Sustainability is really a matter
of stewardship. Are you taking good care
of your land? Are you investing in your
soil to enhance its productivity for maximum yields? Are you protecting and preserving the
resources we all share—streams and rivers, fresh air, forests and prairies,
wildlife and waterfowl? And can you
prove it?
What’s changed over the years is
that consumers are no longer connected as closely to the farmers who produce
their food. The personal relationship
and the personal accountability have been lost, and for many that’s led to a
trust gap. There’s also a generation
gap.
One way some have tried to restore
that trust is through the “buy local” movement.
Farmers’ markets are more popular than ever, and small farmers are
building their customer base by selling directly through Community-Supported
Agriculture shares. This works for some,
but larger producers need different strategies.
As we’ve discussed before, both
major food processers and retailers have responded to consumer concerns about
climate change and the environment, fair labor standards and food safety by
establishing sustainability standards. The challenge for agricultural producers is
facing a multiplicity of varying standards trying to address the same
issue: trust. Trust is critical for processors and
retailers since it forms the basis of brand loyalty as well as the assurance of
repeat store visits.
But a new generation rising sees
trust differently. Including both Gen X
and the Millennials, I call them the Google Generation. The Google Generation looks at trust issues
virtually through their screens rather than physically across the fence or the
counter. They support Ronald Reagan’s
famous maxim when he dealt with the Soviet Union: Trust but verify.
As I told the Michigan Ag Leaders
Conference recently, the Google Generation takes its cue from social media and
the Internet. They decide what
institutions, what brands and even what individuals to trust based on what
their friends have to say. And that’s
not word of mouth, it’s words on the screen.
Their virtual relationships are impacting every aspect of their lives,
including their purchasing decisions and their politics.
With the average age of farmers at
58 and rising, many producers grew up in the post-World War II era or the
post-Korean War days, when an individual’s word was sufficient for trust and when
trust in institutions was much higher.
Thanks in part to the deep political divides in our country, today’s
consumers begin the purchasing process with a far higher degree of
skepticism. It’s not exactly
guilty-until-proven-innocent. But it’s
more like Jerry Maguire—“Show me the money.”
The Google Generation wants
proof. They want to know where their
food came from. They want to know that
it will benefit their health and that the production and processing will not
adversely affect the environment.
Organic claims, which address the process of raising crops and producing
livestock, are one strategy for addressing these concerns. Sustainability agreements that food
processors and retailers have established are another. But key to their purchasing decisions is what
their friends think and say on social media and what they learn through their
research on the Internet.
So those who plant the crops and
raise the livestock—along with those who process and sell to the public—need to
be prepared to respond to the concerns of younger consumers. Some see this as a threatening
development. I see it as an
opportunity. We can demonstrate afresh,
through new media and new venues, the truth of our deep concern for the land
and the natural resources we share. We
simply need to be as transparent in our dealings with our customers as we are
with our friends across the fence. The
message hasn’t changed, only the media for delivering that message.
And there’s more good news. We may not be twittering and tweeting, but
we’ve put technology to work for us as well.
The technical advances that have given rise to the Google Generation
have also given us precision agriculture.
Just as the new generation of consumers has increased access to information
and sources they trust, so we can monitor and verify exactly what happens on
our land. As I’ve said before, we no
longer farm by the acre or even the field.
We farm by the inch through precision agriculture, focusing every drop of
irrigation water, every molecule of fertilizer, every grain of wheat exactly
where it needs to go.
The Google Generation’s computers
link them to the information they seek.
Our computers link us to the land.
We can show exactly what we put
on our soil and what the yields were.
Our RFID tags follow our livestock from birth to the meat case. We know where it came from, where it’s been
and where it’s sold.
The days of Mr. Greenjeans are
long gone. But we can garner the trust of
the Google Generation and verify the safety and health of the food we produce
and the process we use to produce it—using the same technological advances that
inform their lives and their decision-making.
About the
author: Bruce I. Knight, Principal, Strategic Conservation Solutions, was the
Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs at the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) from 2006 to 2009. From 2002 to 2006, Knight served as Chief
of Natural Resources Conservation Service. The South Dakota native worked on
Capitol Hill for Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, Rep. Fred Grandy, Iowa, and
Sen. James Abdnor, South Dakota. In addition, Knight served as vice president
for public policy for the National Corn Growers Association and also worked for
the National Association of Wheat Growers. A third-generation rancher and
farmer and lifelong conservationist, Knight operates a diversified grain and
cattle operation using no-till and rest rotation grazing systems
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