BANFF, Alta. – Learning politically correct lingo could help prevent hog producers from making a stink with the public.
The hog industry has had its name smeared in the muck recently because people object not only to the smell, but the concepts of confinement housing, said a University of Minnesota agricultural engineer. Refining the language used on the farm may soothe some hostility.
Try saying, “baby pig care” rather than piglet processing, said Larry Jacobson at the recent Banff pork seminar.
Jacobson suggested calling slats and gutters “sanitary flooring” and disease control is better called “health control.”
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Drugs become “prescription medicine” while confinement housing is “environmentally controlled housing.”
Not everyone in the audience of 500 agreed with introducing verbal camouflage to the pig farm.
Jacobson argued industry jargon sometimes leaves the wrong impression on the public. Farmers and other industry officials know what they are talking about but when an uninformed person hears some of the terms, they sound worse than they are.
“At face value, it might create more negative aspects for the industry,” he said.
Cleaning up act
The industry has to find new ways to put on a clean bib and tucker for an increasingly skeptical group of urban consumers. These new age consumers want to know more about food production and its effects on their environment, said Jacobson.
They want it safe, cheap and with assurances that the way animals are raised doesn’t hurt their sensibilities.
This is especially true in the wake of massive food recalls where hamburger has been pulled because of possible bacterial contamination.
“Every time one of these come up the food industry gets more bad p.r.,” he said.
