Answering Consumer Questions

In two national surveys about how food is grown and raised consumers report that they often think about how their food is produced but feel disconnected when it comes to knowing just how that food actually makes it from the farm to the dinner table. Consumers also voiced concerns on issues relating to animal care and environmental stewardship. Not surprisingly, farmers and ranchers are in complete agreement when it comes to sharing the same values and concerns in those areas. The over all consensus from these surveys is that consumers want to know more about food production, farmers and ranchers want consumers to be more knowledgable about where their food comes from, but neither are really sure on what would be the correct way to make that happen. That’s where The Food Dialogues come in; a Town Hall Facebook discussion, which started last week in four cities across the country, is designed to allow farmers, and ranchers to address consumer questions and concerns about our nation’s food production. Hopefully, it is just the start of cooperative communication between consumers and food producers.