The purpose of this poster is to explore the ways in which the media shapes information about Alternative Food Networks (AFN), particularly “local beef.” Previous work examined Southern U.S. beef consumers’ attitudes toward locally produced meat. These studies used face-to-face intercept and random digit dialed phone surveys to ask consumers to identify their beliefs about what others think they should do (i.e., rooted in Theory of Planned Behavior) and who (e.g., farmers, friends) influences their local beef purchases. Some respondents indicated that friends and family were the primary source of influence in their local beef purchasing decisions, and to a lesser degree their colleagues and neighbors. Other participants however, indicated that no one influences their choices. Surprisingly, when presented with a food crisis (e.g., animal handling concern, foodborne disease outbreak) some respondents indicated that no one influences their behavior. Instead, they are more likely to influence others’ beef purchase decisions. Other studies have shown that purchases of AFN foods have risen in response to consumers’ concerns about USDA and FDA regulations and oversight. Yet, in the case of organics, consumers have been found to prefer products bearing the USDA organic seal. The results of these studies beg the question “from where are consumers getting information about AFNs and what types of information from the media might they have access to?”
Within the social sciences, broadly, and sociology more specifically, studies of the media are quite common. There are few, however, among agrifood studies; those completed to date have addressed the media’s influence on consumer attitudes, changes in environmental behaviors, the ways in which the debate on food allergen legislation has been framed, and the food safety risk perceptions and sense-making of food purchasing. Drawing on this work, we examine a range of media types and the ways in which these media sources frame “alternative” foods, particularly local beef. Of particular interest is the discourse surrounding local and organic beef before and after notable food scandals and scares (e.g., “pink slime,” Westland/Hallmark). Data specific to Alabama between 2007 and 2018 were gathered via Access World News using keywords such as organic, local, pasture raised, natural, and grass fed. These data included newsletters, newspapers and newswires, and web-only sources. No audio, blog, magazine, TV transcript, or videos were identified. Extraneous data (e.g., community calendars, recipes) were eliminated, resulting in 2,877 “hits.” Using Nvivo, data were coded for claims, and tone of said claims, about organic and local beef.
