Environmental Studies Program

 

Authors

Aspen Rittgarn

Date of this Version

5-2023

Document Type

Article

Citation

Environmental Studies Undergraduate Student Thesis, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023

Comments

Copyright 2023, Aspen Rittgarn

Abstract

The purpose of this paper and online survey was to see if an agricultural knowledge gap between consumers and producers be found. Low agricultural literacy rates can lead to misconceptions of the agriculture industry, unhealthy food choices, environmentally unfriendly product choices, food waste, etc. The hypothesis for this thesis is that those born in the mid1960s to early 1980s (Generation X) will be the start of an increased knowledge gap. The survey was compiled of both qualitative and quantitative questions and questions were inspired by American Farm Bureau’s AITC Benchmarks. Responses were analyzed and the results revealed that my participants were able to answer AITC Benchmark questions with a >70% correctness. The results of this study were inconclusive of the existence of a knowledge gap across different generations. Future research should survey a more diverse participant pool.

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