Overhe(a)rd: Trust In Food and How to Respond to PETA

Overheard in D.C.: In this episode, Nate Birt, Director of Development & Programming with Trust In Food, shares how agriculture is working to develop deeper connection between producers, conservationists and consumers. Security experts Jim Rovers and Sophie Cranley explore how farms can respond to organizations like PETA and how to educate consumers. Here’s a quick breakdown of the show: 

Have you he(a)rd: The latest news in livestock

Birt offers an update on a new initiative, America's Conservation Ag Movement, that builds on decades of U.S. conservation ag progress, and the unveiling of Agriculture Through the Voice of the Farmer, a new installation showcasing agriculture on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Both will be formally celebrated July 26 at a media event in Washington.

Trust In Food, a division of Farm Journal, seeks to support and accelerate industry programs dedicated to conservation agriculture through public-private initiatives such as America's Conservation Ag Movement.

“This program is really about championing agriculture's role, taking ownership of the opportunities that we have to tell agriculture’s story and to make positive change. And then actually being able to document that change from an attitude and awareness standpoint of conservation ag and the farm base and the public,” Birt says. 

Learn more about Trust In Food by listening in the link below. 

Meat the millennial 
Millennial meat and dairy eater Ashley shares this tip for speedy meals: 

“What I discovered recently, which is probably very much a stereotypical a millennial thing, is the rotisserie chicken when it's already been pulled off that chicken and it's just ready to use,” she says. “It's more expensive, but with my schedule—both my husband I work full time and I've been on three business trips this month—those extra dollars are totally worth it to me to just be able to put that in a supper.” 

Here more of Ashley’s tips and opinions in the podcast below. 

The main dish
AFIMAC Global security experts Jim Rovers and Sophie Cranley work with businesses in all parts of the food supply chain, from farms and processing plants to restaurants and grocery stores, to help mitigate their business risks. Rovers, an attorney who grew up on his father’s farm, says his team has built a toolbox of techniques to help farmers respond when activists show up at the farm. 

In part two of a two-part interview, Rovers and Cranley discuss business policies and practices to protect your farm, including how to respond to PETA and other activist organizations. Of critical importance, Rovers says, is to make sure you’ve hired a crisis communication specialist. 

“Crisis communicators are really well-versed in being able to spin something and creatively respond to an attack,” he says. “Because if you don't respond appropriately, you're going to either fuel it or it's going to backfire on you. So you could do that creative spin properly, it quickly goes away, because there's nothing to talk about, there's nothing to even go against.” 

Listen to the full episode, including more advice from Rovers and Cranley, here:

Other ways to listen:
Apple podcasts
Spotify
Omny

Also check out these related articles:
ASF Resource Center
Q&A: How to Handle a Crisis on Your Dairy
How to Make a Bacon Bouquet
Episode 1: Overhe(a)rd: Fair Oaks Farms, Meat the Millennial and Shrinking Farms