Agriculture student involvement in a Lethbridge College survey earlier this year led the Citizen Society Research Lab to focus on agricultural issues.
The survey asked 1,288 randomly selected adult residents of urban Lethbridge about their views on several agricultural practices.
In general, results showed those living in a city where agriculture is the economic engine have positive views on environmental stewardship, water use, manure handling and humane treatment of livestock.
“The biggest question for me, from the political science and the policy end was, in this era of social licence, who do Lethbridge residents, urban dwellers, more generally trust with essentially environmental stewardship when it comes to agriculture,” said Faron Ellis, research chair for the research lab and supervisor of the survey.
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Forty-seven percent of respondents said Alberta farmers bear primary responsibility for ensuring sustainable agricultural practices. Thirty-one percent said the provincial government has that primary responsibility, and almost 15 percent said it’s the federal government. The remainder said non-government environmental groups bear that responsibility.
“I was a little surprised at how much support there was for governments combined,” said Ellis, noting the 46 percent figure.
Unsurprisingly, NDP voters had the strongest support for provincial government involvement, given the current NDP government. United Conservative Party voters strongly favoured farmers as the responsible parties, at 57 percent.
Some 88 percent of respondents agreed that livestock are treated humanely on Alberta farms.
“PETA style (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) or radical style animal rights activism and media exposure has not really even dented the goodwill, and from there social licence capital that Alberta farmers, livestock producers seem to have,” said Ellis.
It’s not unusual for the odour of manure to waft over the city at times, but nearly 90 percent of those polled said they support manure recycling through use as crop fertilizer.
Eighty-five percent agree that livestock producers use water responsibly.
The survey had a 2.7 percent margin of error, plus or minus, 19 times out of 20.
