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are very concerned about the safety of the food they serve
and that care was taken during production with respect to the
environment and farm workers. Food is a very personal issue for
them, for us, for everyone.
“When it comes to sharing why we do what we do, farmers
can’t ever relax,” said Lidback. “And we need to do a better job
of making sure we’re listening to concerns and meeting them
just as much as we explain methodology and our own stories.
“Speak up and put good information out there, and if that’s
not for you, then support individuals or groups that do.”
Savage believes the GMO narrative must change, and
the anti-GMOmovement tagged as anti-farmer. There are
compelling truths to be told about farm life—that corporate
farms are not the norm. “These people that grow your food are
just regular people that you can relate to,” he said. “These are
family operations that face some really severe challenges.”
Savage also suggested winning over open-minded
individuals by telling the fantastic stories of new products that
benefit farmers, consumers and the environment. He cited
three with Canadian connections.
The first, by AquaBounty, which operates a hatchery in Prince
Edward Island, is the AquAdvantage Salmon. Developed to
be fast-maturing and raised entirely in indoor tanks, it may
potentially take pressure off wild fish populations.
Approved for sale in the U.S. and Canada and marketed for
their reduced browning and bruising characteristics, the J.R.
Simplot Company’s Innate potatoes also have the potential to
reduce food waste and farm input costs. A Boise, ID, company,
Simplot operates Canadian test plots, and its first-generation
potatoes are available in 4,000 U.S. grocery stores.
Arctic Apples fromOkanagan Specialty Fruits are likewise
marketed as non-browning. “It’s a small company doing
something that makes sense for consumers,” said Savage.
“Once consumers see those apples fresh, sliced or dried, they’ll
say ‘OK, this is not an abstraction, it’s really cool.’”
Savage admitted these are complex stories and difficult to
tell for the purpose of winning the public over, adding it may
unfortunately take a crop crisis to sway public opinion. For
example, Italian olives are being wiped out by xylella fastidiosa
bacteria. “Biotech is probably one of their only solutions.”
MOBILIZING PUBLIC TRUST
Earning public trust in the agricultural sector is indeed a
complex task, of which the GMO issue is just one facet.
Launched in May 2016 and modelled after its U.S. counterpart,
the Canadian Centre for Food Integrity (CCFI) is attempting to
consolidate agriculture’s subdivided landscape of jurisdictions,
sectors and associations to build trust in food and farming.
CCFI listens to consumers and shares this research and
resulting messaging with industry groups. Among these,
Agriculture in the Classroom works with schools, Food & Farm
Care works with consumers, and Agriculture More Than Ever
encourages farmers to speak up. While these “amplifier groups”
spread tailored messaging, each company and association also
carries out its own communications work.
“Fifty per cent of our population is unsure if the food system
is even on the right track,” said CCFI president Crystal Mackay.
“There’s this huge package of questions about everything that’s
on their plate: the wheat in the pasta, the salt in the bacon, how
was the pig treated and did it eat GMO feed?”
Overwhelmed by conflicting information, consumers may
not have the ability nor the interest to sort through it for credible
sources, said Mackay.
“Our focus is to help the food system earn trust. We do that
through everyone frommy dad, the beef farmer in the Ottawa
Valley, to the CEOs of the biggest food companies. One
company, one commodity, one sector, one business cannot
tackle this effectively on their own.
“If you want to drive change, you’ve got to get out of the back
of the truck,” she said. “The reality is, on many topics, the farm
sector has been driven around by other people’s agendas and
then we respond and react.”
CCFI has found antibiotics to be the top public food-
system concern, with GMOs a close second. In 2016, it
held a food-system forum on antibiotics for food-industry
executives. A post-event evaluation revealed that participants
overwhelmingly pronounced the issue “really complicated.”
“And that’s good,” Mackay emphasized. “We want the
other end of the supply chain to realize a press release is
not going to solve this topic. This is a complicated area, as
GMOs are.” In late September of this year, CCFI held a similar
summit on the GMO topic. The supply chain, she noted, was
designed for competition, not collaboration, so facilitating
a conversation between all its players is in everyone’s best
interest. As is pooling investment dollars, ideas and expertise.
“It’s the difference between short-term competitive gain and
long-term investment in public trust,” she said. “It’s a whole new
way of doing business.”
The key to the GMO issue, she explained, is realizing that
giving people more scientific information may not win them
over. “We live in a country where food choice is abundant.
There are people that choose different options. Price it
accordingly and don’t be defensive about it.”
A pro-GMO paradigm shift is not near, but the farmer’s hands
are back on the steering wheel. While it may be difficult to
translate the agricultural efficiency of GMO crops, Canadians say
access to affordable food is of top importance. “We can grow
more food on less land with less inputs, but it’s hard to transfer
that to a consumer benefit,” she said, suggesting the issue be
positioned accordingly. “How does the GMOmessage frame
up into providing healthy, affordable food? If we can achieve
that, we’ll move the bar a long way.”
The stakes are high, said Mackay. “This is where public
trust fits in: Will we be allowed to innovate? You can spend
$100 million on some new, amazing technology, but if your
neighbour says no…”