The Dairy Education

The Dairy Education. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Line On Agriculture.
The dairy industry has been suffering as of late and a lot of the problem stems from consumer misunderstanding so the Dairy Farmers of Washington set out to do a little education according to Blair Thompson, Director of Consumer Communications.

THOMPSON: The campaign is called “A Key Ingredient” and it’s basically in response to a problem that faces the dairy industry and that problem is an erosion of consumer trust in dairy products and the dairy industry and that erosion is something we became aware of thanks to our annual poll and for a number of years now it has documented this gradual erosion of trust

According to Thompson, this is not a small issue.

THOMPSON: The problem is not insignificant. For example, in 2003 what the data told us was that 18% of Washingtonians who consumed dairy – so these are our customers – but 18% of people who consumed dairy did so with some level of guilt or anxiety, in other words they had some concern about the product or the industry even though they continued to consume it. In 2008 that number was 29% so that’s a 61% increase in just 5 years.

They determined they needed to restore consumer trust by showing their true face and by reconnecting dairy farmers with the customers. It also allows the dairy farmers to tell their own stories about their products.

THOMPSON: The program itself consists of a series of radio ads that are being heard across the state. There’s also a website and basically the ads are designed to drive people to the website so they can learn about dairy in greater depth. We’re also creating a series of videos which are going to be available online which will actually allow people to see what’s going on on the farms for themselves.

The program has been well received.

THOMPSON: The reaction so far has been very good particularly among producers. I think they were waiting for someone to stand up and tell the truth about dairy and I think they seem to be very happy that that’s finally happening and among consumers as well we’re getting a lot of positive feedback. The program is still young, still in its early stages but so far the signs are very good.

The website is simply called AKeyIngredient.com. More tomorrow.

That’s today’s Line On Agriculture. I’m Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.