Agricultural Education & Communication

Pest identification and diagnosis can be difficult and often require consultation with a specialist. Extension county faculty, state specialists, and faculty of the UF/IFAS Office of Information Technology developed the Distance Diagnostic and Identification System (DDIS), which allows users to submit digital images obtained in the field or after delivery to a local Extension office for rapid diagnosis and identification of pest insects, weeds, diseases, and animals. This 4-page document discusses typical DDIS hardware and camera, the DDIS process, sample types, user roles, DDIS for Extension clientele, and DDIS Mobile. Written by J. Xin, L. Buss, C. Harmon, P. Vergot III, M. Frank, and W. Lester, and published by the UF/IFAS Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, revised March 2018.  http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ae225

The International Plant Diagnostic Network (IPDN) was developed to assist in food safety and the protection of crops for citizens of the United States of America and international host countries. IPDN used the model of a system of diagnosing plant problems and information sharing. This model was developed among the Land Grant Universities in the United States as part of

The University of Florida Extension Service initiated Costa Rica’s first training of non-formal landscape managers in 2008. Three county agents and two administrators spent a week in Apr. 2007 visiting EARTH University’s new LaFlor campus near the Pacific coast. That region is experiencing rapid growth in tourist development. Stresses of rapid growth, decreased water quality and quantity, and misuse of horticultural chemicals now impact the local economy and environment. In 2008, seven county agents provided two concurrent 7-week programs. Each agent spent 2 weeks at LaFlor. Agents rotated in and out each week for program continuity. Course materials and lessons were taught in Spanish. The “Master of Gardens” program was designed for nursery and landscape professionals. The “Gardeners of Costa Rica” course focused on homeowners and ecotourism personnel. Participants learned about best management practices suitable to the dryland tropics, practiced concepts with hands-on exercises, a...

The University of Florida IFAS Extension, Internationalizing Extension Training Project (IETP) focused on the development and implementation of capacity building and institution building in international extension. University of Florida IFAS Extension and important partners; locally elected county commissioners and graduate students and teaching faculty of educational departments in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS) collaborated to assist in Internationalizing Extension in Florida. The Internationalizing Extension professional development project, developed during the 2003-2004 program year, was unique in that it brought representatives of local government, teaching faculty and graduate students together with county extension faculty to explore international extension possibilities in a collaborative manner. Federal, state and local county governments fund extension in Florida. The boards of county commissions are critical partners with University of Florida IFAS Extension, as they contribute over 30 million dollars annually to the overall extension budget. In addition, commissioners make recommendations and decisions related to the local extension financial contribution. Results from this study revealed a positive change in knowledge of international issues and effects of globalization of communities by the participants of the training program. The University of Florida IFAS Internationalizing Extension training program was enhanced by including partners of Extension, demonstrating the importance of involving extension agents, local elected officials, teachers and graduate students. The IETP's professional development and institution building activities, materials developed and papers/reports are posted on a special web site to use as an informational tool for participants and extension to use to teach future faculty and clientele.

Bananas (Musa spp.) are subject to a number of diseases that are difficult to diagnose early in development when control measures are most likely to be successful. Rapidly spreading new diseases, such as Xanthomonas wilt present unique diagnostic challenges. Surveys conducted in East and West Africa documented the lack of sufficient equipment, supplies, reference materials and training in the majority of plant pathology laboratories charged with disease diagnoses. To begin to address these issues, the International Plant Diagnostic Network (IPDN) was established in East and West Africa in 2006, through the Integrated Pest Management Collaborative Research Support Program (IPM CRSP). The IPDN is a diagnostic, communication and data network, modeled in part on the United States National Plant Diagnostic Network. Software for digital imaging and diagnosis and information management provides a platform for enhanced diagnosis and communication amongst clinicians and their clientele. Improved diagnostics tools and protocols were also developed and tested, including a PCR assay for Xanthomonas wilt. Training programs were conducted in Benin in 2006, Kenya and the United States of America in 2007, and Uganda and Mali in 2008, to enhance technical capacity amongst diagnosticians in East and West Africa. Initiatives such as IPDN can benefit by collaboration with other similar internetbased initiatives in Africa. One such activity is the East Africa Phytosanitary Information Committee (EAPIC). EAPIC is linked to the Food and Agricultural Organization's International Plant Portal to provide the official national plant protection organization posting of plant pests for each respective country, which now includes Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. The plant pest list will serve as a foundation from which to develop harmonized border inspection protocols, which in turn support capacity building efforts in plant pest survey, identification and

The mobile revolution transformed the ways we socialize and conduct business. Today, mobile technology is an essential element of every aspect of digital success. More people are accessing the Internet through mobile devices than through wired connections. Mobile device users are always connected, actively leveraging information, knowledge and social activities. The rapid growth of mobile usage in the world created many opportunities that leverage the ubiquity of mobile networks. Clearly mobile revolution will continue, and organizations not only create mobile strategy, they devote more resources to deliver innovative mobile services and next must-have applications (apps) for the agricultural sector. There are many design challenges and considerations in developing mobile apps that can be widely accepted by users in agricultural communities. This paper discusses mobile apps in the agricultural domain, considerations and challenges for successful mobile app development and focuses on a cross-platform mobile development approach adopted by University of Florida/Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS). This cross-platform framework is an intuitive approach to developing apps quickly, easily and cost effectively. A mobile portal and sample mobile apps developed at UF/IFAS are presented. Effective and quality mobile app deployment in agriculture needs a clear mobile strategy, creative ideas and collective efforts from developers, domain experts and organizations.

Proficiency in competencies associated with volunteer administration can prove to be one's greatest asset in his/her ability to successfully develop the leadership of youth. With that, leadership style is also an important consideration because it provides a means for working with individuals and reaching programmatic goals. The purpose of this research was to determine factors which contribute to volunteer administration leadership proficiency of 4-H county faculty in the southern region. In order to do this, demographics and correlations among identified independent variables were analyzed. The primary intent was to develop a prediction equation for perceived proficiency in VAL competence. Although seven variables correlated with perceived proficiency in VAL competence, organizational culture (importance) and age were responsible for 43% of the variation in the model. These factors can guide efforts related to volunteer programming, including professional development opportunities for 4-H county faculty in the southern region. A focused curriculum addressing organizational culture and a mentoring program for faculty has the potential to increase VAL proficiency.

The objective of this research was to identify Facione's six critical thinking skills using graduate students blogs as a reflection tool in the context of leadership using structured and unstructured blogs. The skills researched were (a) Interpretation, (b) Analysis, (c) Evaluation, (d) Inference,(e) Explanation, and (f) Self-Regulation (Facione, 1990). It was evident that providing students with guidelines for the purpose of blogging in the classroom was more thought evoking over the duration of the course compared to students following an open reflection. Self-Regulation and explanation were the skills used most consistently among participants. With this knowledge, how do educators encourage students to use the other four skills just as often?

Increased demand, limited resources, knowledge gaps, and seemingly less time to produce results are the challenges facing researchers and others in higher education today. Working together across disciplines is almost a requirement to stay afloat in the competitive arena most principal investigators are finding

Training undergraduate agricultural students to be strong, positive leaders will have a large impact on the industries they work within and therefore should be of utmost importance to agricultural educators. Transformational leaders (TL) tend to have higher performing, more satisfied teams; consequently, development of TL characteristics should result in a more productive future workforce. The personality trait of agreeableness has been associated with the interpersonal aspects of leadership; however, the literature is unclear whether agreeableness is a significant predictor of TL. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between the personality trait agreeableness and TL in undergraduate agricultural leadership students. The findings indicated the facets of agreeableness had more predictive power on TL than the broader trait of overall agreeableness. Recommendations include framing TL development in a personality context. When discussing personality, a review of the facets of agreeableness should result in more meaningful learning for participants.

Interesting and innovative youth development programs are important to further youth education. Programs focused on developing leadership skills in youth, specifically at-risk youth, are important when thinking of the future of our communities. The primary purpose of the study was to determine the impact of an equine facilitated, authentic leadership program on at-risk youth. Youth participated in a three-day equine facilitated learning program based on authentic leadership with focus groups conducted three days before and three days after the program. In this article, we describe the development and methodology of the program and specific implications for practice.

This research investigated the relationship between adolescent afterschool program attendance, self-esteem and feelings of community connectedness. Thirty-nine of the 61 at-risk adolescents enrolled in two federally funded, community based afterschool programs participated in the study. Participants completed a 10-item self-esteem questionnaire and a 5-item section of the Youth Involved in Community Issues Survey (YICI) to measure perceptions of community connectedness. Attendance records were also collected from the sites. Data were analyzed using Pearson Correlations. Results indicated that there was not a significant relationship between the total variables. The individual item analysis, however, did find a significant relationship between adolescent community connectedness and self esteem items. Findings suggest that there is a relationship to be explored and strengthened through means of community outreach for adolescents. Conclusions from this study have important implications...

Interdisciplinary leadership education programs attempt to integrate students from diverse backgrounds and ideologies within contexts that facilitate cognitive growth and allow students to engage with real world problems. Specifically, the development of agency and effective decision-making can provide students with a powerful toolkit replete with the necessary capacities and dispositions for addressing complex global problems. However, recently counterreality has created significant challenges for leadership educators. Counter-reality, or the pervasive and persuasive replacement of objective truths with subjective opinions grounded in falsehoods, lead perceptions and provide barriers to developing leadership students primed for sustainably addressing complex organizational and community challenges. The following educational framework intends to address the challenge posed by counter-reality by developing agency in leadership students, so they are better equipped to ask incisive questions when presented with counter realities. Addressing counter-reality through the development of agency is incredibly timely as false claims and misinformation are presented on nearly a daily basis.