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While increasing agricultural literacy (AL) has been the focus of numerous educational programs, few AL scales have been developed specifically for children. AL programming struggles to rigorously evaluate their programs, particularly when little time is available for assessments in informal contexts. The lack of evaluation tools that allow to accurately measure educational impacts compromises progress on AL. In this paper, we present the development and validation of the Agricultural Literacy Instrument for Local Foods (ALI-LF) for children between the ages of 9 and 13. The instrument measures three domains of agricultural literacy (knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors). We pilot tested the instrument with children between 9 and 13 years old at a local arboretum and further validated the instrument at six agritourism farms. To analyze the data, we used principal component factor, Cronbach's alpha, and descriptive statistics. The results support a comprehensive reliable instrument validated for informal contexts, such as farms offering recreational or educational activities to visitors (i.e., agritourism). This instrument fills the existing gap of adequate tools to evaluate AL programming which can support moving forward AL advances among children.

While much of modern tourism research centers on the tourist as a leisure consumer, workers are frequently overlooked. Despite a recent uptick in attention to tourism work, the primary focus remains on employee's skills and qualifications. In contrast, the key contextual factors of race, ethnicity, and gender that surround tourism work are seldom examined. This comparative study addresses the theme of traditional gender roles, particularly in patriarchal societies, and how they affect tourism work. Specifically, it investigates how the presence of tourism influences cultural norms determining appropriate jobs for men and women. Utilizing an ethnographic field research approach, data were collected from participants in two indigenous Maya communities in Guatemala, each with differing models and lengths of tourism development. Free-listing exercises were used to elicit residents' perceptions of employment as it relates to gender in their community and cultural consensus analysis was used to analyze the data. Results show that neither community shares consensus on jobs for women and only one community shares consensus on men's jobs. Results suggest that tourism disrupts cultural norms related to gender roles; yet this may not always benefit women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The purpose of this study is to better understand how cooperative forms of microentrepreneurship influence women's self-determination. Utilizing the framework of self-determination theory, this study employed a multiple case study approach that involved in-depth interviews, content analysis, field notes, and direct observations. Findings indicate that livelihood opportunities afforded under cooperative tourism microentrepreneurship offer women increased levels of self-determination, but that economic improvements alone are not sufficient in enhancing overall well-being. This study provides a detailed account of the strategies indigenous women employ to enhance their self-determination under cooperative tourism microentrepreneurship models. The results of this study suggest that programs by governments and NGOs should consider non-individual benefits when they engage with communities in tourism planning initiatives. Additionally, interventions aimed at women must also engage men or women may suffer from tensions at home. Finally, this study indicates that simply offering access to credit does not foster self-reliant development. The structures of cooperative models determine outcomes. Therefore, whenever possible, microentrepreneurship models should be designed to enhance strong cooperative social structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diversifying on-farm enterprise portfolios, especially through agritourism, is claimed to increase farm revenues and help alleviate the economic problems of family farms. Thus, the adoption of agritourism in the US has steadily increased during recent years. Agritourism is also suggested to produce environmental and sociocultural benefits. To quantify these benefits, this study assessed the sustainability of agritourism farms, compared with other farm entrepreneurial ventures, using the “sustainable development” and “farm enterprise diversification” frameworks. Data from 873 US farms with a diversified entrepreneurial portfolio revealed that agritourism farms approach sustainability to a greater extent than their counterparts, producing multiple environmental, sociocultural and economic benefits for their farms, households and even society. Results suggest that agritourism, compared with other farm entrepreneurial ventures, is more successful in increasing farm profits, creating jobs and conserving the natural and cultural heritage. For example, 52.4% of agritourism farms have been within the same family for at least two generations and 73.3% are willing to pass the farm on to their children, proportions that are significantly higher than other entrepreneurial farms. Study results also show, however, that while many agritourism farms practice integrated pest management, they need to be more engaged in other environmentally friendly and conservation practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This study explores recreational storm chasing, a new form of niche tourism. In particular, this study examines sensation-seeking traits associated with participants' socio-demographics, storm-chasing involvement and tour satisfaction levels. Results show that recreational storm chasers scored highest on Experience Seeking and lowest on Boredom Susceptibility sensation-seeking dimensions. Correlation tests showed that several socio-demographic, storm-chasing involvement and tour satisfaction indicators are associated with Thrill and Adventure Seeking, Boredom Susceptibility, and Experience Seeking dimensions. Marketing and management implications of study results also are discussed. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]