United We Stand

I have long talked about and even longer thought about how to tell the story of agriculture to people that are not involved with it in their every day lives. I always try to tell my story whenever the opportunity arises, and even sometimes when it doesn’t (which does become a little awkward), and I always try to answer questions that my friends have. We really need more interaction like that, people that are willing to have an open dialogue about some of the concerns with our food system. I assure you that I, nor anyone in my field, is one bit ashamed of our practices and we have to be willing to talk about them. We do a great job telling each other about what we are doing, and we do a great job telling our story to the youth in agriculture, but mostly we are just preaching to the choir.

There has not been an organized way for this to happen on a greater level than the grassroots individual conversations. Until now, that is. About a month ago at the Illinois State Fair, on Ag Day, a coalition of groups made an announcement. Something that has been brewing for a few months and now it is finally becoming a reality. Members of the American Farm Bureau, Illinois Corn Growers, Illinois Beef, Illinois Pork Producers, and Illinois Soybean announced the Farmer Image Campaign. They revealed research conducted on their behalf by the public relations agency Morgan & Myers, which include a poll of 1,100 non-farm adults in Illinois. Among their findings:

• They believe 54% of Illinois farm products come from "corporate farms" and 46% comes from "family farms." (Not from the survey: USDA stats show 94% of the nation's food supply comes from individual family farms and partnerships. Just a little number to tuck under your cap.)
• They cannot clearly define "factory farms," yet uniformly feel that such farms dominate Illinois agriculture.
• Two-thirds say they are not knowledgeable about farming practices used on Illinois farms. But two-thirds also say they are personally concerned about lax regulations of corporate farms and are concerned about the role of big business in farming.

So, you say, this is just useless research data. Well, with this they are aiming to start a real campaign. They are going to start an ad campaign that features Illinois family farmers to try to show consumers what real commercial farming looks like. Now, for people like me, we may never see the fruits of this labor (think preaching to the choir again). This ad campaign will be focused where it is needed most.

Now if you could see me talking about this in person, you would be able to see how excited I am about this. I had the opportunity to participate in a Farm Bureau Young Leader Discussion Meet last month, and this was one of the very topics that we discussed. It was evident from the discussion that we had that I, along with my fellow contestants, am very excited and passionate about this. It is very exciting to see the leadership of our industry moving in this direction. Now I stand waiting for a call to assist. I don’t really know what I would be able to do to help with something like this, but if they ask you better bet I will be eager to volunteer.

Heres a link to a little video: The Greatest Story Never Told