Banff (Rural Roots Canada) – If you don’t tell your farm story, who will?

That’s the question an Ontario dairy farmer and communications expert is asking, urging farmers to be the ones to tell their own stories.

If you don’t tell your story, who will?

That’s the question an Ontario dairy farmer and communications expert is asking, urging farmers to be the ones to tell their own stories.

Andrew Campbell and his family run a farm near Strathroy, Ontario. He also owns Fresh Air Media, a communications business.

Campbell says farmers need to do a better job of communicating how they produce food for consumers. He points out some farmers haven’t even started.

“Nobody else is going to tell our version of the story. Processors are going to tell theirs, retailers are going to tell theirs, and animal rights activists are going to tell theirs. Everybody has their version of how food is produced. We’re the only ones who can talk about it straight from the source. Therefore, we have to be the ones to do that.” Campbell says.

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It may seem a little daunting, but Campbell says if you decide to tell your story, you need to remember a few key points.

“One, we don’t need to win over every consumer, we don’t need to win a discussion, we just need to have these conversations because people are interested in what we have to say.”

Campbell points out that consumers have a lot of choices when it comes to buying a product. Farmers need to respect where the consumer is coming from, learn about why they make the food decisions they make and them learning about the food decisions farmers make and why.

“We all know those reasons. We all know why we choose to be conventional or organic, why we choose to put animals in a barn or not, or have one livestock over another.”

The other important thing to remember is that if you’re not that comfortable telling your story, you can get some help from farming organizations and businesses.

“You can pay someone else to do it and not necessarily hire them on farm, but there are organizations across the country that are really trying to do a good job in communicating that message to consumers and working with farmers that really do want to do that.”

Campbell was the keynote speaker, sponsored by Alltech, at December’s Banff Pork Seminar.