SEDRD Research on Agri-Food, Climate Change and Rural Misinformation is Making Headlines

SEDRD research on misinformation and disinformation in agri-food systems was recently featured in an article in Farmtario.  The article highlights findings from a University of Guelph study showing that many farmers, advisors, and value-chain professionals are stepping back from social media due to rising misinformation, toxic online interactions, lack of meaningful engagement, and declining trust in digital platforms. Dr. Chowdhury launched a research web platform, Misinformation Research, to encourage early-career researchers, students, practitioners, and partners to collaborate on this contagious yet critical topic. Several students and researchers, including Nasir Khan, Uduak Edet, Sultana Yeasmin, Edward Asafo-Agyei, Kasuni Sachithra, Hadis Azizi, and Khondokar Kabir, have joined this initiative and advanced research on misinformation, disinformation, digital trust, and agri-food advisory systems in Canada, the Caribbean, Asia, and Africa. The research points to an emerging challenge for agricultural extension and advisory systems, especially as social media platforms, algorithms, and AI-mediated tools increasingly shape how agricultural knowledge is shared, interpreted, and acted upon. This work highlights the need for administrators, policymakers, funders, communication professionals, and media teams at universities and agricultural organizations to engage with this complex yet critical issue.

The Misinformation Research team published a number of articles, and some others, including Canadian studies, which are forthcoming:

• Exclusion and Exposure: How Social Inequality and Marginalization Shape Climate Vulnerability and Adaptation in Rural Communities, Wiley.
• How does misinformation influence the digital agri-food advisory service? Multi-stakeholder Perspectives from Sri Lanka, ScienceDirect.
• Evils of knowledge sharing and learning: The case of agri-food misinformation in virtual communities of practices in Sri Lanka, ScienceDirect.
• Systematic Review of Misinformation in Social and Online Media for the Development of an Analytical Framework for Agri-Food Sector, MDPI.
• Participatory and community-based approach in combating agri-food misinformation: A Scoping Review, Advancements in Agricultural Development.
• Separating fact from fiction in agricultural misinformation, Futurum.