Nicole Polcyn

ENC 1102
Dr. Dieterle
Introduction
Throughout each generation advancement in technology are made and new scientific
discoveries become prevalent. Specifically in today’s generation there has been a significant
increase of social media presence and usage of the internet. Groups and organizations are using
this as an advantage in order to reach a larger audience on a world wide scale. The agriculture
industry has involved themselves with creating an online presence in order to deliver engaging
and innovative digital content to the public about trending agriculture issues and news. The
AGDAILY community is a prime example of a group of people trying to advocate for
agriculture and overcome the public’s negative perception of modern agriculture. A team of
writers editors for AGDAILY are upholding a strong social media presence through Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram and most importantly their website page.
Since AGDAILY has a large involvement on social media, I mainly wanted to focus on
their use of their website and facebook page. This will help me to better understand the
interactions made within this online community. My primary sources includes posts on
AGDAILY’s facebook and how the audience reacted to the content and more specifically how
the content made the community feel. My secondary sources included a scholarly journal about a
study conducted about the communication from a company to the agriculture community and
people with little agriculture knowledge. Along with a research study about stakeholders
concerns to a new USDA rule, and a source that studied peoples’ attitudes towards youth
livestock exhibitions.

Primary Sources;

AGDAILY Staff. “Dairy Activists Invade Walmart Milk Section.” AGDAILY, July 2019,
www.agdaily.com/video/dairy-activist-invade-wal-mart-
milk/?utm_source=FbMain&utm_medium=&utm_campaign=.
My first primary post includes an article posted by AGDAILY on facebook about a group
of activists protesting the milk section in a Walmart. The recent media attention towards dairy
farms and their practices has a created a spark within activists all around the country. The post
includes the recording of the protestors as they acted out a skit and proceeded to exclaim how a
dairy farm is similar to kidnapping or rape. The post on facebook currently has 74 comments
with over 51 shares across facebook. In the comments viewers express their upset with the
activists and how the activists could’ve shared their opinions in a different manner. One follower
mentions how he would be willing to personally take these people to his farm to understand what
really happens. After reading the comments I realized how many acts have been committed in
order to make others perceive agriculture as a negative practice. The community members are
upset that the activists have heard some bad things about dairy farms and have allowed this to
shape their views on all dairy farms across American when that is not the case. This source
allowed me to see the unity and strength within the community as they are expressing themselves
to one another. The community members want to express to the activists that there can be some
bad farmers in the industry but not everyone listens or realizes all the good farmers who are
providing your fruits, vegetables, meat, and grains and so much more.

AGDAILY Staff. (July 2019). AGDAILY- Is There a Better Way to Approach the alternative
food trend [Facebook] Retrived from
www.facebook.com/1257923457552943/posts/3121033631241907?sfns=mo.
This primary source is another facebook post that was posted by AGDAILY. In this post
they shared an article the staff wrote about how companies are creating meat alternatives out of
plants and labeling them as hotdogs and hamburgers. This post talks about how these newly plant
based versions or meat could be causing confusion within customers and how these products are
simply just trying to imitate real meat which cannot be replaced by plants that are processed to
appear like a meat product. One person commented and explained how almond juice isn’t and
should not be labeled as milk or cow milk because the substitute does not contain the same
ingredients as the original so why should they be named the same if they are two completely
different products. Almond juice is made from almonds and not produced from a cows’ utter so
therefore it is not fair for producers to name it as milk. This relates to how producers are
marketing this vegetable made burgers as hamburgers when they aren’t actually real meat. I
think that this marketing is misleading to consumers because the products are not being labeled
for what they are. I believe the the AGDAILY staff decided to share this with their audience in
order to inform them of what is happening within the food market and how this could be hurting
farmers in the long run. I can observe from the facebook post that people in this community are
upset and feel as if this will cause more confusion among the consumers which is exactly why
consumers don’t want to trust the agriculture community any more. All the people want is for
products to be labeled fairly for what they really are instead of these companies who are trying to
influence consumers. This communication within the community shows how the members are
trying to create a change but it can be difficult for agriculturalists to get their point across
without the attention of their intended audience.

AGDAILY Staff. (July 2019). AGDAILY- This is definitely worth reading and passing along to
others [Facebook] Retrived from
https://www.facebook.com/1257923457552943/posts/3098415086837095?sfns=mo
My final primary source I found was another facebook shared by AGDAILY with a link
to an open letter someone else has posted. In this letter the writer, John Gladigau discusses how
we need to approach the non agriculture community in order to effectively inform them of the
truth about agriculture. He starts off by admitting that some voices in the agriculture community
can be very aggressive when they are trying to defend themselves to the public in order to grab
the attention of his audience. Then he breaks down the letter into sections that need to be
discussed such as climate change, roundup, GMO’s, and animal welfare. Within these topics he
quickly generalizes some basic knowledge for the public about how farmers do everything they
can to ensure the safety of consumers while maintaining their practices. When AGDAILY shared
this to facebook they received over 17 comments and 850 shares across Facebook, This shows
that the followers of AGDAILY strongly liked what Gladigau conveyed in his honest open letter.
In the comments people are thankful for the message Gladigau conveyed and how his approach
was to use an honest explanation about what happens in the agriculture industry. I realize that
even though AGDAILY did not create the article themselves they still shared a great article that
someone wrote in order to try and bridge the gap between two different communities. This
allowed me to better understand that members in the agriculture community want to help educate
people and tell them the truth of what happened but they are learning that it is more effective to
be positive and polite to these outsiders in order to get them to understand. This source helped
me research significantly because I can see how when people communicate in a respectful
manner to one another, then conversations are created and all participants in the conversation
feel like their opinions are valued which leads to everyone becoming more open minded to
different ideas.

Secondary Sources;
Anderson-Mccoon, K., Cartmell, D., & Terry, R. (2016). Fairgoers’ Attitudes Toward Youth
Livestock Exhibits at the California State Fair. Journal of Applied Communications,100(3), 21-
31. doi:10.4148/1051-0834.1227
My first secondary source is from a scholarly journal that observed peoples’ attitudes
about youth livestock exhibits before and after viewing the exhibits in order to measure the
change in people’s opinions. At county and state fairs across the country, students may have the
chance to exhibit different livestock animals in their respective animal and breed shows in order
to share and show their knowledge of the animal they have raised. This study was conducted at
the California State Fair and 15 trained volunteers collected data from participants who had
already visited the livestock barn that day but they did not know anyone who was exhibiting
livestock at the fair. The purpose of this study was to understand the impact of youth livestock
show exhibits upon fairgoers. This would help researchers to understand if youth livestock
exhibitors could fill the gap between agriculturalists’ ability to communicate with the public
about production agriculture. There have been so many different studies about how to inform
consumers but very few have studied how the younger generations can actually be the key to to
making this connection to the public. This journal involves a well conducted study so that the
results could be determined without allowing any biases. I think that this is an extremely
important source because it specifically shows how people changed their opinion after just
watching a youth animal show. In no way was anyone arguing with them or was anyone trying to
invalidate each others feelings, fairgoers simply watched an exhibition with their own eyes and
this first-hand experience for them was enough to positively impact their attitudes. This source is
helpful to my research because I was able to find research that other scholars have conducted
within a difference community and how they were able to find an effective way to educate
people about agriculture without pressure or any biases.

Gilkerson, Nathan; Swenson, Rebecca; and Anderson, Betsy, "Farmed and Dangerous? A Case
Study of Chipotle’s Branded Entertainment Series and Polarized Reactions to its Satirical
Depiction of Farming and Agribusiness" (2016). College of Communication Faculty Research
and Publications. 435.
https://epublications.marquette.edu/comm_fac/435
My second secondary resource is a communication research study conducted about
Chipotle’s use of branded entertainment in order to appeal is image and brand to the public.
Chipotle shared information about a satirical video program called the Farmed and Dangerous
campaign. They believed that this would help to increase agriculture literacy understanding
amongst our society. Three students decided to deeply analyze the use of Chipotle’s marketing
and how the marketing caused different reactions with the public. The journalists conducted an
in depth survey and a case study group in order to better understand how consumers and
stakeholders felt about the media campaign. This research study allows me to see how other
people have studied the communication in the agriculture field and specifically how people felt
when media campaigns were released that attacked farming practices. The researched studied
both the agricultural community and the reactions from people who had very little to no
agriculture experience. They were able to conclude that there was a clear perception of what was
right or wrong on both sides. Through surveying people’s reactions they were able to find how
different people interpreted and interacted with the information. I felt that this article was
extremely helpful with my research since my research questions were similar to what this group
decided to research and study. This journal exploits the marketing techniques a company used
and how this impacted it’s viewers, and how they communicated with one another.

Haynes-Maslow, Lindsey, et al. “Arguments Used in Public Comments to Support or Oppose the
US Department of Agriculture’s Minimum Stocking Requirements: A Content Analysis.”
Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, vol. 118, no. 9, 13 Feb. 2018, pp. 1664–
1672., doi:10.1016/j.jand.2017.12.005.
This secondary resource is an online scholarly journal written by the Academy of
Nutrition and Dietetics. This journal has been peer reviewed and I found it through conducting a
search through the UCF library databases. The research found is a journal that was conducted by
a team of researchers who created a survey in order to observe how people were reacting to the
USDA’s newly proposed rule that all SNAP-authorized retailers carry more nutritious foods. In
order to do this they collected an analysis of a random sample of public comments that people
posted to a public US database about the proposed rule. The USDA’s purpose for creating the
rule was to help ensure that SNAP recipients had an easier access to healthier foods. This team of
researchers conducted a survey in order to observe the arguments that stakeholders were using in
support or against the proposed rule. This study allows me to see how others have conducted
research similarly to my online community and the interactions within my community. Although
the journal is observing for reactions from people about the USDA changing the SNAP program.
Instead of the researchers trying to decide if one side is more liked than the other, they decided to
focus on what people’s concerns were and the reasonings behind why people were supporting or
in opposition of the new change. People will react in al different ways to change but it’s how
they communicate their reactions to one another and how they are able to share their thoughts
and ideas in an atmosphere where they feel their voices are valued. I think this resource has
helped me to realize in a real life setting that arguments are not about who is right or who is
wrong, it’s about communication and brainstorming because multiple brains together produce the
best ideas. This research shows a group of people interacting together in order to voice their
opinions so that the most efficient rule can be implemented so that all questions are answered
before the rule is put into action. The information conducted in this study will be able to help me
better understand communication within the agriculture community as a whole.