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.

In this thesis, I explore how white producers of U.S. agriculture’s top commodity—cattle—understand participation in government farm programs. As such, the central research question guiding this research is: how do white Mississippi cattle producers portray their decisions to pursue (or not pursue) government farm programs? Specifically, I offer insights into how farmers reconcile tension between being independent/self-sufficient and accepting government subsidies. Using data from 289 hours of participant observation at agricultural events and 33 interviews with producers, I examine sociologically how these understandings of farm program participation relate to producers’ ideological notions of “success” and how race and gender shape these understandings.

Ideals of freedom, independence, and land ownership helped form and perpetuate the mythology of ranching in the United States. However, stereotypes emerged as a result of distortion from the media and the move away from the land. Social philosophies changed regarding the environment, land use, and the health and safety of the food supply in the late 20th century. In relation to the mythology, stereotype, and social theory regarding the ranching culture, this research seeks to clarify the fundamental principles, business philosophy, lifestyle, and values of men and women raising beef as a food product on both public and private lands in the 1990's. The mythology surrounding ranchers and cowboys are the result of three historical periods in the United States; however, the last 100 years have had the most profound effect in developing stereotypes. In this survey, 42 ranchers in Lake County, Oregon and Modoc County, California describe the challenges, satisfactions, and the partnership with Nature that is part of their livelihood in the harsh, high desert environment of eastern Oregon and northeastern California. The low ratio of private ground in these counties creates a dependency on use of public lands for grazing. This use if often stereotyped as "welfare ranching," without computation for other variables that make it comparable with private leasing. Historically, the Taylor Grazing Act authorizes fee grazing between ranchers and the U.S. government, but current philosophy has shifted its view of free enterprise on public lands, terming it "resource extraction." Although ranching is high in risk and low in economic return, ranchers stay in the business because they value freedom, hard work, family cohesiveness, and the interaction with Nature and the land. The future of ranching is challenged by environmental policy, government agency relations, public opinion, the high cost of land and production, and a lack of unity in the beef industry. To survive, ranchers need to unify, sharpen communication skills, provide education about ranching practices to the public, and become service-oriented as an organization to change stereotype and meet the social criteria of the next century. / Graduation date: 1998

Temperate grasslands and the biodiversity they sustain are becoming increasingly imperilled. Habitat loss and degradation are considered primary causes of grassland species declines. Since livestock production is a dominant use of remaining temperate grassland, livestock producers and the grazing management decisions they make play a vital role in the recovery of grassland species. In this thesis, I examined social and ecological factors that drive habitat management and abundance of prairie wildlife species so as to contribute to conservation planning for prairie species at risk and their habitat. I focused on grassland songbirds because, of all prairie wildlife species, grassland birds have undergone some of the most dramatic declines in recent years. I employed an interdisciplinary approach, using theory and methodology from ornithology, rangeland management and the human dimension of conservation biology to achieve three objectives: i) to determine the extent to which indices of rangeland health explained variation in grassland songbird abundance for ten grassland bird species, including three species currently listed under Canada’s Species at Risk Act: Sprague’s pipit, McCown’s longspur and Chestnut-collared longspur; ii) to describe livestock producer characteristics, summarize producer awareness of and attitudes towards species at risk and the Canadian Species at Risk Act and evaluate how characteristics, awareness and attitudes affect producer willingness to engage in voluntary stewardship actions that support species at risk conservation; and iii) to explore relationships between select social and ecological factors and bird abundance for the three aforementioned grassland bird species at risk to elucidate novel pathways for achieving their conservation. I address the first objective in Chapter 2, where I identify the rangeland health index as a poor predictor of bird abundance and vegetation structure variables, such as litter and vegetation volume, as strong predictors of bird abundance. These findings make a case for further refining the rangeland health index as a tool for biodiversity assessment. In Chapter 3 I achieve the second objective and summarize producer characteristics, awareness and attitudes towards species. I also identify awareness, attitudes and rangeland management learning approach as important to producer willingness to support species at risk recovery. I accomplish the third objective in Chapter 4, where I present results of a structural equation model that upholds bird-habitat relationships identified in Chapter 2 and distinguishes management jurisdiction, size of land holdings and attitudes as important social factors to consider in conservation planning. Chapters 2 and 3 contribute to theory and methodology related to the ecological and social dimensions of grassland bird conservation, respectively. Chapter 4 demonstrates how structural equation models can be used to integrate social and ecological factors, and thereby inform habitat conservation and management. Both social and ecological data presented in this thesis make valuable contributions to producer engagement and habitat management aspects of conservation planning efforts for species at risk in the Milk River watershed of southwestern Saskatchewan. Overall, my findings point to the importance of a joint effort by regional private and public managers to use livestock grazing to create a mosaic of vegetation structure and habitat conditions suitable for the grassland bird community as a whole. This thesis provides a methodological approach that draws on and integrates social and ecological data, methods and concepts, thereby demonstrating how to conduct interdisciplinary research for biological conservation.

The purpose of this study was to select an area in Utah that was predominantly livestock oriented which used federal lands for livestock grazing, and to develop model ranches exemplifying the typical live-stock operation in the area. These model ranches were then used in a Budget Generator Program (BG) and a Linear Programming framework (LP) to simulate reductions of 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% reductions of BLM land usage. The results were then used to determine income changes, herd size changes, and resource usage in the models as the reductions took place. The area chosen was Wayne County, Utah because of the dependence of the livestock operators on BLM land for livestock grazing in the winter. Also because the area was predominantly livestock oriented. A group of ranchers from southern Idaho was also included because of their usage of the BLM land in Wayne County.

La présente recherche vise à examiner une société d’éleveurs et d’agriculteurs (rancheros), dans une communauté qui se situe au nord du Jalisco : Colotlán. J’étudierai son inscription dans l’environnement, son économie de plus inscrite dans les marchés national et international, sa configuration politique (en considérant sa relation avec l’État) et sa symbolique, dont son éthique de travail fait partie. Mon enquête m’a permis l’identification des différentes formes de relations entre les pairs et les valeurs, les dimensions affectives et les représentations qui en découlent. Je propose l’existence d’un type de formation sociale qu’on peut nommer « société d’honneur » en raison du poids des traditions qui concernent tout autant leur principale activité économique que leur formation identitaire constituée par des valeurs morales et des normes reliées à l’honneur. J’examine la relation du pouvoir avec la politique et la manière dont on construit le pouvoir politique ; le rapport qui existe entre l’honneur et le pouvoir, la manière dont les personnes construisent l’honneur à travers le pouvoir. Cette société subit l’impact croissant de pratiques et d’une idéologie modernisatrice, avec des prétentions d’institutionnalisation par les biais des intérêts nationaux étatiques. S’appuyant sur une méthodologie qui combine le travail dans les archives et la recherche prolongée sur le terrain cette thèse veut contribuer aux études sur les identités culturelles dans lesquelles l’honneur occupe une place centrale, dans le contexte de la relation entre les communautés éleveuses agricoles et l’État. / This research aims to examine a cattle ranchers’ society in a community located in north Jalisco: Colotlán. I will study its relationship with the environment, its economy involved in national and international markets, its political configuration (considering its links with the state) and its symbolism, that includes their work ethics. My analysis has allowed me to identify different forms of relationship among peers and the values, the affective dimensions, and the representations that derive from them. I propose the existence of a certain type of social formation that can be called “honorable society” due to the importance of the traditions that concern their main economic activity, as well as its identity founded on moral values and rules linked to honor. I analyze the connection of power with politics and the way political power is built, the existing links between honor and power, and how people build honor through power. This society has suffered the increasing impact of modernizing practices and ideologies, with attempts at institutionalization through national and state interests. Relying on a methodology that combines research in historical archives and extensive fieldwork, this thesis aims to contribute to the studies of cultural identities, in which honor occupies a central place in the context of the relationship between rancher communities and the state. / La presente investigación examina una sociedad de ganaderos y agricultores (rancheros) en una comunidad que se sitúa al norte de Jalisco : Colotlán. Estudiaré su relación con el medio ambiente, su economía inscrita en los mercados nacionales e internacionales, su configuración política (considerando sus vínculos con el Estado) y su simbolismo, de la cual forma parte su ética de trabajo. Mi análisis me ha permitido la identificación de diferentes formas de relaciones entre pares y los valores, las dimensiones afectivas y las representaciones que de ahí se derivan. Propongo la existencia de un tipo de formación social que podemos nombrar “sociedad de honor “ en razón del peso de las tradiciones que conciernen su principal actividad económica, así como su formación identitaria constituida por los valores morales y las normas ligadas al honor. Examino la correlación del poder con la política y la manera en la que se construye el poder político ; el vínculo que existe entre el honor y el poder, la forma en que las personas construyen el honor a través del poder. Esta sociedad ha sufrido el impacto creciente de prácticas y de una ideología modernizadora, con pretensiones de institucionalización por la vía de intereses nacionales y estatales. Apoyándome en una metodología que combina el trabajo en archivos y la investigación prolongada sobre el terreno, esta tesis pretende contribuir a los estudios sobre las identidades culturales entre las cuales el honor ocupa un lugar central en el contexto de la relación entre las comunidades de agroganaderos y el Estado.

Agritourism is one way to sustainably conserve open space. Its potential to supplement Oregon ranchers’ income may also preserve ranching culture. Research on agritourism in Oregon and elsewhere, however, is scarce. This study focused on the motivations of Oregon ranchers to diversify into agritourism, the congruence of conservation easements and agritourism, the feasibility of using sustainability indicators as tools to measure agritourism sustainability, and the future of agritourism in Oregon. This study mimics the one conducted by Nickerson, Black, and McCool (2001), using a mailback survey. A total of 400 questionnaires were distributed to Oregon cattle ranch owners during the summer of 2002. Of those received, 177 were useable, for a response rate of 44%. Agritourism is hardly pervasive in Oregon; only 21% of respondents indicated they engage in agritourism enterprises. Of those who do, working ranch and fee hunting/fishing are the main activities offered. Top reasons for cattle ranchers to operate an agritourism business are to fully utilize ranch resources, capture additional income, to offset fluctuations in ranch income, and to educate the consumer. Major barriers to agritourism are insurance and liability concerns, lack of time, regulations, and lack of financial assistance and resources. Only 10% of Oregon ranchers and 19% of ranchers in agritourism had land protected under a conservation easement (both open and closed to the public). Although none of the hypotheses were supported, significant relationships were found between cattle ranchers in agritourism and the number of years cattle ranchers have been in the ranching business and the presence of family members who work off-ranch part-time year round; and gross annual household income and the hiring of non-family members who work part-time year round in the agritourism business. The majority of respondents rely on livestock production as a source of income, but livestock production is responsible for only about half of ranchers’ gross annual household income. Off-ranch income is the second major source of income. Findings indicate that agritourism may provide a profitable source of income allowing more ranchers to work full-time on the ranch while maintaining their ranching livelihood. / Graduation date: 2005

This study was basically concerned with the effect of occupation on the folklore of the people of Graford, Texas. The people interviewed in that area of North Central Texas were divided into three major occupational groups: ranchers, farmers, and farmer-laborers. At least two members from each of the occupational groups were interviewed; and these interviews revealed that their folklore included folktales, superstitions-remedies, songs, and customs, The customs included household, recreation, school, and church customs. Each informant's folklore was recorded directly as it was related. Then the information was placed in the appropriate categories of folklore. Finally, an analysis of the folklore from the standpoint of the informants occupation was completed. The findings indicated that the various occupations did influence each informant's folklore.

AGROXAPP es un proyecto de que ofrece un modelo de negocio innovador dentro del mercado peruano, el cual trata de un aplicativo móvil que busca conectar empresarios y criadores de ganado vacuno y equino con profesionales veterinarios que ofrecen diversos servicios para el cuidado de sus animales. Puesto que estos empresarios buscan conectar con profesionales de confianza para entregarles a sus animales, es que se busca crear una comunidad de confianza entre ambos y de esta manera mantener una relación estable y de apoyo entre ambas partes. Realizada la evaluación del mercado y sus preferencias, esta app busca ofrecer diversos servicios además de ser el medio de conexión entre ganaderos y veterinarios, es por ello que contará con opciones como la creación de un espacio para que los empresarios ganaderos puedan intercambiar experiencias e inquietudes comunes, convirtiéndose en una especie de comunidad de apoyo mutuo, un blog en el cual se busca entregar contenido de valor para este sector que abarque diversos temas importantes, el propósito es, mientras avance el tiempo y el desarrollo del proyecto, ir entregando y ofreciendo opciones diversas de acuerdo a las nuevas necesidades que se vayan descubriendo en el camino. Es así como esta propuesta inicial de servicios tiene la posibilidad de variar y aumentar conforme se descubran nuevas funcionalidades demandadas por nuestros usuarios objetivos. El modelo de negocio ha sido validado a través de diversos experimentos como entrevistas, encuestas, concierge, entre otros más. Además, se ha desarrollado la planificación y presupuestación de aspectos de ventas, marketing, operaciones, finanzas y recursos humanos necesarios para empezar la propuesta de negocio. Asimismo, con ello se puede corroborar que es un modelo de negocio rentable y con potencial en el mercado. / AGROXAPP is a project that offers an innovative business model within the Peruvian market, which is a mobile application that seeks to connect entrepreneurs and breeders of cattle and horses with veterinary professionals who offer various services for the care of their animals. Since these entrepreneurs seek to connect with trusted professionals to deliver their animals, they seek to create a community of trust between them and in this way maintain a stable and supportive relationship between both parties. After evaluating the market and its preferences, this app seeks to offer various services in addition to being the means of connection between farmers and veterinarians, which is why it will have options such as creating a space for livestock entrepreneurs to exchange experiences and concerns common, becoming a kind of community of mutual support, a blog in which it is sought to deliver valuable content for this sector that covers various important topics, the purpose is, as time progresses and the development of the project, to deliver and offer diverse options according to the new needs that are discovered along the way. This is how this initial service proposal has the possibility of varying and increasing as new functionalities demanded by our target users are discovered. The business model has been validated through various experiments such as interviews, surveys, and concierge, among others. In addition, the planning and budgeting of aspects of sales, marketing, operations, finance and human resources necessary to start the business proposal has been developed. Likewise, this can confirm that it is a profitable business model with potential in the market. / Trabajo de investigación

One major lesson derived from the implementation of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) over the past 30 years is that direct regulation is not the only nor the optimal way to protect endangered species on working lands because of an undue burden imposed on private landowners. The role of a voluntary conservation program is to rearrange incentives so that society bears the cost rather than the landowner. Employing a survey research methodology, I used theories of reasoned action and random choice to explore landowners? stated preferences for conservation programs. I found landowners? stated interest in compensation programs to be moderate at best. For those willing to consider programs involving endangered species, associating land management requirements for species conservation with direct benefits to the landowner is important, but perhaps not as important as ensuring that the program provides adequate financial incentives, consideration of the term of the program, and a level of certainty regarding the landowner?s future obligations under the ESA. Landowners are not a homogenous group. I identified two classes of landowners according to preferences for program structure. One group was highly sensitive to program structure, aside from financial incentives, while the other was likely to participate if adequately compensated with financial and technical assistance. These differences related to opinions on endangered species protection and dependence on their land for income. Voluntary incentive programs increasingly are a popular tool to maintain and enhance conservation; however, these programs are only successful insofar as landowners choose to enroll. This research demonstrates that improving recovery efforts on private lands requires program administrators to have a more complete understanding of landowners? views on endangered species and conservation programs in general, as well as their motivations for owning and operating their land. By doing so, programs with broader appeal and greater efficacy can be designed and implemented.