369 Use of infographics to influence consumer perceptions of sustainability within the U.S. beef industry.

Abstract Sustainability in the livestock industry has been a significant focus in many production systems and subsequently the public. The meat industry faces increasing scrutiny over its environmental impact, animal welfare practices, and role in sustainable food systems, often fueled by misinformation and lack of consumer understanding. While the beef industry actively works to mitigate its environmental impact and highlight the efforts of researchers and producers to reach sustainable goals, these efforts may go unnoticed in the media landscape. Multiple industry, university, and non-profit resources on sustainability initiatives are widely available, but many are tailored more toward internal users and industry partners. Research into consumer perceptions and opinions of food systems is important so the industry and producers have more information to make production and marketing decisions. The purpose of this survey research was to better understand opinions among citizens on beef production and sustainability and the effectiveness of using infographics to educate and change negative or misinformed opinions about the beef industry. Infographics present information in ways that decrease the cognitive load on viewers, which is necessary for information to “stick.” These communication devices are effective in visually informing audiences and simplifying the messages, thus making the information more accessible to wider audiences; however, there is a paucity of literature on infographic use in the agricultural industries and agricultural education. A Qualtrics survey was conducted to gather participants’ self-reported subjective and objective knowledge about resource usage, their prioritization of sustainability issues to address (e.g., animal welfare, greenhouse gas emissions, land and water resources, affordability), and their shopping habits. Participants then rated their agreement with statements about sustainability, grass-fed and conventional cattle, and hormone use. Following this, participants were shown three targeted infographics and re-assessed on the same questions to determine any changes in opinions or knowledge. Results showed a significant increase in self-reported knowledge (p <.001) and positive increases in opinions and agreement on statements about sustainability in the beef industry (p <.001), however there were areas of remaining negative perceptions. Participants expressed lingering doubt about the hormone information and the over- or underinflation of the statistics represented. Despite this, over 92% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the survey and infographics increased their understanding of sustainability in the beef industry, and over 72% of them felt more comfortable engaging in conversations about this topic. Further research into this area could include more targeted or specific infographics focusing on fewer topics to decrease information load and integration of interactive elements within the infographics themselves to increase interaction with the information. This study adds valuable data to the area of infographic usage in agricultural communications and animal sciences.