{"id":3006,"date":"2026-02-06T10:25:35","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T15:25:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/lammlab\/?p=3006"},"modified":"2026-02-07T10:32:44","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T15:32:44","slug":"strengthening-communication-to-address-spotted-lanternfly-research-presented-at-nacs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/lammlab\/2026\/02\/strengthening-communication-to-address-spotted-lanternfly-research-presented-at-nacs\/","title":{"rendered":"Strengthening Communication to Address Spotted Lanternfly: Research Presented at NACS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dennis Baffour-Awuah<\/a>\u00a0presented a research poster at the National Agricultural Communications Symposium\u00a0from the\u00a0Addressing Spotted Lanternfly and Tree of Heaven<\/a>\u00a0project titled Strengthening Communication Between Wine Producers and Scientists to Address Spotted Lanternfly<\/em>. The study examined how communication between scientists and wine producers can reduce uncertainty surrounding Spotted Lanternfly (SLF) management decisions. The Lamm Lab currently leads the science communication and sociology research for the interdisciplinary project led by Dr. Tracy Leskey <\/a>and funded by USDA-ARS Areawide Pest Management Program Award #8080-21000-378 001-00D.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based on Uncertainty Reduction Theory\u00a0and the\u00a0Two-Step Flow of Communication\u00a0model, the research included key informant interviews and focus groups with wine producers in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. The findings revealed wine grape producers face significant uncertainty due to conflicting information but actively seek guidance that reduces risk and increases confidence, particularly through visual learning\u00a0from trusted intermediaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The results emphasized the vital role of\u00a0trusted intermediaries, especially scientists and extension professionals, and the importance of visual communication strategies, such as images, videos, and demonstrations, in supporting informed SLF management decisions. The study also suggests the need for future research on how visually driven communication by trusted sources can further reduce uncertainty and enhance decision-making among producers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The research poster was identified as one of eight distinguished posters which were judged as part of the poster session. It was awarded second runner-up Outstanding Research Poster with an outstanding interdisciplinary author team of social scientists, entomologist, viticulturists, and agricultural economists including Dennis Baffour-Awuah<\/a>, Dr. Alexa Lamm<\/a>, Dr. Drew Harner<\/a>, Dr. Allison Byrd<\/a>, Dr. Gigi DiGiacomo<\/a>, Dr. Tracy Leskey<\/a>, Dr. Julie Urban<\/a>, and Dr. Anne Neilsen<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Dennis<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dennis Baffour-Awuah\u00a0presented a research poster at the National Agricultural Communications Symposium\u00a0from the\u00a0Addressing Spotted Lanternfly and Tree of Heaven\u00a0project titled Strengthening Communication Between Wine Producers and Scientists to Address Spotted Lanternfly. The study examined how communication between scientists and wine producers can reduce uncertainty surrounding Spotted Lanternfly (SLF) management decisions. The Lamm Lab currently leads the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1005,"featured_media":3047,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,23,29,58,57,59,60],"tags":[10,62,36],"class_list":["post-3006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agproduction","category-environment","category-extension","category-integrated-pest-management","category-invasive-species","category-plant-production","category-scicomm","tag-lamm","tag-baffour-awuah","tag-lamm-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/lammlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/lammlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/lammlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/lammlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1005"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/lammlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3006"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/lammlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3006\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3122,"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/lammlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3006\/revisions\/3122"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/lammlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/lammlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/lammlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/lammlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}