自1918年以来，农业新闻业一直是德克萨斯农工大学的一项学术课程。由于不到2％的美国人直接参与生产型农业，因此公众对农业的支持变得更加重要。当农业学家依靠公众做出有关农业相关主题（例如食品安全，基因工程和可持续农业）的个人知情决定时，我们必须乐于回报。扫盲努力必须是对等的，因为农业行业的成员还必须增进我们对各种利益相关者群体需求和/或行为的理解。农业素养不是一个新概念，但是，农业主义者成为公共素养的概念是一个新概念。加强我们对信息发展，传递方法的偏好和有效性以及在消费相关信息和信息后受众知识，态度，观念和
Agricultural journalism has been an academic program at Texas A&M University since 1918.As less than two percent of Americans are directly involved in production agriculture, public support of the industry becomes more important. When agriculturalists depend on the public to make personally informed decisions about agricultural related topics, such as food safety, genetic engineering, and sustainable agriculture, we must be willing to reciprocate. Literacy efforts must be reciprocal in that members of the agriculture industry must also increase our understanding of various stakeholder group needs and/or behaviors. Agricultural-literacy is not a new concept, however, the concept of agriculturalists becoming public-literate is new. Increasing our understanding of message development, delivery method preferences and effectiveness, and the extent of change in audience knowledge, attitudes, perceptions and behaviors after consuming related information and messages is critical.<br>Agricultural communications research draws on quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods methods to understand the intricacies of an increasingly complex consumer decision-making process. Our research includes the development of new methods to measure consumer attitudes, brand and product performance, information available to consumers, and a holistic approach to evaluating the effectiveness of messages throughout the process. Generally, agricultural communications research at Texas A&M University addresses a broad set of research objectives, including 1) Improving our understanding of consumer perceptions, behavior, and decisions related to agriculture, food, and natural resources, 2) Identifying factors that interest and motivate consumers, and 3) Improving agriculturalists' ability to effectively target and engage complex audiences.