Charlotte Chivers lead author of new article exploring use of videos and podcasts for communicating with farmers

Charlotte Chivers of the CCRI, alongside co-authors from the University of Reading and the Organic Research Centre, has published an open-access paper exploring the extent to which videos and podcasts could play a greater role when communicating with farmers

Through carrying out an extensive mixed-methods campaign, it was identified that farmers are receptive to listening to videos and podcasts where they are perceived as credible, relevant, legitimate, and accessible.  Based on this research, the authors make several recommendations for ensuring these tools reach the aforementioned attributes, as shown in the infographics below. In conclusion, the authors recommend that both videos and podcasts could be used to a greater extent for agricultural extension. They should, however, not offer a replacement for traditional approaches such as in-person advice delivery, and should instead, be used where appropriate.  

Infographic credits: Veronica White, impact communications consultant (@Veronicaa_White)

This research derives from two projects. Firstly, Charlotte Chivers’ PhD research, which was part-funded by the Environment Agency, and secondly, a Defra-funded Environmental Land Management (ELM) test and trial project led by Agricology (Organic Research Centre), which explored the potential of videos and podcasts as playing a role in ELM. 

The full reference for the paper is as follows:

  • Chivers, C-A., Bliss, K., de Boon, A., Lishman, L., Schillings, J., Smith, R., & Christian Rose, D. (2021) Videos and podcasts for delivering agricultural extension: achieving credibility, relevance, legitimacy and accessibility. Journal of Agricultural Education and Extensionhttps://doi.org/10.1080/1389224X.2021.1997771