Win free groceries for a year

Yeah, that title caught our attention, too; and it is catching the eye of consumers in states like Michigan and Ohio. That’s because in collaboration with The Center for Food Integrity, consumers from those states and in others who engage in conversation with a real farmer on the Farmers Feed Us website are entered to win free groceries for a year — courtesy of many of the state’s farm groups. It’s a great idea, we think, because it puts a local face to the food consumers are eating every day. Right now, the program is only in effect in some states. That’s because money needs to be raised to make the project happen. Right now, a project is in the works in Indiana, Missouri, and Iowa. There are also groups in Wisconsin that are working towards another program here.
Several local farmers allow consumers to get to know them and their farm. The farmers represent many areas of agriculture, including dairy, lamb, beef, egg, vegetables, pork, apples, corn, and soybeans. To sign up, you must visit the website and learn about one type of farmer. From there you can take a tour of the farm and read about the farm family. To increase your odds in winning, you can learn more about other farmers. To learn more about the site, visit it for yourself!

Getting back the consumer’s trust

We’ve lost some of the trust that consumers have in farmers. It’s a sad fact that has us scratching our heads. After all, most farms are family operated and have been in the same family for generations upon generations. Our deep, unwavering respect towards our animals and the land we grow food on probably hasn’t changed much either. Yet, we, as food producers, are being questioned more than ever, especially when the cold hard facts of a safe, nutritious, affordable food supply is right in front of them (and in their stomachs.) Charlie Arnot, CEO, Center for Food Integrity, discussed recent research about how consumers develop trust during Wisconsin’s Dairy Business Association Annual Business Conference held December 1 and 2 in Madison, Wis. Visit their website to learn more about what was covered at the 10th annual meeting.

The Center For Food Integrity is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to building consumer trust and confidence in the contemporary U.S. food system. They partnered with various ag-based producer groups to research how consumers build trust in farmers. The result: we might be fighting with the wrong sword. I am sure, at one time or another, each one of us has dealt with consumer questions by spouting off data, numbers, and scientific facts. Besides making the nonfarm public feel like they are in upper-level biology at Harvard, science isn’t what consumers trust first and foremost. “Communicating our ethics and shared values is four to five times more effective,” Arnot said. To put things in a different way, Arnot cited Theodore Roosevelt who said, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

The good news is that farmers do care, and we don’t have to lie about it. Its just a matter of sharing our shared values first, science second.

Is conventional milk getting a new stigma attached to it?

If a dairy farmer could stand by every dairy case in America, we would have some really educated consumers. They would know exactly what each label on the many gallons of milk meant. But since dairy farmers are usually too busy working around the clock, grocery shoppers read the label and make their own assumptions as to what happened to the milk before it got there. Unlike 10 years ago when milk was skim, 1 percent, 2 percent, or whole; today we still have those options in addition to organic, rBST-free, and likely more.

“It’s all just marketing!” you might say. But are these niche-marketing labels best for the greater dairy industry? In the July issue of the American Journal of Agricultural Economics, researchers from the University of Wisconsin and Cornell published an article titled “Does Production Labeling Stigmatize Conventional Milk?” Read it here. In short, the article says yes it does. The group set up an experiment to measure consumer’s willingness to pay for variously labeled milk. Citing the paper, results “indicate a substantial stigma effect” from both organically labeled and rBST-free labeled milk. The report says that the net economic result for producers can be negative since consumers may decrease their willingness to pay for the conventional product that dominates the market, while products with other labels have a relatively small market share. What do you think?

Bestfoodfacts.org: a bright new website, a bright idea

Just yesterday, we learned of a new website sponsored by the Center for Food Integrity. It’s called bestfoodfacts.org and with its bright colors, interactivity, and panel of experts working with the site, we think that consumers are going to enjoy this fresh approach to getting their questions about the U.S. food system answered. Anyone logging onto the site has the opportunity to ask a question of the expert panel comprised of researchers from leading universities. Once the question is answered, it will be posted to the site for everyone to see. The website uses a shifting scale called the “Food Integrity Index” which provides a quick overview of the question, the issue at hand, and its conclusions.
One of our favorite aspects of the site is that their sponsor, The Center for Food Integrity, supports consumer choice. This means you won’t find experts agreeing on every issue or telling you what types of food you should buy. They’ll simply tell you what they know, based on their research.

Working together to educate consumers

Last week, we headed up to the AFACT annual summit in Minneapolis. AFACT stands for American Farmers for the Advancement and Conservation of Technology. This nonprofit agricultural education organization is made up of agricultural producers along with industry supporters. They are working to educate the food chain, especially those in the grocery sector, about modern agricultural technologies that have come under attack in recent years. Topics like animal welfare, BST, antibiotics, and GMO crops were all topics of discussion. The second annual summit was host to speakers like dairy and poultry producers from California who discussed how Proposition 2 will affect their farms. The summit also welcomed Alex Avery, director of research and education at the Hudson Institute’s Center for Global Food Issues, who discussed the sustainability of modern agricultural practices. Beyond listening to speakers, attendees learned more about the organization and took part in small group discussions on what more can be done to educate consumers while working side by side will all of agriculture.

Monty Miller, a member of the AFACT leadership team, shared some of the group’s efforts in online education. He highlighted a Moodle page (an internet-based learning website) that was used to pilot an online course to educate consumers about food production technologies. Miller believes that education of consumers and improving their science literacy is essential today. “Five to ten years ago we had a choice. Its not a choice anymore, it’s what we have to do,” Miller said.