This is great news for UK agribusiness and an initiative behind which, I hope you agree, people and companies in the industry ought to throw their weight. This is, of course, the launch of the UK Farmer and Grower Alliance (UKFGA) – an unprecedented coalition of about 50 (yes, fifty!) farming bodies.
As you may know, its overall objective is to enhance consumer trust of farming’s role in food production. The alliance wants consumers to know that farmers share their values. But rather than just preaching what it wants the public to know about farming’s woes, UKFGA claims to be committed to answering people’s questions about how food is produced.
In doing so, it will take the opportunity, of course, to emphasize farmers’ dedication to continuous improvement in how food is produced, at the same time as being good stewards of the environment, responsible carers of animals, and an integral part of maintaining strong rural communities.
For the farming industry’s self-interest, a goal is clearly to improve public perceptions and address or counter criticisms and anti-farming sentiment. As a result, a major gain could be to maintain or even enhance the farmers’ freedom to operate. For business efficiency’s sake, the alliance is also looking to exert strong leadership in strengthening collaboration along the food production, processing and distribution chain.
There are four main strands in UKFGA’s strategy: 1) To increase the number of policymakers and government officials at all levels who value modern agriculture production; 2) to engage key customer decision makers in dialogue about the value of modern food production; 3) to work with leading national influencer organizations – in a diverse range of areas including medical, cultural, dietary and environmental, for example – to create partnerships in support of today’s agriculture; and 4) to increase the role of farmers as the voice of animal and crop production on local, regional and national food issues.
The new coalition’s annual budget is in the range £20-30 million, contributed largely by the combination of farmers’ representative bodies, industry sector organisations, and commercial sponsors. UKFGA says it will give farmers a voice in traditional and social media conversations about agriculture – where it doesn’t exist now – as well as with key influencers who are shaping the good food/bad food debates in popular culture. On farmers’ behalves, it will ask consumers about their greatest concerns with today’s food production practices and promote the agriculture community’s dedication to continuously improving how food is produced in order to provide healthy choices for people everywhere.
“A knowledge and credibility gap has formed between the people and their food,” said a spokesman. “So farmer-led organisations have joined forces because it is vital for those closest to the farm to work together and lead the conversation about producing food. Our industry is continuously changing – improving how we care for the land, our animals and our communities. Farmers want and need to do a better job of answering people’s questions about their food.”
Clearly, this will be the first time such a major combination of industry groups has collaborated on a significant effort to listen to consumers and hold two-way conversations. As we’ve seen recently with Nocton, the Women’s Institute mega-farms debate and most recently Midlands Pig Producers, there are many bodies that speak out about farming, not always accurately. How refreshing it is to have the prospect of farmers making their voices heard more prominently, and hopefully more persuasively too.
Deception scandal admitted on agri-blog
With apologies for the deception, the story above is only partly true and contains a few intentional typos. As you probably realised, UKFGA is a figment of your correspondent’s deluded imagination, though the passage above is intended as a respectful and accurate depiction of the just-launched United States Farmer and Rancher Alliance’s initiative to build greater trust of farming and food among the public (ww.usfraonline.org). Surely you didn’t really believe that such an enlightened and far-sighted alliance could be initiated here in the UK?
The spokesman quoted above is actually Bob Stallman, USFRA chairman and also president of the American Farm Bureau Federation.[1] He says he knew farmers had an image problem when his daughter, who had grown up on the family ranch, called him to ask if drinking milk would be bad for her kids. It turned out that her church had just finished watching the movie, ‘Food, Inc’.[2] This is a 2009 US documentary about corporate farming in the United States. It claimed that agribusiness produced unhealthy food using methods that were environmentally harmful and abusive of both animals and employees…hence, the daughter’s phone call.
You don’t have to spend very long on the USFRA’s website to see that US and UK farming have a very similar knowledge gap and image problem. So if our farming-orgs wanted a short cut to action, they should simply make friends with the USFRA, establish mutually beneficial exchanges of expertise and information, and unashamedly copy in full the USA’s lead. By the way, I’d like to be first in the queue for the job of UKFGA chairman.
This autumn, USFRA begins reaching out to key influencer audiences through targeted advertising, a new internet presence, top-tier media briefings and a major event addressing the public’s biggest concerns about food production. “We had a great concern that consumer trust has been eroded by the critics,” says Bob Stallman. ”It’s the first time I can recall we have ever agreed among agriculture to enhance the ability for farmers and ranchers to operate freely and increase collaboration, and put aside the issues we can’t agree on.”
Consumer attitudes are the main focus of USFRA attention. The body itself was formed in November 2010, with 49 farmer- and rancher-led affiliates including state and national groups, commodity groups, and farm organisations. Counting them up now on the website, this has risen to 51.[3] Funding is 75% from producer groups and 25% by the agribusiness sector, including input suppliers all across the food chain, according to the USFRA.
“We initially wanted to fund this at $25 to $30 million a year but even that’s not enough to run a national consumer campaign,” explains Bob Stallman, “so we’re also going to try to reach out to people who influence the attitudes of consumers.
“We’re not going to hide anything,” he adds. “We need to answer the questions consumers want answered. Farmers and ranchers have been good about telling consumers what we think they need to hear, but we have to change our attitude and stop preaching a bit.
“We’re willing to engage with those who criticize us, other than groups who deny our right to exist…those people, we can’t have a conversation with,” says Stallman. “We want to talk to local, organic, free range, anyone, but we’re going to dispute those who don’t use facts. If you want a dialogue about gestation crates, that’s fine, but if you make up something that’s not factual we’re going to dispute that.”
As an example, a typically negative headline in the US Financial Times – ‘Agribusiness battles claims of abuse and unhealthy food’ – was countered immediately by a polite and assertive open letter to all the publication’s editorial staff about USFRA’s aims[4]: “The initiative is a shift in how farmers and ranchers communicate with consumers. Farmers and ranchers are committed to continuous improvement and a better future, which is why we are listening to the biggest questions. This effort is not intended to defend the status quo but foster continuous improvement. All the voices have to work together to find solutions to our most pressing food challenges.”
USFRA also plans to show up on social as well as traditional printed media. It reports that in May 2011, there were 277,000 conversations about food and agriculture. However, the website adds that the agriculture industry’s presence was minimal. “As producers we want to be part of that online conversation,” says chairman Stallman, “which means producers need to step forward and tell their stories. For those willing to face a television camera or speak to reporters, USFRA offers media training. You don’t have to be smooth talkers, just be honest and speak from the heart.”
The key, according to USFRA, is to tell consumers how production practices benefit them. Farmers are ultimately accountable to their customers – that is, consumers in both USA and abroad – and need to show they are listening and improving, suggests Forrest Roberts, chief executive of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and chairman of the USFRA Communications Advisory Committee, which led development of the movement’s strategy.
“We want a variety of people – including a diversity of small-, medium- and large-scale farmers and ranchers – to join our conversation,” he says. “This includes some people we may not always agree with. But we want everyone who is striving to create a better future for, and accessibility to, food at the table.”
UK agribusiness call to action
If you share a concern about the knowledge gap between UK farming and the public (including pressure groups, politicians, civil servants, etc), perhaps you might spend a few minutes checking out the USFRA website then writing letters/e-mails to anyone and everyone you know in the industry – in particular, of course, farming unions, levy bodies and other influential industry orgs – and to your MP and MEP, encouraging them to embark on a similar initiative. Imitation being a sincere form of flattery, I hope our US cousins will be suitably emboldened by our support and hopefully emulation.
In addition to their website, USFRA’s web-presence includes facebook.com/pages/US-Farmers-Ranchers-Alliance/103189669746931 and twitter.com/USFRA.
This text is a lightly edited version of an original article commissioned by Feed Compounder magazine, to be published in the September issue.
References
[1] Mike Wilson*, 29 July, 2011. Finally: Farmers Reaching Out to Worried Consumers. http://farmfutures.com/blogs.aspx/finallyfarmersreachingouttoworriedconsumers-2500. *Executive editor, Farm Futures.
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food,_Inc.
[3] http://usfraonline.org/about/affiliates/
[4] http://usfraonline.org/2011/08/usfra-responds-to-financial-times-coverage/
