Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on March 17, 2010). The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file. Thesis advisor: Dr. Laura McCann. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Diss. Uppsala : Sveriges lantbruksuniv., 2003.

Diss. (sammanfattning). Uppsala : Sveriges lantbruksuniv., 2003. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Thesis--Auburn University, 2009. / Abstract. Includes bibliographic references (p.86-90).

The purpose for this thesis was to explore a dynamic between the news media, their subjects, and their audience. I investigate whether everyday news media frame the information they deliver in such a way as to potentially direct the audience on how to respond to news stories. The setting for this research question is in the Tampa Bay area of Florida and the subject matter deals specifically with agriculture, its practitioners, how they do business, and how the local news media report about it. The issue will be explored from an applied anthropological perspective, basing conclusions on field research and an internship with the Department of Environmental Protection and their agricultural liaison. Several newspaper articles and television news broadcasts were monitored over several years and selected on a basis of their relevancy to the topic. The anthropological value of this study is in discovering how media disseminate this particular subject matter and how a deficiency in information flow could result. I explore a body of literature that is both diverse and germane to the field of media studies to gain a broad perspective on how different news events are mediated. Following the analysis, a qualitative assessment is given to further the understanding of how local news media frame reports related to the practice of agriculture.

Food is something that we all have in common. We need it to survive and although we don’t always notice it, it has structured our relationships, homes, communities, countryside and cities for as long as humans have been around. The invention of farming led to the first static settlements, thus, enabling the evolution of cities.  In Sweden, the way people live and eat has changed drastically over the last fifty years. A society that was previously made up of clusters of small self-sufficient family-run farms has urbanised rapidly becoming one of the least self-sufficient, supermarket-dominated countries in Europe. Current housing developments such as Tavleliden (described by the municipality as a ‘nature-oriented’ area) on the outskirts of Umeå are designed and marketed in a way that encourages its residents to do little else but drive to the shops and consume.   In order to reach optimistic population and economic growth goals, politicians in Umeå hope that the rapid rate of urbanisation will continue. Many decisions, such as building new roads, covering up valuable agricultural land, subsidising large out-of-town retail centres and cutting down on services in surrounding villages are being justified because of these expectations. The landscape is not only becoming defined by cars and places to shop, but it seems the only people being catered for are those with money to spend.   The favouritism towards large corporations has not only made life almost impossible for independent businesses in the city to survive, (the number of independent food shops in the city centre has gone from thirty-six in 1950 to just one upmarket delicatessen in 20142), but according to Bjorn Forsberg they are also making it difficult for small food shops and farms outside Umeå - and the communities that rely on them to survive. While many middle-class families with jobs in the city are choosing to move to the suburbian developments outof- town, people whose livelihoods may have depended on the land are being forced to move into the town.  Some of us may find the experience of visiting a supermarket bland. Others may find the permanent and predictable choice of products from all over the world thrilling. Whatever our differing opinions, the fact is that, as there is very little else to choose from, whether we want to or not, in Umeå we all rely on them.   If we start trying to imagine the length of roads, train lines, airports, food-distribution centres and ferries that need to work faultlessly day in and day out delivering enough food for almost 300,000 meals a day to Umeå alone, we realise how important, but also how dependent the current food network is. If this system failed in Sweden, unlike many other counties who stock reserves, there would be a food crisis in only two days.   By emphasising the benifits of organic and offering connections to the production process Swedish food businesses such as Minfarm, Älvåkern and phone applications like ‘Bonde På Köpet’ are working to increase the appeal of locally produced food, though still cater for a largely middle-class market. Other producers in Västerbotten such as Hallnås or Baggböle Gård, are either relient on the neo-liberal supermarket system to sell their products or if they do sell directly to clients currently lack the resources to make themselves known.   You may wonder why I think that this matters and why it has any relation to architecture. If there’s food on the shelves, what’s wrong with continuing with business as usual?   If ‘we are what we eat’, I would also argue that the design of our cities, homes (and of course, the hinterland that we rely on!) are also a result of ‘what we eat’. But, as the English architect Carolyn Steel points out in her book Hungry City “No government, including our own, has ever wanted to admit its dependency on others for sustenance.” Arne Lindström, the regional manager for The Federation of Swedish Farmers (LRF) has similar concerns. In a recent article in Västerbotten’s Kuriren he exclaims: “The reason why we have to farm seems to have been lost during an era of abundance. That food is essential is actually no longer obvious, and it is even less obvious that agriculture’s primary task is precisely to produce our food.”   So, it seems that as a city we care very little about our food. We are happy to exchange valuable arable land for a large shop that sells cheap mass-produced furniture. We are happy to drain our hinterlands of the people and expertise that know how to produce food. We are happy to keep building more supermarkets and ordering catalogue houses that require more cars and more oil.  What if instead, there was an architecture that allowed another kind of living? One that was less dependent on cars and imported food. One that encouraged residents to be producers as well as consumers. Maybe an alternative to the secluded suburbs and souless supermarkets that are being planned all around the city. An architecture that allows communities develop that are more connected to the land and the food that it eats. This thesis will explore these ideas.

Agrichemicals have been misused by rice farmers in Vietnam for a long time. This thesis has studied the rice farmers’ knowledge, risk awareness and risk perception to get an understanding of the rice farmers’ agrichemical management. 15 rice farmers in An Giang province in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam were interviewed in 2015 when the winter-spring rice was cultivated. Field method Contextual Inquiry was used to observe and interview the rice farmers. The rice farmers in Mekong Delta, Vietnam think that they are exposed to a medium risk when handling pesticides. They think that pesticides are the most effective pest controlling method. They do not use any protective gear because the weather is to hot which makes the protective gear uncomfortable to wear, even though the majority of the farmers have experienced health effects. The farmers overuse agrichemicals. The rice farmers can increase their gross income if they start using agrichemical more responsible. The majority of the farmers do not follow recommendations established in research. The Vietnamese government have a big responsibility to implement new laws to create a healthier and more environmentally sound agriculture.

Die Broschüre gibt grundlegende Hinweise zum Ablauf einer Umstellung auf die ökologische Wirtschaftsweise. Sie beschreibt die gesetzlichen Rahmenbedingungen, die Spezifika bei Pflanzenbau und Tierhaltung, die Bedeutung der Absatzwege und die finanzielle Förderung im Freistaat Sachsen. Adressen zu Kontrollstellen, Beratung und Verbänden sowie eine Zusammenstellung wichtiger Fachliteratur sind für die frühe Informations- und Planungsphase nützlich.

Contract farming is an agreement between a farmer and a firm regarding the agricultural production. Studies have shown that contract farming can influence farmers in different ways. Positive aspects of contract farming is said to be that farmers get access to a bigger market, a secure source of income and valuable assistance from the companies that they have entered into a contract with. Negative aspects are foremost said to be that farmers may loose control over the production and feel that they do not have their independence left. Researchers also argue that contract farming can affect the structure within agriculture, which in many countries is dominated by family farm systems. Some therefore believe that contract farming could play a part in family farm systems changing or disappearing. This study applied a Marxist perspective and aimed to examine farmers and their experience of contract farming and how it might affect the structure within agriculture. An agricultural area in the southern parts of Sweden called Söderslätt was studied. The result showed that contract farming affected the farmers in various ways and that it in some terms can be a cause for changes within the structure of agriculture. Keywords: Söderslätt, contract farming, structural changes, family farm systems.

This item was digitized as part of the Million Books Project led by Carnegie Mellon University and supported by grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Cornell University coordinated the participation of land-grant and agricultural libraries in providing historical agricultural information for the digitization project; the University of Arizona Libraries, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and the Office of Arid Lands Studies collaborated in the selection and provision of material for the digitization project.