Strategic Plan

Introduction

Florida’s agricultural and natural resources industries are currently facing some of their greatest challenges in bridging a green divide between those with differing perspectives on how to sustain a viable agriculture industry while protecting our natural resources and the environment.

Agriculture, natural resources and related industries account to approximately 1.6 million jobs and $76.5 billion in value-added impacts annually. The number of commercial agriculture-related operations in the state has increased substantially in the last 10 years, leading to increasing interactions between urban and rural citizens surrounding contentious public issues such as water allocation, pesticide and fertilizer application practices, and regulation, to name a few.

Public perceptions of agricultural practices are often inconsistent with the reality of those practices. Public misconceptions of agriculture and related industries, along with mishandling of important policy issues, may have important consequences for the sustainability of Florida’s economic growth and agriculture and natural resources sectors.

STRATEGIC GOAL NO. 1: PUBLIC OPINION RESEARCH


Conduct relevant, high-impact research and actively disseminate to stakeholders, police makers and opinion leaders.

Specifically, the research that the PIE Center will focus on includes:

Public perceptions of agriculture and natural resources sectors and issues

  • Conduct quarterly consumer panel issues identification research to ascertain the prevailing issues that are high on the state’s public agenda in both urban and rural areas.
  • Conduct biannual framing analysis to determine how key agriculture and natural resources issues are being framed in the media.

Organizational and opinion leader agenda building

  • Conduct quarterly Agriculture and Natural Resources Opinion Leadership Tracking Poll with Wedgworth Leadership Institute alumni, and potentially FNRLI members, to determine the appropriate agriculture and natural resources message response to issues on the public, media and policy agenda.
  • Create agriculture and natural resources policy briefs based on opinion leader input and survey results.

Organizational leadership and communication capacity building

  • Partner with a few organizations each year to examine agriculture and natural resources sector-specific issues and provide organizational recommendations based on research.
  • Conduct annual research on social media and new media outlets such as websites and blogs to determine how they can best be utilized in developing grassroots initiatives.

STRATEGIC GOAL NO. 2: EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH


Develop innovative educational programming based on PIE Center research focus areas.

Specifically, the educational outreach that the PIE Center will focus on includes:

Online and social media educational efforts

  • Actively distribute research findings, press releases and up-to-date information about agriculture and natural resources issues through website, mailing list and social media.
  • Work toward hosting a monthly industry-wide educational webinar.

Strategic communication training sessions

  • Based on the three research focus areas, the PIE Center will provide industry-wide training regarding research findings pertaining to public perceptions, opinion leader agenda building and organizational capacity building. Additionally, this training should provide recommendations to practitioners to enhance their strategic communication efforts, which will focus on improving the image and perception of the agriculture and natural resources sector among public, media and policy makers.
  • Synthesize focus area research findings and develop an in-service workshop for county extension faculty to be delivered on an annual basis.

Issues forecasting sessions

  • Providing training and guidance to organizations and industries in an effort to forecast upcoming issues that could affect the sustainability/viability of the agriculture and natural resources sector. Specifically, the PIE Center should be used as a resource for issues identification, determining potential outcomes or consequences of the issues and if necessary, aiding organizations in identifying and creating positive alternative outcomes for the forecasted issues.