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Don't be afraid to use the S-wordBy Doug Rich
Temple Grandin, Ph.D., professor of animal science at Colorado State University, is known around the world for communicating with livestock producers about low-stress livestock handling techniques. Speaking at the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association's annual convention and trade show on July 30, Grandin talked about what she has learned about communicating with the general public about livestock production since the release of an HBO film about her life. Prior to the release of the HBO film, which has been nominated for 15 Emmy awards, Grandin was busy attending press conferences in Hollywood to promote the film. She said reporters asked more questions about livestock production than they did about the movie. "The public is hungry for this information," Grandin said. Grandin said ranchers need to show all the stuff they do every day. Ranchers need to tell how they do their job plainly and clearly without emotion, because many people are totally separated from where they get their food. "Get away from all the public relations fluff," Grandin said. "Put it in your own words, a ranch is a family farm." Grandin works with packing plants, and she calls them just what they are--slaughter plants. She does not shy away from using the S-word and regrets that people have started referring to the process as harvest. Grandin said she used the S-word when doing interviews about the movie. "Harvest is what we do with grain," Grandin said. Grandin recalled that in the 1950s, school kids went on tours of slaughter plant facilities, but kids today are separated from reality. Farmers and ranchers need to show what they do in a matter-of-fact way. "We need to clean up our house and show it," Grandin said. To communicate what livestock producers do Grandin started putting some of her training videos on the Internet. One of these showed how to humanely stun a pig. The video got 400,000 views right away, but not all of the responses were positive. Grandin said she took off all the F-bombs, nasty posts, racist comments, and wacko comments. "If they said something that made sense, I made a reasoned response," Grandin said. "Keep your own emotions out of it. Don't respond with anger. We need to take the mystery out of what we do. People are interested--just look at the popularity of shows like Dirty Jobs." David Martosko, from the Center for Consumer Freedom, said agriculture needs to educate the public because groups like The Humane Society of the United States are winning the public propaganda war. Martosko spoke to Oklahoma cattlemen following the presentation by Grandin. "Whether you want to be at war with them or not, they are at war with you," Martosko said. Martosko said HSUS is playing a long game, looking 30 years down the road, and they are playing offense all of the time. Martosko said it takes about 30 years to move an idea from unthinkable to public policy. An idea moves from unthinkable, to radical, to acceptable, to sensible, to public policy. As an example, Martosko said to look at smoking bans in public places today. Thirty years ago that was unthinkable. To move an idea from unthinkable to public policy requires two things: money and imagination. HSUS has $191 million in assets and spent $130 million just on its marketing budget last year. Plus HSUS has an imagination to match its budget; just look at the ads they ran for Proposition 2. "The animal industry has a failure to imagine." Martosko said. The goal of HSUS is to depress the sale of animal products and increase the cost of production until the animal industry is out of business. Martosko said to HSUS getting 10 people to go vegetarian half of the time is just as good as having five full-time vegetarians. HSUS wants to price your product out of the reach of more and more Americans. "We need to create a new conventional wisdom about HSUS," Martosko said. "What it will lead to is more and more of the public understanding that HSUS is basically the same as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals." There is no such thing as firm conventional wisdom. The animal industry needs to lower the approval rating for HSUS. "Be careful when you educate the public about agriculture," said Jayson Lusk, ag economist at Oklahoma State University. "People will become more concerned, not less, when they become informed." Lusk said many people base their understanding of agriculture on an agrarian ideal from 50 to 100 years ago. The general public's understanding of the reality of modern agriculture is limited. In a recent survey consumers were asked what percentage of the eggs available in the grocery store came from cage-free layers. Consumers said 63 percent, when in reality only three percent of the eggs come from cage-free layers. To better educate the public, Lusk said agriculture should avoid ineffective arguments. One ineffective, often-used argument is that sound science supports modern livestock production practices. Lusk said this point could be debated. You are forcing the public to choose between beliefs and science. Instead, beef producers should emphasize costs, trade-offs, and unintentional consequences of some animal welfare initiatives. For example when Proposition 2 was passed in California, grocers decided to import cheaper eggs. The law did not change how eggs are raised--just where they are raised. "People don't like to be forced to make difficult trade-offs," Lusk said. There is some good news about animal welfare. Lush said consumers are concerned about animal welfare, but they are twice as concerned about the financial well-being of farmers. "They want ag producers to do well," Lusk said. All three speakers stressed that animal welfare is not a passing fad. It is here to stay. Learning to communicate with the public and with animal-rights activists about modern ranching practices is just another chore that needs to be done. Doug Rich can be reached by phone at 785-749-5304 or by e-mail at richhpj@aol.com.
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