Savvy Chicken Suits: Defining the Food Story

Posts Tagged ‘HSUS’

Savvy Chicken Suits: Defining the Food Story

Wednesday, May 4th, 2011

~ guest post by Lara Durben

In 1995, three months into my new job at the Minnesota Turkey Growers Association, a rock was thrown through our office window on Thanksgiving Day, handpainted with the initials A.L.F. – Animal Liberation Front – on it. That was my “Hello and welcome to the world of animal agriculture.”

Since that time, we’ve had such “memorable” experiences as animal activists sneaking into our annual convention and chaining themselves to an exhibit, and the perfectly timed release of undercover video of a Minnesota turkey farm that very nearly upstaged Thanksgiving in 1999.

Each time, we scrambled to put together a well-crafted response and then wished for the entire incident to go away. Only, as we in animal agriculture have learned all too well, it may quiet down but with the advent of Google and YouTube, it doesn’t really go away. Ever.

A decade ago, I think our industry wanted to believe that if we’re quiet and go about our daily business, surely people will simply be happy we provide them with poultry for their dinner tables. Times have changed – and the way people view their food purchases and the food industry have changed. It’s no longer about those crazy, whacked-out PETA people wearing chicken suits on the sidewalk; animal activists – groups such as the Humane Society of the U.S. (HSUS) – are much more savvy today.

But guess what? Farmers and the agricultural organizations that represent them are just as savvy too. And we have a lot to tell people about our commitment to our animals while also providing the world with a safe, healthy, affordable food supply. In the organizations I work for, we’re doing this in a number of different ways – from Web banner ads that are edgier than anything we’ve put out before, to working closely with farmers to participate in our speaker’s bureau. We’re also embracing Facebook, Twitter and YouTube as key components within our overall communications plan and we’re encouraging our farmers to do the same.

It’s not always easy – not everyone is comfortable giving presentations in front of groups, and social media tools can be intimidating – but our organization is committed to helping our members learn how to make these and other tools work for them.

After several years on Facebook and more recently trying to wrap my head around Twitter, here’s what I know for sure:

Social media tools offer us a tremendous opportunity to tell our stories on a daily basis – it’s a no brainer to use them.
It’s all about daily interaction. We monitor social media sites like Facebook or Twitter at least a few minutes each day because there are always opportunities to share an interesting link, debunk a myth, or spread a positive message about agriculture.
Blur your work and personal life if you really want to make an impact. Trust me on this. Some of my “non-work” people I am friends with on Facebook are exactly the people who need to hear my positive messages about farmers and agriculture. And I rely on my “work” friends to help me share news, links and messages.

Earlier this year I participated in a meeting with the communications director of HSUS’s Factory Farming Campaign in Washington D.C. Did she seem crazy? No. Did she come off as confrontational? Just the opposite. She was friendly, smart, young, enthusiastic and – surprise! – she came from a farm background in Illinois, with experience in 4-H as a kid. This meeting left me wondering – among many things – how does someone like that go from being a farm kid and a 4-H’er to a card-carrying HSUS employee?

I can’t answer that, but I can tell you that the organization I work for has realized that we must not let HSUS or other animal activists groups define our story. We must be willing to put ourselves out there – and talk to people in a compelling, emotional way about farm life, raising food animals and feeding the world ethically and responsibly. We must make connections wherever and whenever we can.

In the most recent Animal Agriculture Alliance e-newsletter, the Alliance’s Executive Vice President Kay Johnson Smith said it best: “This new wave of agriculture advocacy has had an effect. Each time that someone – whether it be a farmer or Miss America – talks about the importance of agriculture, it helps close the urban-rural divide. If we each do our part to educate our communities about food production, we are sure to find agriculture allies in our own backyard.” So what is your part?

Lara Durben is a wife, mother, Minnesota farm girl and lover of all things poultry, thanks to her awesome job with the Minnesota Turkey Growers Association, Broiler and Egg Association of Minnesota and Midwest Poultry Federation. You can find her tweeting as @minnesotaturkey or @LaraDurbenMN.When she’s not on Facebook or Twitter, she loves golfing, gardening, running, traveling and is a bit obsessed with catching reruns of BRAVO-TV’s Housewives’ series.

Tags: Agriculture, agvocacy, animal agriculture, Facebook, farm, Food, food production, HSUS, PETA, poultry, Turkeys
Posted in Advocacy, Agriculture, Animal Rights, Farmer, Social Media | 2 Comments »

Can Social Media Protect Your Farm’s License to Operate?

Wednesday, February 16th, 2011

~ guest post by DeEtta Bohling

It’s no surprise we live in a changing world. Farmers are up to speed on the latest technology when it comes to tools such as GPS; but what about jumping on the social media bandwagon?

When I began working for Kansas Corn and Grain Sorghum a little over a year ago, my knowledge in agriculture was somewhat limited. I didn’t grow up on a farm or ranch and I don’t have a degree in Ag Communications. A great deal of what I have learned about corn, sorghum, ethanol, and livestock has come from the farmers and ranchers I interact with in person, on Twitter and on Facebook.

DeEtta Bohling is the Communications Specialist for the Kansas Corn Growers Association, Kansas Corn Commission and the Kansas Grain Sorghum Producers Association

I am not the only one who is forming opinions about agriculture through of social media. Youth and adults, alike, are absorbing the information they receive from social media sites. Studies show that four out of five online Americans are active in some form of social content at least once a month. The question is, are they getting their information from sources like PETA and HSUS or are they being educated by experts in their field, the farmers and ranchers? Today’s social media conversations are direct and concise. Agriculture loses when farmers don’t engage in those conversations.

In January, I had the opportunity to listen to speaker, Gary Maskus, Vice President of No Till on the Plains, Inc. One of the things he said was that agriculture was not a soap opera. Maskus went on to explain that you can’t tune in every three years and expect to be caught up. The same applies to improvements in technology and social media. Do you know what kinds of conversations are taking place regarding your industry?

I have heard all the excuses. “I don’t get it. I’m too old. I don’t have time.” Whatever your excuse, toss it out the window. Social media is changing the way people distribute and receive information. Whether you like it or not, social media will continue to change the way we communicate. Agriculture is missing an opportunity to be proactive if you don’t take the time to learn at least one of the many social media tools. There are all kinds of resources to help you get started in social media. Check out an endless list of resources at: http://www.causematters.com/.

Social media isn’t the end-all, be-all. Reach out to your schools, community organizations and your neighbors. Don’t ever assume that the folks in your rural community understand agriculture. Offer to give presentations, write letters to the editor, and offer to be interviewed by news organizations.

Farmers and ranchers, I challenge you to share your passion and your livelihood with the world. Don’t let your license to operate be taken away, simply because animal activists and environmental groups don’t understand what you do. There’s a great deal of business value in connecting with your consumers. Take the opportunity to share with them.

You can find DeEtta on Twitter at @ksgrains. Originally from a small rural community in southwest Iowa. DeEtta has her degree from Wartburg College in Communication Arts with an emphasis in Public Relations and minors in Leadership and Business. In her free time, Bohling enjoys volunteering with Habitat for Humanity of Franklin County and the 4-H program. She reached a personal goal of completing her first 5K in November, 2009 and is now training for a half marathon. A few of her favorite things include photography, Chinese food, traveling with friends and the Iowa State Fair.

Tags: Advocacy, Agriculture, agvocacy, Facebook, Farmer, Farming, HSUS, PETA, Social Media, Technology, Twitter
Posted in Advocacy, Agriculture, Motivation, Social Media | 2 Comments »

A Farmer’s Perspective: Why I Facebook, Tweet and Blog

Monday, February 14th, 2011

~ guest post by Ryan Weeks

Why did I get involved with social media? Was it a dream of mine to get banned from the HSUS twitter account since I was a little kid? Nope, I found the misinformation being spread about farming and ranching on sites such as YouTube as a problem that needed to have a counter argument. Of course, I first signed on to Facebook to connect with friends, but it quickly moved to agvocacy when I saw non-factual information being taken as fact regarding our production methods in agriculture, and specifically, agriculture was being blamed for a lot of problems (diabetes, obesity, etc) in our society that I felt are about consumption, not production.

Ryan L. Weeks is a fifth generation farmer from Juniata, Nebraska. Their operation prides itself on quick adaptation of technology, being stewards of the land they farm and being involved in the community in which they live.

I had seen for quite a while what you would get when you searched “factory farming” on YouTube, and saw the smokestacks in the background of a cornfield in the movie “Food Inc.”. This really hit me as I have a passion for what we do in agriculture. I have seen third world countries in person where food choice is not an option. You eat what you have, if you have anything. So, to label our food production system as broken when we are feeding our own, exporting, and raising more product on less inputs, I felt like I should start speaking up. I have always done the local speaking about economic impacts of ag, and specifically animal ag, but the conversation nationally has nothing to do with economics. It has everything to do with emotion. Science, no matter how factual, has a hard time trumping emotion. The heartfelt feelings always win. I felt there needed to be a voice of the producer themselves in conversations about agriculture.

My social media journey started with Facebook, graduated to Twitter, created a Facebook Farm Page, and now have started using Linked-In (use sporadically), Buzz (able to use more than 140 characters) and YouTube. It seems like quite a lot, but with apps like TweetDeck, it becomes manageable. It has afforded me the opportunity to travel to Chicago for the AgChat Foundation conference (a phenomenal grassroots organization) and be around a tremendous group of family farmers to improve our skills in social media. But best thing that’s happened in this journey is a chance to converse with consumers about the advantages and disadvantages of certain aspects of our food system in an environment that usually contains mutual respect. There are antagonists, and misunderstandings, but the beauty of most social media products is that you have the ability to hit block, ignore, or have a community of aggies support you. We all are working together to support each other. This is something that doesn’t always happen in agriculture.

Recently we have entered the world of blogging and I have found that to write, you need inspiration, which for me usually means that I have to be driven by something. I have tried to start jotting down ideas on my phone when they come to me (thanks Jeff Fowle), and then approaching them later, but the most effective seems to be writing in the heat of the moment.

I hope many more in agriculture would start having the conversations about our farms and ranches in any of these mediums. We all need you! If you think for one minute you can’t make a difference or that your voice isn’t needed, search “factory farming” on YouTube and see what you come up wit, then tell me we don’t need you. Whose voice is countering the misinformation? If not you, then who?

Why did I get involved? Because no one else is going to tell my story! Who is telling your farm story? Take the time to learn these new tools the same way you’ve adapted to technology in your equipment.

Ryan and his wife Kristi raise yellow corn, popcorn, soybeans, alfalfa and prairie hay on the family farm settled by his family in the late 1800’s. Both are active in civic and volunteer organizations at the state and local level. You can find their farm on Facebook at www.facebook.com/WeeksFarms and their blog at www.cornhuskerfarmer.wordpress.com

Hungry for more? Related posts:
Agvocating in the World of Social Media
Defense: Agriculture’s No-Win Strategy
Why Farmers Should NOT Speak Up

Tags: Advocacy, Agriculture, agvocacy, Facebook, farm, Farmer, Farming, Food, HSUS, LinkedIn, Social Media, Technology, Twitter, YouTube
Posted in Advocacy, Agriculture, Consumer Trust, Farmer, Farming, Food, Social Media | 2 Comments »

Why Farmers Should NOT Speak Up

Wednesday, January 12th, 2011

The new year typically starts with motivational tips, hype about resolutions and pressure to make promises of how we’re going to do things differently. Not me. I’m bringing an entirely different perspective on advocacy – a highly sarcastic view on why we SHOULD NOT tell agriculture’s story. Several ag folks from across the U.S. and Canada added to the list on Twitter and Facebook – you’re welcome to post your own comment in the spirit of some fun.

Shhh, there's no need to tell your story!

15. Agriculture has little economic contribution – and the American economy is thriving. After all, 80%+ of the economy isn’t reliant on the agrifood system – and surely your community doesn’t benefit from property taxes and jobs paid by farms.

14. “It’s embarrassing to have people thank you for producing their food. I don’t want people to think I am a corporate shill (every farmer who speaks out is one, right?) says sheep and daughter raiser Venessa in her own Spartan sarcasm.

13. “Who needs consumers anyway? I can still farm without people to buy my grain and animals that eat my grain. I like grain storage. Those big shiny bins are SO pretty and cheap…” was a heavily sarcastic comment from Sarah Bedgar Wilson, a young farmer in North Dakota (the cold made her do it, I’m sure).

12. The general society has such an emotional connection when we stay quiet. Or, as Tom Cassidy, farm broadcaster said in satire, “Agriculture does not operate in a void.”

11. “Farmers should not speak out because it’s not their responsibility. The government should take care of it.” sarcastically replied Collin Clarke up in North Dakota (that cold must be brutal).

10. Food isn’t a movement. Speaker friend and suburban mom Eliz Greene put it more eloquently “Nobody is really interested in food. Most people don’t really ever think about food.”

9. Food grows in winter, under the snow. Or as Ron Service, a farmer in Ontario, tweeted in jest. “People think grass grows in winter – how else could cattle be grassfed?”

8. You enjoy having others regulate how you farm. After all, activists know best how to care for your land and your animals. Never mind that you’ve spent decades learning. “We don’t want consumers to know the truth about how we care for our animals.” was the satire from Sally Colby Scholle, a sheep farmer in Pennsylvania.

7. Hormones in food makes everyone LOVE you. REALLY love you, if you get my drift. Never mind that cabbage has more estrogen than beef. As one of my close friends in yuppy suburbia Atlanta Facebooked “People think their meat is “made” at the grocery store.”

6. People know where their food comes from. One of those factories, right? Or, ask Bob Kinford (a stress cattle handling educator & horseman in Texas) says “Have to keep those trade secrets a secret. Don’t want people to know that food is not made in a factory.”

5. Why teach kids how to stand up for what’s right? It must be over-rated. And it’s not like they deserve to know simple things like where their food comes from. Speaker friend and suburbanite Karl even pointed to the discovery that a food chain exists when they go to the State Fair.

4. Today’s technology makes it so difficult to go beyond your zip code. After all, auto steer tractors, GPS and smart phones are inefficient – especially when you throw in Facebook.

3. Environmentalists love farmers. Just ask the EPA. Or as technology-loving Nebraska farmer Zach Hunnicutt added with a laugh “Everyone knows their farmers do a good job with their animals and their land, and would never listen to carpetbagging extremists who try to influence legislation .”

2. Biotechnology will make you grow a microphone in your ear to communicate your thoughts, so don’t have to bother speaking up. O.K., so I made that up – but it’s as ridiculous as other claims that have been made.

1. Because all people ever needed to know about farming they can learn from HSUS, Sierra Club and Greenpeace. And they’ll gladly tell your story for you! As Jason Lehnst, an agribusiness recruiter, sarcastically added “Because all I ever needed to know about farming I learned from H$U$ and it was accurate?”

And for the record, you don’t have my permission to quote any of this unless you ask. However, you are welcome to add to the list in the spirit of satire. Let’s make all the excuses now so we can get them out of the way! By the way, if you work outside of ag and wonder about all of this, let us know. Maybe we can overcome our excuses enough to help.

Tags: Advocacy, Agriculture, biotechnology, Environment, farmers tell their store, Food, HSUS, rancher, speak up
Posted in Advocacy, Agriculture, Animal Rights, Farmer, Motivation | 4 Comments »

The Integrity of Humane Care

Wednesday, December 15th, 2010

Imagine this; you hire a babysitter to come into your home and care for your children. Two weeks after the seemingly qualified babysitter was in your home, you find videos posted on YouTube, your family’s name smeared across newspaper headlines and people glaring at you as you walk down the street. The video’s content? You – spanking your child in an act of discipline. Would you feel as though your privacy had been intruded upon just because the babysitter didn’t agree with your method of punishment (and had never discussed this with you)? Would secretly video taping be seen as an act of integrity? Likely not.

Hidden video taping on a farm is no different. A farmer’s feelings about being portrayed as “abusing” animals are the same as what you’d feel if a babysitter videotaped you “abusing” a child with a hidden camera in a pen in the spanking scenario. Both are an invasion of privacy, neither are an appropriate response and both reek of sensationalism.

Should a farm operate as a business with the expectation that all people caring for animals conduct themselves with integrity? Yes! Do animals deserve to be treated with respect for the sacrifice they make to provide us with food? Absolutely.

As a pork chop producing mom in Missouri says “On our farm, animal care is our top priority. For generations, our family has raised hogs with integrity while always seeking ways to improve the quality of care to our hogs. Thanks to modern technology, we can protect our hogs from diseases, injury, predator attacks and the harsh elements of the weather. We have a zero tolerance for neglect or abuse on our farm. We do not condone the behavior of bad actors. Overwhelmingly, the majority of farmers care for their livestock with the same integrity as our family farm does. We know healthy animals produce healthy food and we eat the same food as you do.” Hear more from Chris Chinn – and see a legitimately-produced video of a swine farm.

I've learned incredible lessons from cows, celebrated life's greatest wins with them, cried many tears when they suffered - and am grateful for the food they provide.

Just like vigorously and repeatedly smacking a small child on the back when he is choking might look like abuse if you aren’t aware of the situation, some things that may look like abuse on a farm are actually done in the animal’s best interest. For example, one of my cows went “down” this summer – on a lovely green pasture. It’s a bad situation when there’s 1500 pounds of cow that can’t stand on her own and the temperature was over 90. As I waited for help, I kept her heart going by beating on her chest (and it takes a pretty good thump to make an impact on that size of animal) and kept her alert with slaps to her face. In the back of my mind I worried, what if someone was driving by and saw me? Would they think I was abusing her? Probably. No matter how compassionately you treat a farm animal in distress – it’s not pretty. However, I knew I had to do what was right to care for my animal and I’m happy to say she survived.

Farmers are deeply committed to the animals in our care. If our animal is in distress, we will spring into action to help. Please keep this in mind next time someone shows a new “shocking video” about the treatment of animals on farms. Remember that videos are produced by groups whose integrity is questionable, at best. Case in point, the Humane Society of the United States, with 50% of their costs going to fundraising, paying lobbyists and overhead costs according to Animal People News (an animal rights newspaper). HSUS campaigns on puppies and kittens, yet they spend more money on executive salaries and their $11 million corporate pension plan than local shelters. My guess is that they’re likely using a great deal of that money in producing the next farm animal video, in the hopes that it will help them with their membership woes.

I have loved animals for a lifetime – I understand how tough it is to see the nasty videos of animals in terrible situations, but hope you might consider the integrity at stake here. I’m not claiming every farm is perfect; I’m simply pointing out that that an agenda-driven group who violates private property, biosecurity, food safety and employee protocol (by not immediately reporting abuse) deserves to be questioned. After all, how would you feel if a secret video was shot of your family by a group with questionable track record that disagreed with your activity and it ended up on the news? Isn’t it time we stop overlooking the lack of integrity?