Two Hours a Month Will Reshape Consumers’ Opinions, Says Lehr

What if the two million people working in today’s agriculture sector took two hours a month to educate consumers on the benefits of modern agriculture and combat the opinions voiced by anti-ag groups?

Jay Lehr, Ph.D., science director of The Heartland Institute, spearheaded this idea and explained his philosophy recently at the United Soybean Board’s CONNECTIONS 2012 meeting.

“We’ve been a very silent profession the last 30 years, so anti-ag voices have been heard over our non-voices,” said Lehr. “Farmers owe it to their profession to become proactive and overcome the misinformation we hear about, such as biotechnology, lack of sustainability or environmental problems caused by inputs.”

Soybean farmers and industry leaders meet every two years at CONNECTIONS to identify game-changing issues that will shape the future of U.S. soy. Participants identify the most important future strategies in the areas of soy meal, soy oil, freedom to operate and customer focus.

As the agriculture industry faces consumer concerns on a variety of issues from food safety to biotech labeling, Lehr said farmers need to shape the message instead of reacting to it. Those who work in the field every day have the ability to change consumer attitudes by highlighting new advancements in agriculture, such as healthy high-oleic soy oil or biotechnology and its breakthroughs in helping increase production to feed the rest of the world.

“We need to figure out a way to educate others, whether it’s sending letters to your local newspaper, volunteering to teach at an elementary school, or better yet, hosting an open house on your farm one weekend between planting and harvest,” said Lehr. “Everyone in the industry owes 24 hours a year, which breaks down to two hours a month, to turn the tables on the misinformation we’ve be subjected to.”