OTTAWA — Canadians’ understandings about their food and the integrity of food sources should be of significant concern to farmers, said the head of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture.
Ron Bonnett said the whole food industry should be concerned with the findings of a recent study that suggested Canadian perceptions of agriculture are faltering. He said more action is necessary to ensure the decline doesn’t become a trend
Bonnett is also the co-chair of the Canadian agricultural Public Trust Steering Committee, which was formed in 2016 after 13 Value Chain Roundtable groups and senior government officials decided public trust and social licence to operate in agriculture needed to be better addressed.
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The Canadian Centre for Food Integrity found in a large-scale study of adult Canadians that 36 percent of consumers felt the food system was headed in the right direction compared to 23 percent who felt the system was on the wrong track. The 36 percent positive impression had fallen seven points from the year before.
“Not where we wanted to see it going,” said Bonnett.
As well, the positive perception of agriculture slipped on its own by six percent.
Shawn Colborn, an egg producer from Saskatchewan, said he has welcomed the efforts of the CCFI, Agriculture in the Classroom and CFA, “and it is likely improving things, but obviously there is more that needs to be done.”
He was among a large crowd of participants at the CCFI Public Trust Summit in Ottawa earlier this month.
After more than a decade of improvements in Canadians’ perceptions of agriculture, 2018 came as a bit of a shock.
There were a variety headlines and issues floating around in the media and the internet that might have played a role in the declining Canadian opinion of agriculture and food systems.
Factors seen to be swaying consumers away from their previous trust relationships with farmers, food and science include glyphosate news that implied its human toxicity, even at very low exposures, along with a spectacular court decision in California; dairy, poultry and hog operation videos showing poor practices and treatment of animals; and continuing misinformation about genetic tools in plant breeding and pesticide use in farming.
Bonnett said when it comes to best management practices on the farm, farmers need to “do it, verify it and communicate it.”
“When it comes to communication, it might not be what we signed up for when we became farmers, but it will be what we have to do if we want to remain them,” said the cattle producer from Ontario.
Grain grower Norm Hall from the Quill Lakes area of Saskatchewan said that farmers have not received credit for all that they have done to improve soils and the environment and for the care they take of their livestock.
“We became efficient because it was the only way to survive. We reduced waste and losses in every area because if you didn’t, you didn’t get to stay in the business. Now we have ensure our story is well-told,” said the vice-president of the CFA.
“It can be frustrating that building and retaining public trust creates new costs that, as farmers, we have to bear. But if we don’t, well, the alternatives aren’t great,” he said.
He suggested that if the broader society “doesn’t understand us well, they could cause governments to create unnecessary regulations we could find damaging.”
Colborn, attending the Ottawa event on behalf of fellow egg producers in Saskatchewan, said the relationship between producers, processors and retailers can be complicated because not all of their interests are mutual and there is sometimes significant history between them.
The exception might be in public perception of the industry as a whole.
CCFI chair Kim McConnell said all sectors of agriculture and food need to work together toward greater transparency and improved communication with the public “or those numbers we heard about this month will only continue to decline. I don’t believe that needs to be, or will be the case.”
Helping to fund the efforts were two federal investments announced during the summit: CFA will receive $250,000 toward the creation of a public trust strategy and $190,000 was assigned to the CCFI for additional research into the priorities of Canadians when it comes to the food system.
