In public relations, image control is always preferable to damage control.
With that in mind, the Manitoba Cattle Producers Association (MCPA) launched an advertising campaign Aug. 4 to remind consumers that cattle farmers are stewards of the land.
Until the middle of September, transit bus ads will roll across Winnipeg, on 12 routes, with the slogan, Manitoba cattle producers protect their cattle and the environment.
“Cattlemen have been negligent in getting the message out … that we have been environmentalists for as long as we’ve had cattle,” said MCPA president Martin Unrau.
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The campaign wasn’t prompted by the still raging hog industry debate in Manitoba, in which environmental activists have depicted hog farmers as a threat to water quality, but Unrau said there is a connection to that issue.
“We have to learn lessons from how things don’t go right in other areas,” said Unrau, who raises cattle near MacGregor, Man.
“(We’re) trying to take that proactive step, to ensure that (environmental) concerns are headed off. Rather than have someone else educating the urban people about our industry, we feel it’s important that our industry educates the people who eat our product.”
The ads represent the MCPA’s first promotional campaign aimed directly at city residents.
“Through the Great Taste of Manitoba, the (TV) cooking show, that’s been our exposure in the past,” said MCPA general manager Sheila Mowat.
The association is also promoting cattle producers as keepers of a prairie tradition – the family farm. Another version of the bus ads will feature a young girl who says that soon she’ll continue the family tradition of cattle ranching.
“Cattle producers are some of the last family farms around. (They’re) small operations and multi-generational,” said Matthew Wright, the association’s communications co-ordinator.
Unrau said the environmental message is connected to an important issue for Manitoba ranchers – the loss of pasture and haying acres in the province as high grain prices entice producers.
“We have 14 districts in the association … and every one of us has seen it in our districts,” he said.
He said he is especially concerned about the impact on soil conservation and water quality.
“A lot of it is marginal land that should never be taken out of the cattle industry.”
The loss of bush, shrubs and other windbreaks is particularly worrisome, he added.
“This spring we saw huge amounts of erosion, first from wind and then a couple of heavy rains …. When you see that kind of thing, it’s not good for the environment and hurts us as a whole in agriculture.”
As well, the MCPA is developing a new policy to encourage sustainable agriculture in the province.
