University of Guelph hosted OJS journals
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Evaluating the Effectiveness of Large Language Models for Livestock and Climate-Related Agricultural Advice in Ontario
No full textRecent advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and large language models (LLMs) offer new opportunities for improving agricultural extension, particularly in communicating livestock and climate-related knowledge. While general-purpose models like ChatGPT have demonstrated potential, their performance in specialized domains such as animal welfare has yet to be fully assessed. Prior studies suggest that domain-specific models outperform general ones on precision and contextual accuracy, yet comparative evaluations with expert-curated content are limited. This study examines the performance of ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini in answering livestock-related questions relevant to climate change. It evaluates the degree of alignment between AI-generated and expert-developed answers, focusing on five metrics: similarity, faithfulness, context precision, context recall, and answer relevancy. Ten expert-reviewed questions were developed, and corresponding human-curated answers were constructed from recent literature. Responses from the three AI models were collected using standardized prompts. Answers were evaluated using a multi-criteria framework supported by qualitative coding and statistical summaries. Prompt engineering was applied to improve answer quality and comparability across models. AI models—especially ChatGPT and Claude—showed high alignment with expert answers. Their outputs demonstrated strong similarity, faithfulness, and context relevance. While some variation in depth and specificity remained, the overall quality of AI responses was high across most metrics. LLMs show promise for supporting agricultural extension and public knowledge transfer. Ensuring reliability requires continued use of expert oversight, domain-specific data, and refined prompting strategies
The Institutionalization of Farmer Field Schools in Latin America
No full textAgricultural systems in Latin America face complex challenges (climate change, socio-political instability, and environmental degradation). These undermine food security and smallholder and Indigenous farming systems resilience. Although local knowledge contributes to adaptation, it is constrained by institutional fragmentation. Approaches such as the Farmer Field School (FFS), based on experiential and collaborative learning, offer promise. However, embedding FFS within national institutional frameworks remains a major challenge. This study explores the institutionalization of FFS in Peru, Colombia, Bolivia, Honduras, and Costa Rica. It examines methodological practices, constraints, and enabling conditions shaping extension and institutional strengthening. A qualitative approach included interviews, field visits, and focus groups with actors from governmental, academic, NGO, and private sectors. Data collection was informed by a literature review and purposive snowball sampling. Findings reveal that institutionalization levels differ across countries, shaped by policy contexts, institutional structures, and actor networks. Success cases showed strong inter-institutional collaboration, curricular integration, and long-term support. Barriers include weak coordination, fragmented policies, and limited institutional capacity. Universities were central in Costa Rica, Colombia, and Honduras, while NGOs and state agencies led in Peru and Bolivia. National alignment and inclusive partnerships were essential to institutionalization efforts. Effective institutionalization requires coherent policies, investment in institutional capacities, and sustained multi-sector collaboration. Embedding FFS into formal education and aligning with rural development agendas enhances their sustainability and transformative potential
Building Knowledge and Innovation Systems in Ukraine: Critical Reflections from Practice
No full textUkraine is an important agricultural producer. However, the context for Ukraine is changing. Knowledge, innovation, and information are extremely important for Ukrainian agriculture. However, there are challenges in access to information and advisory services, as Ukraine does not have a national extension service. This makes information provision particularly challenging for small and medium-scale farms, who do not have the capacity to generate knowledge themselves. This is hugely important when we consider that these farms make up 98% of the Ukrainian agricultural sector. In light of environmental change and the need for sustainable farming practices, regenerative agriculture has gained prominence in addressing these challenges. But this requires knowledge, information, and innovation support. This paper will reflect on the process of supporting knowledge and information systems in Ukraine in the areas of extension methods and regenerative agriculture. It will be based on an ongoing project delivering training to agricultural advisors in Ukraine, Slovakia, and Poland in regenerative agriculture and extension methods. Coming from an innovation systems perspective, it will outline the process of designing and working on these issues within Ukraine. Data from the baseline analysis and training materials will be used. Lessons will be presented that provide critical reflection on how we support knowledge and innovation system building in regenerative agriculture
Toxicity and Misinformation: Drivers of Social Media Discontinuation and Implications for Facilitating Agricultural Innovation in Ontario
No full textSocial media platforms are increasingly pivotal for facilitating agricultural innovations, yet their effectiveness in Ontario’s agri-food sector is compromised by misinformation, toxicity, and user discontinuation. This study examines how agri-food actors (producers, advisors, policymakers, researchers, and industry representatives) engage with social media for advisory services, the drivers of platform abandonment, and preferred alternatives for receiving emerging technology information. Deploying an online survey via Qualtrics (*n* ≈ 40–60 purposively sampled stakeholders), the research assesses: (1) frequency and purposes (e.g., networking, outreach, crowdsourcing) of social media use across platforms (Facebook, X, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc.); (2) reasons for reducing or quitting platforms (e.g., misinformation prevalence, anti-social behavior, privacy concerns); and (3) shifts in communication channels post-discontinuation. Thematic analysis of open-ended responses contextualizes quantitative trends, particularly regarding misinformation encounters (e.g., false agri-tech claims) and experiences with harassment (e.g., identity-based attacks). Crucially, the study identifies how these factors impede technology diffusion and stakeholder trust. Preliminary insights suggest heterogeneity in platform preferences across demographics (age, professional role) and commodity sectors (livestock, crops), with implications for designing resilient, inclusive advisory systems. By mapping discontinuation drivers and channel migration patterns, this work will inform evidence-based strategies—including hybrid digital-in-person approaches and platform-specific content moderation protocols—to optimize agricultural innovation outreach in Ontario. Findings aim to strengthen policy frameworks and extension programs, ensuring timely, credible knowledge transfer amid evolving digital risks
Teachers’ pedagogical skills and student readiness and achievement in data processing in senior secondary schools in Ibadan, Nigeria
No full textThis study investigated the teachers’ pedagogical skills, students’ readiness, and achievement in data processing in senior secondary schools in the Ibadan metropolis, Oyo State. The correlational design was adopted in this study to establish the relationship among the variables of concern. We used a multi-stage sampling procedure to select samples. Data was gathered using the pedagogical skills rating scale, the student\u27s readiness questionnaire and the data processing achievement test. Data collected from the respondents were analysed using frequency, percentage, graph, Pearson product-moment correlation, and multiple regression analysis. The study revealed the pattern of teachers’ pedagogical skills with regard to communication skills, evaluation skills, adaptability skills, inclusivity skills, and compassion skills, with compassionate skills having the greatest percentage of value. The results further show the composite contributions of teachers’ pedagogical skills and students’ readiness, having a significant contribution to achievement in data processing. Also, there was no significant relative contribution of teacher pedagogical skills, while there was a significant contribution of student readiness to achievement in data processing. It was recommended that the government should not relent in providing appropriate training and seminars to improve teacher pedagogical skills, while students should work hard to attain positive achievement in data processing
The Dialectical Relationship Between Medicine and Law in Confessions of the Fox
No full textTo enact positive social change, one must first have a deep understanding of the oppression that leads to social injustices. As such, I believe the study of dialectical relationships to be crucial to properly understanding oppression and thus enacting social change. Dialectic analysis studies relationships in which each component impacts the other continuously. In these relationships, it is impossible to understand one component without understanding the other. My paper on Jordy Rosenberg’s Confessions of the Fox was born out of my frustration with the tendency of society to think of social institutions as being disconnected from one another versus taking a dialectical approach. Rosenberg’s novel clearly outlines how social institutions – such as the legal and medical system – cannot be understood in isolated terms because they have such a profound impact on each other. I wanted to explore the dialectical relationship that Rosenberg outlined between the legal and medical systems in order to understand how such a relationship can lead to the oppression of gender and racial minorities. Rosenberg’s novel may be set in the 18th century, yet I challenge readers to take a step past my analysis and look for dialectical relationships between the social institutions of today
The Life and Reality of Comfort Women
No full textBefore reading this paper, it should be noted that it covers intense topics such as violence, sexual assault, and death, which may be triggering for some readers. This paper discusses the life and experiences of Comfort Women during Second World War, depicting the gruesome suffering and injustice that these women faced in their lifetime. In many ways, the existence of Comfort Stations and Comfort Women has been ignored, denied, and written out of Japanese history books by the Japanese government. As a result, Comfort Women have been denied the justice that they deserve after being subjected to unimaginable levels of violence, sexual and physical servitude, and forced into silence by their suppressors. Their suffering did not end with the war; it persisted in their treatment by the government and society long after. Comfort women did not receive any compensation for the harm committed against them, nor have they been given proper acknowledgement for their suffering. These women were displaced from their homes and transferred to countries that did not speak their language.
As such, this paper relates to this year\u27s Footnotes themes of gender and social change by highlighting the experiences of Comfort Women and the ingrained misogyny presented by the Japanese army during the Second World War. The subjugation of Comfort Women was mainly against Chinese, Korean, and Japanese women; however, this is an issue that should be understood worldwide. Violence committed against women is not uncommon in times of war, yet rarely is it as large scale as was seen with Comfort Women. This injustice needs to stop. Comfort Women have attempted to shed light on the wrongs done to them, yet the Japanese government refuses to acknowledge them. This misogyny has allowed for the mistreatment of women to persist. Comfort Women were treated as nothing more than disposable objects, and the men in power endorsed it. The suppression of these women\u27s voices is only allowed because of the misogynistic views of those in power while the Japanese government attempts to “save face” in the global sphere
Geese
No full textThis piece is about feeling profoundly lost and without place, yet finding myself, every so often, at home, in the strangest of spaces. I share the understandings that have taken me my life, so far, to come to. This piece is by no means an answer or a conclusion to these feelings of being lost and without place, but it is as accurate a depiction as I can articulate, of where I am now. While I still don’t know where I need to go to get home, or where I can find a place, my place, I am getting closer. Sometimes I find myself there without realising it. This piece is my memoir of all I know it to be so far
Understanding Canadian Rural Research Centres
No full textThe vitality and sustainability of rural communities in Canada requires supports, policies, practices and people, dedicated and creative people. Rural research centres seek to aid in supporting rural vitality by offering needed information through researching on the benefits of investments, innovation, and durability of rural life, as well as sustaining important partnerships with diverse networks of stakeholders in rural regions. This panel will share recent survey results from the RPLC network that is inviting collaboration among Canadian rural research centres, the Rural Research Centres Network (R2CN). Among other findings, the R2CN is inviting more engaged research through community partner collaborations and working creatively to better leverage the resources and insights of rural research centres (RRC). The report writing and data collection and policy advocacy work that emerges from RRC has had great impact in Canada and elsewhere. Might we be in a time for reinvigoration and repositioning of these centres for a more central role in the discourse on the vibrancy of rural life? Come share your ideas on the importance of facts driving policy along with the power of story telling and community building for rural life in Canada