JANUARY 2019 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC Public trust programming to


expand in 2019 Shared values of farmers, consumers will be a focus


by MYRNA STARK LEADER ABBOTSFORD – As the new


year begins, there’s plenty of work on the plate of BC Agriculture Council community trust manager Becky Parker. Seven months into her role,


Parker says 2019 will see continued efforts to create common language and tools to be used by producers and producer organizations to increase public trust in agriculture. In late November, BCAC


held two no-charge Speak Up training sessions in Kamloops and Kelowna funded through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership. Parker says about 30 producers participated in the sessions, aimed at providing communications skills for talking with consumers about agriculture. The speaker was Clinton Monchuk, executive director of Farm and Food Care Saskatchewan. The Kamloops crowd included beef producers, small-scale livestock operators and sheep producers. The Kelowna group included livestock, tree fruit and cherry farmers, as well as a few government representatives, too. “Most people have some


level of discomfort in having these types of conversations and so a lot of what we focused on was how to respond to difficult questions,” Parker explains, saying feedback about the events was positive and smaller groups enabled great conversations.


Responding to producer


demand, Parker is developing similar training that will provide a deeper


understanding of the BC consumer’s context – what they know about farming and food production systems, and how to address their specific issues. “Developing a strategy


around it will happen in this first quarter with a plan to look for opportunities to offer that training in 2019 throughout the province to commodity groups and at agriculture events,” she says. She’s also working on some communications resources focused on values farmers and consumer share, such as access to healthy and affordable food,


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environmental sustainability and animal welfare. BCAC ran an online survey


for producers about shared values in November. It received about 250 responses. Parker says the results will be used to draft statements and communication tools that producers and those in the agri-food industry can use when they engage with consumers. “We want to create some


key points that farmers and ranchers can use in their conversations, their social media outreach and on their business websites. Shared values isn’t something we talk about in our everyday language so this will be a way to help normalize the conversations,” says Parker. Research from the


Canadian Centre for Food Integrity has identified that shared values are three to five times more effective in building trust with consumers. Another piece of her work will be evaluating industry standards and assurance systems of some BCAC member groups, such as the


37


Speak up! Kelowna area farmers attended a public trust workshop in November. MYRNA STARK LEADER PHOTO


national proAction initiative dairy producers have adopted. “We’ll look at who else


across BC agriculture has those types of systems and what standards are covered,” says Parker. She says interviews with members will provide qualitative feedback on the barriers to implementing similar systems, successes and how producers’ insights can be shared widely. The goal is for BCAC to describe best practices, with commodity associations implementing what makes sense for them. “BCAC, being a pan ag


organization, our goal is to create resources that cross commodity lines. We


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year’s work, and the relaunch of a new We Heart Local BC website to connect farmers and consumers, Parker says things are moving in the right direction.


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