The Importance of Agricultural Communications

By: Anna Pitts

Having grown up on the Chilton Research and Extension Center of AAES, where agriculture was all around me, talking to people about agriculture became second nature to me at an early age. From explaining to my second-grade classmates what my dad does as a superintendent to giving an informative speech in my college public speaking class on winter chilling hours for peaches, I have been practicing agriculture communications all my life.

I didn't think much about the importance of agriculture communications, however, until I changed my major to it my sophomore year at Auburn and began taking the required agriculture classes. I thought I knew a lot about fruit crops, since that's what mainly is grown at the station, but not until I took a horticulture class did I see how little I know.

Like many people I could only see a small portion of the entire agriculture picture. My view was magnified as I learned more about farm animals, pruning, commodities and elasticity, soils, the art of landscaping and how governmental laws can affect a farmer.

Through conversations with my peers about my different agriculture classes, questions of why I chose agriculture communications as my major and the confused looks I got while studying notes for an agronomy test during my public relations class, I realized how much they didn't know about agriculture. Those looks, comments and conversations assured me of a definite need for more information communicated to the general public about agriculture.

In fact, when a panel of agriculture education and communications experts analyzed Associated Press news wire service stories aired by a television station in Lubbock, Texas, in November 2002, they concluded that the media often neglects agricultural topics. The study called for a "greater frequency of fact-based articles and decreased use of inference statements [which] will result in an increasingly accurate picture of agriculture."

Why is an "increasingly accurate picture of agriculture" important? Today, more than one in six jobs in the United States is associated with agriculture. Even in so-called non-farm states, a substantial portion of jobs is in the food and fiber sector, according to researchers at the USDA Economic Research Service. In nearly two-thirds of the states, the food and fiber system accounts for between 15 and 20 percent of total employment. Agricultural exports are a major component of our international trade and a vital contributor to our national security.

An accurate perception of an industry that is number one in Alabama and the Southeast and has such a huge impact on society, the economy and the environment is important for the general public. "Agricultural literacy" is also important for policy makers so that they can respond to critical issues affecting the agriculture industry.

One goal of agriculture communications, then, is to get the public to think more about agriculture, to bring agriculture to the forefront of the public eye. It is the "general public's" media (state, local and national newspapers, morning shows, nightly news broadcasts and radio) where more agriculture topics need to appear. Agenda setting is a term meaning the media tells the public not what to think, but what to think about. Whether that's through a newspaper article, a press release, a public relations campaign, photographs, Web pages, newsletters, news scripts for local television stations, marketing and advertising for a company or product, lobbying government officials or even handling crisis situations–there are endless channels to get people thinking about agriculture.

Another goal is to help the public understand the complicated processes that are a part of agriculture. Being clear and concise, using familiar words to describe often unfamiliar topics in agriculture will inform and raise awareness of agriculture. Agriculture communications students are trained to do just that.

Growing up, I didn't appreciate working in our garden on July 4th or realize the plums that I was eating were messing up data for an experiment. Not until I was taken out of the agricultural environment I grew up in did I realize how fortunate I was. Now I know that we can't take the things that agriculture gives us for granted. This knowledge is my motivation to communicate the value of agriculture to others. And this is what a degree in agriculture communications has prepared me to do.

Pitts is an intern this semester in CoAg's Ag Communications and Marketing office. She will graduate in May.

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