Agricultural Sustainability: Consumers Have Your Back
September 10, 2010 Consumers trust growers more and have more optimism about sound agricultural practices than we might think, according to a survey commissioned by BASF, which released the results at its “A Grounded Approach to Agricultural Sustainability” media summit in June.
The results found that consumers take an optimistic view of farmland stewardship practices, and believe the industry will continue to improve sustainability efforts. Similarly, when asked to gauge their own priorities and views on environmental stewardship, growers also held a positive view.
“Consumers trust growers more than growers probably expect them to,” said Paul Rea, vice president of BASF U.S. Crop Operations. “This is a strong foundation that the agricultural industry can build on in its goal to improve trust and align priorities even further.
Jeffrey Driver, an independent toxicologist who helped analyze the results, encouraged media who attended the summit to continue to provide accurate information to the discussion about crop inputs and human health. “People often don’t appreciate the rigorous layers of scrutiny pesticides go through before and after they are approved for use by federal agencies,” Driver said. “Media in the industry can help consumers understand that. Informing consumers can only lead to more confident and informed purchasing.”
Survey Highlights
- Both growers and consumers feel that farmland stewardship practices are better now than 10 years ago, and will continue to improve during the next 10 years.
- Consumers think growers place more emphasis on environmental impact when they select pesticides than growers report of their own behavior in decision making.
- Consumers feel that growers are receiving crop inputs from trustworthy sources.
- Growers place top priority on effectiveness and cost when selecting a pesticide input.
“In the end, it comes down to consumers having trust in growers, both to provide a safe food supply and to have minimal impact on our environment,” Rea said. “We can help strengthen this trust by providing growers with the information and support they need to make sure consumers are informed with the right information.”