If farmers want to shed the stereotypes foisted on them and talk openly to consumers about the realities of agriculture …. then they need to do more than commission the help of marketing agencies.
The agricultural community has urged the public to be critical of misleading food labels, such as “does not contain GMOs,” “organic,” and “all-natural,” arguing that consumers shouldn’t be convinced by coy marketing. There’s more to the story. Organic doesn’t mean pesticide-free. GMOs are not unhealthy. And all-natural is an unregulated designation that allows the consumer to believe what he or she wants to believe about the quality of that product.
If the ag sector’s desire to build trust is genuine, then it needs to demonstrate a genuine interest in its potential friends through, among other things, attributing more depth to them and not assuming they don’t know anything about what we’re doing on our farms. All this, while finding appropriate venues in which to acknowledge that farmers are not doing everything right.
Read full, original article: Farmers need more than catchy slogans to repair the public trust in agriculture
