Preparing for the Next 150 Years of Agricultural Communications

Abstract

On the 150th anniversary of the land grant system, the authors examined the history, current situation and potential future of agricultural communications as an academic discipline. Their review highlights the past history of the field, focusing on the evolution of agricultural communications from print based journalism to a field that encompasses strategic communications, marketing and branding, public relations and online and social media. The authors also look ahead to the next 150 years, offering ideas as to how students will be prepared academically in the future and how the structure of academic departments may change to focus on inter and transdisciplinary "issue response teams" designed to more effectively address complex issues and problems across disciplinary boundaries. Abstract On the 150th anniversary of the land grant system, the authors examined the history, current situation and potential future of agricultural communications as an academic discipline. Their review highlights the past history of the field, focusing on the evolution of agricultural communications from print based journalism to a field that encompasses strategic communications, marketing and branding , public relations and online and social media. The authors also look ahead to the next 150 years, offering ideas as to how students will be prepared academically in the future and how the structure of academic departments may change to focus on inter and transdisciplinary "issue response teams" designed to more effectively address complex issues and problems across disciplinary boundaries.