Why does the media seem to think farmers are at war with consumers?

By Lynne Strong - Founder and National Program Director Picture You In Agriculture

There was an article in The Weekly Times (TWT) on 4th September 2019 titled Farmer fightback: Agriculture spending millions on trust campaigns. Titles are meant to grab our attention and this one certainly grabbed mine.

To reduce my stress levels I made the decision to not read the even more red rag to a bull editorial Battle to justify leaves farmers weary where according to the Editor of TWT "Farmers shouldn't have to justify what they do to consumers who want high quality food and fibre at a low price, argues The Weekly Times."

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According to TWT millions are being spent 'responding to a burst of animal activism and anti-farmer sentiment this year'. The paper then poses the question "Is too much money being spent promoting and justifying farming?"

The first two questions I would like to ask TWT and fellow farmers are.

1. Is the media promoting these campaigns as some sort of war farmers have to fight doing us any favours?

2. Isnt building relationships of trust between producers and consumers part of everyday business in 21st century?

Going back to the TWT question. If my area of expertise was communication I would know there are three different types of communication models

1. Deficit - one way information transfer. The most expensive example of this would be TV advertising

2. Dialogue - two way information transfer where ideas and information are shared

3. Participatory - farmers and consumers work together. Consumers are involved collaborators in the process. This one is my area of expertise. Impact study found here

Then I would know there are two different types of TRUST

1. General

2. Interpersonal

Then I would list all of the TRUST building campaigns under these categories. I would then ask for impact studies and a whole heap of other stuff and then I may just be able to hazard an educated guess on the question we should be asking. Are we spending our producer/consumer relationship building dollars the best way?

Can we improve on this?