Agriculture must continue to watch public perception

Farming is increasingly at the mercy of public perception.

In an era of social media and the rapid spread of misinformation, what the public thinks about farming practices can have a big impact on producers’ livelihoods.

We’ve already seen this unfolding in certain parts of the agricultural sector, such as public opinion about gestation crates for hogs and battery cages for poultry.

Farmers have been forced to change their practices in order to placate concerned consumers.

Many of these changes have been for the better, but there’s no doubt that farmers are increasingly working at the good graces of consumers.

If enough food buyers become repulsed by a particular farming practice, that practice will have to change.

We also see this in the consumption of certain foods.

Flour consumption in the United States is dropping, partly because more consumers have stopped eating wheat flour due to perceived health concerns about gluten.

The fickle nature of consumers and their views on agriculture came into relief recently when a controversy blew up in British Columbia over ostriches.

Avian flu was found to have killed a large number of the birds on a farm near Edgewood, and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, following a standard practice that is very familiar to Prairie producers, ordered the flock to be culled.

This is a mercifully rare but not unheard-of order. It happens when avian flu is found on turkey and chicken farms and when bovine tuberculosis is detected on cattle operations. It happened during the BSE crisis more than 20 years ago.

Up till now, it’s been seen as a regrettable but necessary part of the difficult process that must be followed to ensure dangerous diseases are kept out of the livestock production system.

In none of these cases did members of the public blockade the entrance to the farms in question to physically stop the depopulation efforts.

However, that’s exactly what happened recently at the ostrich farm in question in B.C.

Thanks to the power of social media, this case has become a cause celebre for a minority of Canadians who find the culling of these ostriches to be distasteful enough to actually decide to camp out in front of a farm and stop public health officials from doing their jobs.

Mind you, in this case media reports seem to be indicating that the protest is part of an anti-government sentiment that has arisen in recent years, best exemplified by opposition to health measures taken during the COVID-19 pandemic.

But the lesson is still there, to be heeded or ignored: public perception when it comes to animal agriculture can turn on a dime and manifest itself in something completely unexpected.

The fringe group that is opposed to the meat industry as a whole has up till now been just that, a fringe group.

But what, out of the blue, this became a much more widespread movement that resulted in increasingly disruptive actions taken against the industry?

Farmers need to remain vigilant when it comes to this threat. They must continue to engage with consumers, take steps to make changes when necessary and ensure that their industry remains healthy and strong.

Karen Briere, Bruce Dyck, Robin Booker, Paul Yanko and Laura Rance collaborate in the writing of Western Producer editorials.

Source: producer.com