Farmers Need to Join Food Conversation

Farmers Need to Join Food Conversation
I’m KayDee Gilkey with today’s Northwest Farm and Ranch Report after this.

Farmers and ranchers represent less than two percent of the U.S. population and most consumers are at least several generations removed from the farm. Ag producers often hear they need to do a better job of telling their stories to curious and sometimes concerned consumers. But how do you begin?

U.S. Farmer and Rancher Alliance is leading a conversation answering Americans’ questions about how their food is grown and raised through their website, www.usfraonline.org. All farmers and ranchers are invited to share in this conversation.

Keith Yazmir is a member of the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance communications team. He speaks to how hard it can sometimes be for farmers to begin the discussion.

Yazmir: “These are incredible emotional issues because they are about our livelihood. It is about what we do. For many of us it is about what our parents did and our grandparents did. But equally important for other audiences -- for consumers, for influencers for people who have questions about food -- because it is fundamental to all of us. It is literally what we put in our children’s mouths each day.”

Yazmir says farmers and ranchers need to make sure they’re part of the conversation about what they grow and what people eat.

Yazmir: “In order to be effective, we need to go out there meet these other voices because --keeping in mind-- these are the folks who are regulating us, the consumers who are buying from us and who we are here to serve. So how can we do a better job of addressing truly what they are talking about in a way that they can hear.”

I’m KayDee Gilkey and that the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on Northwest Ag Information Network.