Agricultural communications programs should frequently review their curriculum to ensure students receive the highest quality of education possible (Akers, 2000

Global trends are demanding agricultural students have a broader perspective of agriculture and competitiveness and they become responsible global citizens. This study compared United States and Latin American undergraduate students' knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs regarding international agricultural issues, as well as their attitudes about global citizenship. Overall, students' results indicated a lack of knowledge regarding international agricultural issues, with only 3.6% obtaining a score above 60%. Students' recorded positive attitudes and beliefs about international agricultural issues but had mixed feelings regarding global citizenship attitudes. Scores on all constructs were found to be significantly different between the studied academic institutions (p < .05). The stepwise multiple linear regression indicated the predictors of university of enrollment and students' attitudes and beliefs about international agricultural issues were significantly related to their global citizenship attitudes: F (3, 1194) = 83.04, p = .01, explaining 17% of the variance in the model. The obtained results suggest students hold positive and open-minded attitudes and beliefs regarding international agricultural issues. These attitudes should be balanced by academic institutions with the knowledge needed by students to meet the demands of the agricultural industry. A global understanding can potentially enable future professionals to succeed in both local and global settings, and furthermore, help them become global citizens.

The major purpose of this study was to identify competencies that should be achieved by high school students who complete courses in agricultural communications. Identification of the competencies came from industry leaders, high school agricultural education teachers, and university faculty in agricultural communications. A three-round Delphi technique was the principal procedure used to conduct the study with a total of 75 individuals being asked to participate in round one. In the first round, the panel identified 11 topic areas that should be included in a high school agricultural communications course: (1) Writing; (2) Computer/Information Technology; (3) Agricultural Industry; (4) Communications History; (5) Professional Development; (6) Research/ Information Gathering; (7) Ethics; (8) Public Relations/Advertising/ Marketing; (9) Leadership Development; (10) Legislative Issues; and (11) Communication Skills. Resulting rounds produced 93 competencies within the 11 topic areas that were identified for potential inclusion in the high school curriculum. Of the 93 competencies, two were eliminated due to lack of agreement by the panel. Scholastic level ratings by the panel further reduced the number of competencies appropriate for high school students to 76 and categorized the remaining competencies according to appropriateness for introduction at the freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior level.

The major purpose of this study was to identify what topics and curricular areas a master's level agricultural communications curriculum should include. Identification of the topic and curricular areas came from industry representatives and university faculty. A three-round Delphi technique was the principle procedure used to conduct the study with a total of 30 individuals participating in round one. In the first round, the panel identified 23 topics that should be included in a master's level agricultural communications curriculum: (1) Advertising, (2) Electives Pertaining to Major, (3) Emerging Issues and Trends in Agriculture, (4) Emerging

This study explored the importance and inclusion of emotional intelligence in the existing curriculum by agricultural education instructors. Although much research has been conducted about the importance of emotional intelligence in the realm of education, research in the area of emotional intelligence in agricultural education programs is limited. The concept of incorporating emotional intelligence into the agriscience curriculum is not a new idea. The very philosophy of agricultural education lends itself to the development of emotional intelligence. Agricultural education instructors identified eight out of twenty emotional intelligence competency areas identified through the review of literature as high-level success abilities. This means agricultural education instructors believe these competency areas are important and they are actually including them in their current curriculum. Eleven of the twenty emotional intelligence competency areas were identified as low-level needs. This indicates that agricultural education instructors do not believe these competency areas are important, and therefore they do not believe that the competency areas need to be included in their programs. One competency area, conflict resolution, was identified as being a critical need. This indicates that teachers believe conflict resolution is important, but they are not including it in their program curriculum.

The purpose of this study was to examine television news coverage of the 2009 Salmonella outbreak in peanut products through the scope of framing theory. The aim of this research was to understand how the television news media frame agricultural, particularly food safety, messages. By employing a qualitative content analysis, researchers analyzed television news transcripts from ABC, CBS, CNN, and NBC that aired during the peanut product recall. The frames found from this research were informational, anti-Peanut Corporation of America, and anti-FDA. The most commonly used sources were victims of Salmonella, politicians, and current and former FDA off icials. No agricultural frames were present, and the only agricultural organizations interviewed were one representative of the Georgia Department of Agriculture and Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack. The researchers concluded that sources did not appear to have a large impact on the way the news was covered for this study. The researchers also found a need for more scientific food safety information to be communicated to the national media.

This study sought to determine the factors that influenced student decisions to participate in FFA in a rural school and their level of involvement as an FFA member. Data was collected from 2,111 high school students in 41 rural high schools in Arizona, Florida, and Texas. Discriminant analysis identified four factors that influence participation in FFA in the respondents: high school GPA, participation in on-campus (non-Career/Technical organizations) activities, agreement with the statement "Leadership activities have made me a more confident person," and the student's year in school. Factors identified that influenced the level of involvement in FFA by the respondents were: involvement in on-campus athletics, involvement in on-campus (non-Career/Technical organizations) activities, high school GPA, and agreement with the statement "My friends would think less of me." Future research is recommended, including a replication of this study with urban students.

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