Don’t set out to educate | Tell consumers about farming methods and reasons for on-farm decisions: consultant
WETASKIWIN, Alta. — Forget about preaching to consumers about great farm products.
Instead, farmers should invite consumers to pull up a chair and sit at the kitchen table and tell them their story.
Nobody likes being lectured to, but everyone likes a good story, said Kim McConnell, founder of AdFarm, an agricultural marketing company.
“Let’s not be in the educating business, let’s be in the story business,” said McConnell.
The industry is often under fire for using pesticides or genetically modified crops, and McConnell said it’s time producers started talking openly about why they make the decisions they do.
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“Take the opportunities to start telling stories about the life you live,” he said during an ag-ducation meeting hosted by Parkland Fertilizer in Wetaskiwin.
Farmers who are asked if they plant GM canola shouldn’t preach about its safety or the science behind it. Rather, they should talk about why they use it and the difference it has made on their farms, he said.
“Tell them why you use it, talk about the family farm and how it has changed and that farmers can no longer survive on a quarter section. Tell them in your words.”
Patti Ganske, one of the event organizers, said farmers often find it hard to broach tough topics in agriculture when confronted by non-farmers.
Controversial A & W commercials promoting hamburgers made with no added hormones raised the ire of farmers when they were aired this winter, but few people knew how to tackle the topic.
Ganske hoped farmers and community members at the event would realize they work in a great industry and gain the skills to talk about the tough topics.
“I want people to be proud of what they do and proud to be in agriculture,” she said. “I want to be able to talk freely about it.”
Ganske, who works for Parkland Fertilizer, hopes the company’s model for a positive agriculture conference can be repeated across the Prairies.
McConnell said he helped create Ag More Than Ever, a farm promotion event, partly to give farmers the skills to deal with tough topics. The project has facts, figures and stories to help farmers feel confident about their industry.
“We need to be proud of the great industry we have,” he said. “In this province we talk a lot about the energy business, but we don’t talk enough about the agriculture business.”
Trish Jordan, director of public affairs with Monsanto Canada, said agriculture has given her the opportunity to travel the world and meet interesting and hard working people.
“Agriculture is a really, really great place to be.”
Jordan recommended farmers join the conversation about agriculture on social media, talk to school teachers, volunteer for agriculture in the classroom or write letters to the editor.
Farmers shouldn’t defend the industry, said Jordan. They should simply share their stories and tell people why they make the decision they do.
Farmers who don’t feel comfortable debating can point people to websites that have a balanced approach to agriculture.
Anti-GMO activists spend billions of dollars on well-funded public relations campaigns to tell consumers about the dangers of modern food.
Their goal is simply to muddy the waters and confuse people, she said.
“Some of them want you to go back to farming the way your parents and grandfather farmed.”
Jordan said farmers shouldn’t bother fighting with the people on the extreme edges of reason, but rather concentrate on talking to people who are curious about agriculture and want to know more about it.
“Have we shared our story and done so in a positive way, or in that void others have stepped in and told your story?” she said.
Ashley Glover grew up on the farm as part of a 4-H family. She no longer lives on the farm, but still works in agriculture as an agronomist with Parrish & Heimbecker in Mossleigh, Alta.
She may not be able to take her child out to the fields every day, but she still wants her daughter to learn the joy of watching plants grow. Together they started corn in small pots on the kitchen counter as an introduction to agriculture.
“It’s extremely rewarding and exciting for them.”
Letting children learn about the joys of digging in the dirt is just one more way to keep the connection to agriculture, she added.
