It only takes a little bit to change a mind - whether yours or someone else's. A little bit of initiative can get a lot accomplished.
I have to say, I've been pretty down on my chosesn profession in the past few weeks. Well, probably longer than that because the assault on production agriculture has been going on for quite a bit longer. But, my bad attitude toward journalism has gotten progressively worse over the past few weeks mostly because of the recent TIME magazine article.
Unfortunately for those of us involved in production agriculture, we have relied too heavily on the mainstream media to tell our story. This is unfortunate because, as has become all to apparent in the last few weeks, journalism has changed greatly over the past few years. In fact, it has morphed from th Woodward and Bernstein era (the two gentlemen that could find dirt in a snowstorm and uncovered the Watergate scandal) to the Kenner and Walsh show (director of Food, Inc., and writer of TIME's most recent recylable), where facts don't matter and it's okay to dress opinion pieces up as hard news.
The thing that makes this especially dangerous for the agriculture industry is the fact that consumers - for more than three or four generations - have been removed from their farming roots. Even though many consumers' great-grandparents spent their lives raising food for their families and America, consumers are too far removed from their farming past. This has created an information gap where consumers, who still believe they're living in the Woodward and Bernstein era of journalism, tend to believe everything they read. And, agriculture, the industry that once trusted the media to tell it's story truthfully, doesn't know how to rebound from ill-written articles that misrepresent the industry.
But, this is where I can circle back to my original thought: initiative.
As I said, I've been very distrustful of the mainstream media - and the monster it has created - as of late. But, that's when I read this:
If you haven't read this - and are a fan of agriculture (or even if you aren't) - make sure you take a look at this entry. Eliz Greene was very much a fan of organic foods and small, local farms and was very much against larger farms and traditional agriculture.
Then, she decided to go out and take the initiative to see a farm herself. She and her children traveled to an 800-cow dairy farm in Wisconsin to check out the operation.
Much to her surprise, the cows were dirty, mistreated, sad or ill-cared for. The cows were healthy and happy. And, the farmers did everything they could to make sure it stayed that way - 24 hours a day.
By just taking the initiative to go out to a farm and see for herself, Ms. Greene found out that the "issues" surrounding production agriculture weren't as black and white as editors and directors like Bryan Walsh, Eric Schlosser, Michael Pollan and Robert Kenner would have her believe. Sure, she admitted there was more she needed to know, but she began to understand that farmers do care about their land and their livestock. If they didn't, they would have a livelihood.
Can you imagine what would happen if we could get everyone to take a little bit of initiative to come out and visit the farm themselves? I'm not saying that we haven't done enough to "open our doors" - I know the agriculture industry has offered to accomodate industry critics more than once.
But, it does mean we need to make every effort possible to make sure that our story - the correct one - is out there and that we are doing everything we can to make sure people outside of the agriculture industry feel welcome enough to take the initiative to visit the farm themselves. And, to make up their own mind, rather than having it spoon-fed to them.
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