realismin ja radikaalin konstruktivismin hylkäämiseen ja ympäristösosiologisen pragmatismin mahdollisuuksien hahmottamiseen. Empiirisessä osassa tutkitaan aluksi MTK:n ympäristöpoliittisia käsityksiä ja niissä tapahtuneita muutoksia. Vaikka muutokset eivät ole kovin merkittäviä, on joitain merkkejä siitä havaittavissa: kiinnostus luonnonmukaiseen tuotantoon on kasvussa, tuottajien ja kuluttajien kesken on löytymässä yhteistoimintaa "puhtaiden" kotimaisten elintarvikkeiden ja lähituotannon puolesta ja järjestö on sitoutunut kestävän kehityksen periaatteiden toteuttamiseen. Toisessa empiirisen tutkimuksen osiossa etsitään diskursiivisia piirteitä MTK:n retoriikassa. Perinteisesti MTK on nähnyt viljelijät "todellisina luonnonsuojelijoina". Samalla se on katsonut kaupunkilaisten kuten myös ympäristöaktivistien ja -poliitikkojen vieraantuneen luonnosta. Järjestö on huolestunut omaisuudensuojasta, taloudellisista kustannuksista ja erilaisista käytännön ongelmista luonnonsuojelualueiden perustamisen yhteydessä. MTK:n suhtautuu perheviljelmiin ristiriitaisesti: niitä pidetään maatalouden mallina samalla, kun maataloustuotannon yksikkökoko on kasvamassa.