Reasonable Dialogue

GMO’s or organic. Ag- gag or freedom of speech. Locavore or corporate agriculture. There are so many topics surrounding our food supply and they are hotly debated. It seems that a dialogue, a voice of reason would be very useful for resolving issues. To that end, the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance has put together a series of Food Dialogues® signature events. USFRA CEO, Randy Krotz: “The organization is focused on ensuring that we have a dialogue and not a one way conversation. It is really all about getting all sides of a point of view discussed. If we are talking about animal welfare or crop inputs or GMO’s we have a panel that represents every side of the conversation. Also, various parts of the food chain, a food manufacturer, a restaurant, a chef, a farmer. We have to have people who are impassioned also. We still want to have the edginess and conversation that may be a farmer who is organic and a farmer uses GMO’s might have. The farmers are usually very reasonable with one another but then you may have somebody who is a pure advocate for one side or the other. We try to get all of those people on a panel. Then we get a well-known journalist who does the moderating just so there is a very lively and respectful discussion about the issues that we know consumers care so much about.”

 

Since its launch in 2011, the U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance USFRA has hosted more than 25 panels across the country.