Held in the nation’s capitol on May 3-5, the 2023 Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit attracted 320 attendees from five countries to learn, network and discuss key topics facing the industry.
“A recurring theme from our speakers was the need to work collaboratively across the food chain and beyond to enhance the future of animal agriculture,” said Hannah Thompson-Weeman, president and CEO of the Animal Agriculture Alliance. “Beyond the important conversations happening on stage, many of our attendees remarked on the unique opportunity to network with such a diverse group with a shared passion for animal agriculture, which is just as valuable.”
In addition to networking during the evening receptions, a bingo game challenged attendees to meet as many people as possible during the conference and get signatures from individuals that fit the bingo card categories. Category examples included first-time attendee, farmer or rancher, part of the dairy community, veterinarian, shows livestock – to name a few.
“Farmers vs. Foodies”
In the beginning of his keynote presentation titled “Farmers vs. Foodies: A look at the outside forces forging the future of farming and food,” Ray Starling discussed agriculture’s productivity gains over the past 70 years. Starling serves as general counsel for the North Carolina Chamber and president of the North Carolina Chamber Legal Institute.
“It’s a great story,” Starling said as he presented data trends about increased productivity, meat consumption and crop yields, along with declining global malnutrition data.
While the USDA Economic Research Service data continually show that agricultural production has grown an average of 2% annually since WWII, a chart Starling shared from The Economist demonstrated another type of productivity – labor efficiency.
“We are 1,600 times as productive in agriculture with one man hour of labor now compared to after World War II. No other industry comes close, and this is more evidence that we are doing a lot right,” Starling said.
His keynote presentation explored what Starling calls the “farmer versus foodie conundrum” and its potential to impact food security, along with how to bridge the gap. While many topics affect this “insiders” versus “outsiders” (or farmers versus foodies) mindset, he said some of the greatest influences are money, politics and legal forces.
“You can [ask Google], ‘Is the food system broken?,’ and I do this about two or three days before I give a presentation, and it never changes. The first eight pages essentially answer the question. ‘Yes, the food system is broken,’” he said.
While there are groups and individuals with negative agendas toward agriculture, Starling said that most people are not extreme in their views of the food system one way or the other.
“In reality, most people still like farmers. They are grateful for the system, and they don't really think a lot about agriculture,” Starling said. “I think at the end of the day, the facts are on our side, and I definitely think the moral argument is on our side.”
Building trust with consumers
Several panels and speakers explored consumer demographics, along with effective methods to reach them with messages that resonate.
Danielle Cummins with Aimpoint Research noted a “big shift” in the generational makeup of the consumer market, which currently includes six generations of consumers – the majority of which are Millennials, Gen Z and Gen Alpha. While Gen Alpha are children, they are driving purchases through their parents.
“We are seeing more ethnic and racial diversity within the consumer group, and this will continue to drive the diversity that they are going to demand in terms of food choice,” Cummins said.
The Center for Food Integrity’s Roxi Beck shared insights from their Gen Z research during a panel about “Engaging with consumers from A to Gen Z.” Members of Gen Z were born between 1997 and 2012 and are the most racially and ethnically diverse generation yet. They also account for about 20% of U.S. consumers and are driven by social causes.
“Transparency is imperative,” Beck said. “Gen Z doesn’t know life without a smartphone, and they want experiences that make them feel engaged, that give them that backstage pass to connect with true experts.”
Regardless of the consumer segment, Cummins noted that “the cornerstone of all of it is trust.” To build trust, she emphasized the importance of connecting on shared values and how shared values are “more important than facts.”
Sustainability and personalization are two of the priorities for the Next Gen consumer, she said.
“Millennials and Gen Z are more likely to purchase products that have a sustainability talking point or climate change commitment, but that really spans all generations,” Cummins said. “The consumer of tomorrow is different. They want all the things. They want health. They want freshness. They want something that’s going to make them feel good about that purchase and good about what they are putting into their bodies and what they are feeding their families. They want things that are personalized to them, and not only impact their health, but the environment as well.”
During another panel focused on agricultural technology’s role in helping build a sustainable future across agricultural sectors, Paul Davis from the American Feed Industry Association discussed the link between productivity and sustainability.
“When we improve production efficiency, we inherently improve sustainability,” Davis said.
Fellow panelists agreed with Davis about the role of current and emerging technology in harnessing sustainability progress, and Johan van Arendonk from Hendrix Genetics added that “animal genetics continue to contribute to a more sustainable approach.” Additionally, the panel, which also included Austin Gellings from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, discussed dairy’s journey to net zero by 2050, new collaborative initiatives within the feed sector and what it means to set the standard for sustainable animal breeding.
As the last speaker of the day, Joe Proudman, associate director of communications for the UC – Davis CLEAR Center, encouraged farmers and agriculturalists to “be bullish” about the work they are doing to provide food for a growing population. As the average consumer continues to get further away from the farm generationally, he encouraged those in agriculture to drop the jargon and speak in terms people who have never stepped foot on a farm would understand.
Protecting animal agriculture
During the final morning of the summit, speakers discussed animal rights extremism, including how animal rights activist groups raise money for their campaigns, what they are doing to influence legislation and the tactics they use to attack animal agriculture.
Jack Hubbard, partner and owner of Berman, focused on activist groups’ fundraising tactics and how they are spending this money. He also emphasized the importance of running offense instead of defense when dealing with these groups and how word choice matters when talking about agriculture.
However, animal agriculture is not the only target. Speakers representing companion animals and lab animals on various panels throughout the morning discussed how they face similar tactics and campaigns from animal rights groups, including traveling exhibits with virtual reality displays, infiltrations, event disruptions, targeting of individual scientists and legislative measures.
While the COVID-19 pandemic brought many activities to a standstill, these groups used the time to their advantage to increase revenue and the number of small-dollar donors while the business community was distracted by the ongoing global crisis.
“Over the past two years, ASPCA [American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals] and HSUS [The Humane Society of the U.S.] have doubled – if not more – their revenue and they haven’t even started to figure out how they are going to spend it,” Hubbard said. “Make no mistake, [these groups] want to put you out of business. It’s not just about sow housing, chicken genetics or antibiotics. [In an ASPCA video they posted on social media], they tell you that they want half of food service entrees to be plant-based by 2027. They’ve moved the goal post and now it’s that 50 percent goal. That’s your plate. Are you going to let them take it?”
During another panel about legal and legislative issues, Emily Lyons, partner attorney with Husch Blackwell LLP, discussed many of the ways activist groups use the courts to further their agendas, which include nuisance lawsuits, sue and settle, suing agencies over new regulations, complaints to law enforcement/regulators, animal theft acquittals and false advertising litigation.
Her co-panelist, Mike Bober, president and CEO of the Pet Advocacy Network, discussed the overlap between companion animals and the rest of animal agriculture. He said that there are many similar legislative trends between the two, but that in some ways, companion animals are regulated in ways that animal agriculture “doesn’t have to worry about – yet.”
Kelly Bristow moderated the “Partners around the plate: Shifting the conversation about food” panel with dietitian Nicole Rodriguez and agricultural author and speaker Michele Payn. “To dietitians like myself, it’s not about reaching one of us; it’s about the potential influence we can have on other dietitians and up-and-coming dietetic interns as well,” Rodriguez said. Photo by Kimmi Devaney.
One of those trends is “all politics are local-ish.”
“There are a lot of issues that activist groups attempt to push through at the state level,” Bober said. “They find that federal processes are a little bit difficult and cumbersome, and they are less likely to succeed without a significant spend, so they go to the state level. If they find that to be less than receptive, they find an activist individual in a small town and encourage them to reach out to the city council encouraging them to take a stand against [whatever the issue is], so it becomes very easy for a city council to pass something without a second thought. Zero economic impact on the people that will re-elect them and [it] allows them to show that they care about animal health and wellbeing, and it feels good, too. What a great reason to pass legislation.”
From there, it can escalate to higher levels of government.
When meeting with legislators, Bober recommended that farmers and those representing them distill information down to two or three points and avoid tangents. However, the most important part of the meeting, he says, is what happens afterward.
“The follow-up distinguishes a ‘what you can do for me’ meeting from a meeting that becomes the beginning of an ongoing relationship where you are seen as a credible resource, as an expert, as someone who brings value. With all of this, we are trying to create a future that is actually best for animals. It is based on data and science over emotion and rhetoric,” Bober said.
