Vol 59 (3), Sept 2015

Abstract

 

Most of the world’s poor work in agriculture. In addition, food expenditures comprise a substantial portion of the budget of those living in extreme poverty. As the future leaders in the agricultural industry, it is critical for students to appreciate the challenges of hunger and poverty internationally. We describe the use of an in-class experiment where students were randomly selected to receive different survey instruments with different background information that elicit their willingness to give to reduce international hunger and poverty. The first survey provided a picture of a young girl and her story about struggling with hunger and poverty. The second survey provided statistics on hunger and poverty, and the third survey provided no background information. Results were reported to the class indicating that students presented with an identifiable victim were more willing to give, providing the students an opportunity to reflect on their own response and how they may have responded in the alternative scenario. We found that 85% of the students agreed that the experiment helped them better understand what motivates people to participate in reducing international hunger and poverty.