Opinion: Beware Of The Pasture Paparazzi

It is funny how sometimes something done with the best of intentions lends itself to being tagged with a catchy term and before you know it, the action is set up for ridicule. This happened recently with the introduction of Senate Bill 1246 (SB 1246) in the Florida legislature. The bill states: “Any person who enters onto a farm or other property where legal agriculture operations are being conducted and produces audio or video records without the written consent of the owner or an authorized representative of the owner, commits misdemeanor of the first degree.” Originally, it was a felony.

Basically, translating the legalese, it makes it criminal for a person to take pictures or videos of a farm’s operations without written consent of the grower. The buzzwords “pasture paparazzi” were coined about as quickly as this idea came to light. With a catchy term like this, news stories, blogs, and editorials covering the proposed legislation popped up nationwide — most all of it negative.

As I said, the idea of SB 1246 is well intended. It was proposed in response to undercover videos shot by groups like PETA and the Humane Society, which document abuses, mostly in animal processing facilities. There is no question videos like these give American agriculture a black eye. The bill is intended to make those willing to sneak onto a farm or deceive a grower about his or her intention to try to document something bad to think twice.

Well intended as it may be, I believe SB 1246 is a bad idea. True, videos showing abuses at feed lots or packing facilities released to the media with much fanfare are damaging. And yes, most of these videos have been aimed at livestock, not the produce and juice sector this magazine covers. But I’d be willing to bet most non-farm people who are negatively influenced by these “sting-like” operations don’t distinguish. To them, a farmer is a farmer.

So why would I argue this is a bad idea? We in agriculture for years have wrung our hands over the fact we aren’t getting the message of our importance out to the larger public. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard — “We are just preaching to the choir” — when it comes to our messaging and inability to reach the folks in the city. See, we are always talking among ourselves about how important agriculture is, while the well-fed public goes on about its business none too concerned about where all the food comes from.
A bill like SB 1246 will make the larger public take notice. It will make them think: What are those farmers trying to hide from me? Take, for example, a lowly little bill like this in the Florida Statehouse, that as of presstime hadn’t even been voted on the floor of the Senate, yet has already been covered by the New York Times and many other national media. Last I looked, about 50 people had commented on the Times’ story online. Virtually all were negative toward the bill. Someone from New York City posted: “What’s really going on [on] those Florida farms that they want to hide?”

Hopefully by the time you read this, SB 1246 will have been voted down. Regardless, that larger public we so desperately want to positively impress will have read a vast amount of negative news coverage on the bill. No doubt raising their eyebrows with suspicion all the while.