By sharing their values, producers can engage with consumers about farming practices
Staff Writer
Farms.com
Producers can help maintain a good dialogue with the public by engaging with consumers about shared values.
“Consumers have a lot of questions about how their food is grown and raised,” Dr. Leah Dorman, the director of food integrity and consumer engagement with Phibro Animal Health, said in a Farmscape
article on Tuesday. Farmers could answer these questions by sharing their on-farm practices with consumers, she explained.
“Our values are very closely aligned with consumer values, and much more so than most consumers believe,” she said. “It's important that we make a connection with consumers in an open, honest type of dialogue, (and that) we make that connection on a values level first.”
Farmers can explain agricultural practices, and talk to consumers about animal care and animal health, Dorman said.
“It could be, how does what we do on the farm affect them and (the) healthy, affordable, food that they feed their family? It's important that we really (understand) what they are concerned about and connect with them at that level, understanding what they're asking of us, and then giving them additional information (once) we've made that connection,” she said.
Then, “farmers can follow up with the science that supports what they do.”
She discussed “Reframing the Conversation” during the 2019 Manitoba Swine Seminar.
Farms.com has reached out to Dairy Farmers of Canada for comment.
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