Events, social media aim to blunt legislation, looming controversies

By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press

Farmers and ranchers are eager to tell their story to the non-farm public, and both fear and hope are their motivators.

On one hand, public misconceptions about food production and agricultural practices and proposed burdens such as cap and trade are prompting many farmers to take to the Internet to mount their own defense.

On the other hand, consumers' curiosity and their trust of farmers are enticing many producers to reach out, hoping the new relationships will result in a greater understanding of ag.

They're telling their stories in a wide range of ways, through new venues such as social media and more traditional efforts such as food giveaways, ag days, ag-in-the-classroom efforts and presentations to urban civic groups.

It's a push that American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman believes is crucial for the industry.

"Number one, agricultural producers -- farmers and ranchers -- are a very small percentage of the population," Stallman told the Capital Press. "We have a lot of concerns and issues. We have a great lack of understanding in the general public about what we do and how we do it."

But farmers and ranchers also have a lot of credibility with the public, he said.

"The best way to convey a message about policy or just information about how we produce things and why we do it that way is having the face of the farmer out there," he said.

In speeches, Stallman has urged his members to engage the public to combat threats, including federal climate change legislation the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates could take 59 million acres out of production.

Other threats to agriculture include the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's recent determination that greenhouse gases endanger public health, and next year's expiration of estate tax breaks, he said.

As part of ongoing efforts to bolster agriculture's image, Farm Bureau members last year raised more than $213,000 and donated more than 4.8 million pounds of food to the nation's food banks. And in February, local Farm Bureaus hosted events as part of Food Check-Out Week, demonstrating how farmers and ranchers promote healthful and abundant food.

As an example, as part of Food Check-Out Week, the Oregon Farm Bureau's Women's Advisory Council donated $800 in food to the Ronald McDonald Houses in Portland, where families stay while their children are treated for serious illness.

Through the year, the Oregon Farm Bureau maintains its communications with the public, sending out a listing of some 240 roadside stands, U-pick farms, farm booths at local events and other consumer-direct connections. The organization also has a major presence at Oregon Ag Fest in Salem each April, Farm Bureau spokeswoman Anne Marie Moss said. The event aims at educating the public about agriculture.

"The whole point of that is ... for families to experience agriculture with their kids and the hands-on activities like petting zoos and taste tests of various ag products," Moss said. "It's just a tool that's very popular every year."

Other efforts to reach out to the public are far-reaching. A few of them:

* National Ag Day and Ag Week. Nationwide activities March 14-20 will culminate in a luncheon and dinner in Washington, D.C., where producers and students will have a chance to meet with government leaders.

Sponsored by the Agriculture Council of America, the week will include "hundreds if not thousands" of events and displays by local FFA groups and others across the country, said John Bonner, the ag council's vice president.

"In my hometown of Fort Dodge, Iowa, we've had things like the 4-H Club putting up a window display in a mall," Bonner said. "It's just all kinds of different things."

* Farm-City Week. Established in 1955, the annual autumn event involves banquets, civic club meetings, farm tours and job exchanges nationwide that are designed to foster interactions between farmers and urban professionals.

* Direct marketing. Since 2000, the number of farmers' markets nationwide has grown from 2,863 to nearly 4,900, according to a USDA database. These markets allow thousands of farmers to meet face-to-face with their customers, often developing loyal followings.

* Social media. Many commodity groups are turning to blogs, Facebook and Twitter to get their messages out. For instance, in the six months since the National Cattlemen's Beef Association's Young Producers Council set up a blog and Facebook page, the sites have amassed more than 2,000 page views, NCBA spokeswoman Bethany Shively said.

However, the most effective efforts at reaching the public don't come from commodity groups or the Farm Bureau, but from individual farmers and ranchers, Stallman said.

When it comes to legislation, individuals talking with their elected officials have the most impact, he said.

"Votes are the currency of politics," Stallman said. "Me walking into an office, I may get a hearing ... but I don't vote for them except for my one congressman and two senators."

In Tillamook, Ore., one dairy farmer has made a difference in her community. Carol Marie Leuthold heard about rural development during a Farm Bureau conference, went home and helped organize a meeting to discuss local issues.

Nearly 50 people came to discuss issues ranging from downtown commerce to what should be done with animal carcasses, Leuthold said. Committees were formed to continue the work.

"They definitely weren't all farmers, nor were they all people who were involved in agriculture," she said. "There were a lot of questions of those that were involved in ag or knew something about it. People didn't know what some of the regs are that we have to abide by."

On a recent weekend, a dairy farmer saw an online announcement that the Australia-based Yellow Tail wine company was donating $100,000 to the Humane Society of the United States. What ensued was a massive Twitter and Facebook assault against Yellow Tail as word spread quickly among farmers, hunters and other groups.

"By Monday, we had vegans supporting us," said Jeff Fowle, an activist and rancher from Etna, Calif. "Who would have thought that? But all of the sudden we had a huge outcry against the Humane Society of the U.S."

Calls for a boycott of its wine prompted Yellow Tail to stop supporting animal rights groups, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

Ray Prock, who owns a 450-cow dairy in Denair, Calif., and a hay ranch in Klamath Falls, Ore., has been using Twitter to tell his story for about a year.

"It's a quick way to put a face back on the farmer," he said. "At the same time, with some of these status updates, you can show people that farmers are people too. We take our kids to ballgames, we're doing things with our families, we have special hobbies and things like that. At the same time, we're teaching people a little about what we do."

How effective are all these efforts? That's hard to measure, said Dave Daley, a cattle producer and associate dean of the college of agriculture at California State University-Chico.

While agriculture has tried to tell its story for a long time, the industry hasn't always done it well, Daley said.

"I see more of an effort to do this in a more concerted fashion," he said. "I do know it changes the opinion of faculty and staff at the university once they're exposed to it. ... It's really about being proactive and telling a good story."

The biggest concern for farmers and ranchers is that they 'tend to preach to the choir," when what they need to do is communicate with people of different points of view, Daley said.

Fowle agrees on the need to communicate.

"A key concept is, number one, you have to listen, and listen with the intent to understand," he said. "You then build trust with those people. Once that bond is formed, then you can begin to educate them."

The Farm Bureau's Stallman believes the efforts are working. For example, individual pork producers helped their industry withstand last year's H1N1 flu scare in part by urging their local media outlets not to call it swine flu, he said.

"That's the trend I see, whether we're talking about animal welfare issues or public policy issues," he said. "I see more and more individual farmers and ranchers willing to stand up because they've seen the success of previous efforts.

"That's one of the messages we deliver at a lot of our conferences," he said. "You have to be willing to stand up and speak out."

Online

American Farm Bureau Federation: www.fb.org

Oregon Ag Fest: http://oragfest.com/

National Ag Day and Ag Week: www.agday.org

Farm-City Week: www.farmcity.org

LocalHarvest farmers markets directory: www.localharvest.org

"Ax Men" TV show: www.history.com/shows/ax-men

NCBA Cattle Call blog: http://ypcblog.beefusa.org/

Capital Press on Twitter: http://twitter.com/capitalpress