On February 5 and 6 2013, the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture hosted an Agricultural Awareness Summit. The summit brought together leaders in agriculture, communications, business and technology to discuss the opportunities that exist to engage the general public in a discussion about the realities and opportunities of agriculture in Canada. While many ideas were discussed, some of the themes that kept resurfacing were perception, values, trust, transparency and communication. Participants also agreed that agriculture awareness needs national attention.
The conference prompted those in agriculture to understand the way that their industry is viewed by the public and to explore the ways in which this perception was formed.
Those present expressed a desire for the public to understand that they share a strong values system of respecting and caring for the animals on their farms and in being stewards of the environment, not because it is required by government agencies, but because they genuinely care for the earth and understand their connection to and responsibility for it.
Caring for the environment is not a burden on producers, it is a necessary and integral part of a sustainable agriculture business.
The summit also discussed the importance of transparency in agricultural operations and the value of allowing people to see first hand the realities of food production and what actually takes place on a farm so that they can form opinions of agriculture based on reality and fact.
Moving forward, the summit concluded, agriculture must not only do more to increase the outputs from a farm, but also to engage in confident conversations, share its vision of a safer and healthier planet, nurture and respect the trust that people have in producers and our overall food system and allow the public to see more of not only what the agricultural industry does, but also understand how and why they do it.
Today, farms produce more food, more reliably, and in greater volume than at any point in human history. Modern agriculture is a science-based field with an abundance of diversified career opportunities from food production to biotechnology, engineering and more.
The Agriculture Awareness Summit was the first step on the journey to help the public understand the industry's benefits.
The agriculture industry is responsible for feeding more than seven billion people on our planet. However, our growing urban population is losing touch with its agricultural roots.
Studies show that the general population increasingly does not understand where our food comes from or the economic and environmental benefits that modern agriculture provides.
