A Moment With Center for Food Integrity Chief Executive Officer Charlie Arnot

As chief executive officer of the Center for Food Integrity, Charlie Arnot works to improve consumer trust and confidence in the U.S. food system. Since 2007, the Center for Food Integrity has been gauging consumers’ opinions about food produced in the United States, educating the public about where their food comes from and working with all facets of the food industry to establish guiding principles for how food should be produced.

Arnot’s career began in radio journalism and evolved to public relations and communications. He co-authors a weekly column for Feedstuffs and founded CMA, a communications consulting firm that specializes in issues management, public relations, strategic facilitation and marketing communications.

Q. Why are issues such as animal care and wellness and sustainability such hot-button issues now?

A. Consumers are geographically and generationally removed from farming and food production. In our research, consumers told us they trust farmers, but aren’t sure that what we’re doing today is still farming. The underlying erosion in trust, the change in size and scale of dairy farms and our use of technology create a fertile ground for activists and others to plant seeds of doubt about today’s farmers and the food they produce. Concerns over nutrition, obesity, the environment and animal welfare illustrate the growing gap between consumers and today’s farmers.

Q. Why should producers care what consumers think?

A. Consumers are the ultimate decision makers in the food chain. What they think, feel and believe about our products and production practices not only influences their purchasing behavior, but their willingness to publicly and politically support contemporary dairy production. If we lose consumer support, we not only risk losing sales, but our freedom to operate.

Q. There are a lot of misconceptions about on-farm practices. What can producers do to combat these?

A. Be transparent and willing to share your commitment to do “what’s right” as well as information about how you farm. It’s easy to become frustrated and defensive when people raise questions about who we are and what we do. The heightened level of public interest in farming is a great opportunity for farmers to re-connect and build public trust in how dairy is produced today. Farmers need to be engaged through Dairy Farmers of America, Inc. and other organizations in actively sharing their story. We can help reinforce and rebuild public trust by telling the story of today’s dairy in a compelling manner.

Q. What is today’s consumer’s view of agriculture? How can we change it?

A. Consumers have a romanticized view of farming that bears little resemblance to today’s farms. They aren’t sure that today’s farmers are still committed to doing what’s right, and they don’t understand the technology we use, or why farms are larger and more specialized than they were 50 years ago. Historically, agriculture has tried to educate consumers by providing more information on what we do. That approach may work with some, but it has yielded limited results.

The Center for Food Integrity has developed a new model for building consumer trust that has been peer reviewed and published in a scientific journal. In short, we discovered that shared values are three to five times more important than demonstrating our competence in building consumer trust. In other words, consumers are much more interested in knowing that farmers are ethical and committed to doing the right thing than they are in knowing how farming is done. Knowing this will help us develop more effective communication that builds public trust in today’s dairy. It’s the old adage that they don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

Q. Animal rights organizations have been drawing attention to on-farm practices. What, in your opinion, is the best way to combat these groups’ negative attacks?

A. First, we need to identify and understand our audience. We need to spend less time and energy focusing on the activists and more time focusing on customers and consumers. We need to accept that consumers and customers have interest in this issue and be proactive in reaching out to demonstrate our commitment to compassionate and responsible dairy production. Customers and consumers want permission to believe that what happens on today’s dairy farm is consistent with their values and expectations. We can give them that permission by communicating our values and commitment to dairy care and animal well-being and showing more of what happens on today’s well-run dairy operations.

Q. What are some examples of things the industry is correctly doing to educate the public? What can we improve upon?

A. There are a number of very strong programs in the dairy industry designed to build public trust. Values-based image work being done through the dairy checkoff program on a state and national level, producer outreach efforts through DFA, such as the Gold Standard Dairy Program, Farmers Feed US and other programs are all helping to connect consumers to today’s farmers, and that value-based connection is what builds trust.

The most important thing we can do to improve is to remember that consumers are less interested in information about how we do what we do and more interested in knowing that we share their values and are committed to doing what’s right. For example, if a consumer asks a question about animal welfare, let them know that you understand and appreciate that they care about animals and that you, as a farmer, are committed to making sure the animals on your farm receive good care each and every day. Helping consumers understand your commitment to their values helps build their trust and protects your freedom to operate.