PUBLIC AWARENESS
Farmers Meeting the Challenge
By Brenda Cassidy, Executive Director, AGCare
More and more, Ontario farmers are growing genetically enhanced crops for the benefits they offer: reduced crop
input costs, enhanced production efficiency, and the ability to produce high quality food crops using fewer or
safer pesticides. As producers, we can choose these tools to improve our products and our businesses. And we make
our choice in the knowledge that all new biotech products have undergone rigorous testing to ensure their safety
for human health, animal health and the environment.
Historically, farmers have adopted new methods and new technologies to improve agricultural production. And with
every change comes some resistance, whether it’s from within the farm community itself, or from the larger public,
who may not understand the intricacies of agricultural production...but who will ultimately determine the fate
of a new food or a new technology through acceptance or rejection in the marketplace.
For the last few months, AGCare’s efforts have focused largely on communications about crop biotechnology. We’ve
approached the task through a variety of formats: a strong media presence directed towards correcting misinformation
and underlining the benefits the new technology offers, a series of fact sheets on ag biotech topics distributed
through member groups and on our web site (www.agcare.org), a news conference aimed at urban media, and ongoing participation in public
events and on multi-sectoral committees focused on the issue. We attempt to present a balanced position, reflective
of the sometimes divergent opinion of the farm community.
Our goal has been to give consumers the information they’ve requested about crop biotechnology. Consumer research
suggests most people outside the farming community do not have a clear understanding of what is meant by terms
such as “biotechnology” and “genetic modification.” Without such background knowledge, informed consumer choice
about biotech foods is simply not possible. As a result, we are committed to providing user-friendly, accurate,
science-based information to help consumers make decisions.
AGCare, a coalition of 16 farm groups, speaks for Ontario’s 45,000 field and horticultural crop growers. We have
worked within the farm community, seeking opinions and building consensus on key issues such as labeling. Our strong
links with agricultural research help us provide up-to-date research results and information, and our growing media
presence provides us with many speaking opportunities.
All of the groundwork that has been laid over the last few months will be needed in the days ahead. A coalition
of anti-biotechnology advocacy groups has joined forces with the ultimate goal of turning the tide of consumer
opinion against the new technology. Looking to the experience in the UK as their model, they build on people’s
natural discomfort with the unknown through a combination of fear-mongering and selective science, extrapolating
hypothetical, unproven and unprovable risks into dire predictions of apocalyptic consequences.
Their motives are questionable; their tactics even more so. But to focus our energies on activist groups is counterproductive:
we must focus instead on our audience, consumers. By providing them with sound information, we can arm them against
the emotion-laden, inaccurate messages they may encounter.
Consumers have many questions. As farmers, we can provide answers related to food production and our use of the
new technology. We have assessed and analyzed the products. Many of us have adopted them for use on our farms and
we are witnessing the benefits first-hand. We need to share our knowledge with our urban customers.
Consumers have the right to choose the food they prefer, based on the criteria they set. For many consumers, taste,
nutritional value, price and convenience are the determining factors. As agricultural biotechnology matures, it
is expected that most of these factors will be enhanced through science. For consumers who, for whatever reason,
prefer to eat foods without genetically enhanced ingredients, ‘Certified GE-Free’ or organic products are a viable
option. Such a choice will involve a price premium – as do all specialty products – but the choice is available.
Farmers should have the right to choose as well, from the best available, federally approved management tools that
will help us to provide high-quality, nutritious, affordable food for our customers and keep our businesses strong
and competitive in a global market. But in the case of biotechnology, our right may be superseded by consumer distrust...unless
we speak up and speak out with a unified voice.
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