One of the biggest challenges facing modern society is accurately understanding agriculture and its role in our everyday lives. In an era of information being readily available, it is amazing how quickly that information can be misinterpreted or misunderstood. As such, those working in agriculture are looking for ways to increase the amount of reliable and accurate information available to the public about the ranching and livestock industries.
As a staff member with the National Ranching Heritage Center – a remarkable museum and historical park sharing ranching with the public – I have the great privilege of being a frontline connector and communicator with society at large. Each year, more than 60,000 people come through the doors of the National Ranching Heritage Center. Millions more interact with our digital content.
With this firsthand experience answering questions from those curious about ranching, I have witnessed a broad diversity of understandings when it comes to agriculture. Some grew up with it and appreciate deepening their understanding of ranching heritage and culture. Others have not personally been involved in agriculture, but they had a grandma or an uncle who was involved. They have fond memories of learning about the farm or ranch and are brushing up their knowledge. Then there are the people who have had little exposure to agriculture. Most are curious to learn.
It is from this diversity that our team at the National Ranching Heritage Center has developed a sort of formula for how we are growing in our communication with the public. We know that not every person can set boots on a ranch and learn by “getting the dust in their nose.” To approximate that experience and what can be learned from it, we employ a variety of communication techniques to reach a broad audience. The National Ranching Heritage Center is honored to open the proverbial ranch gates for the public on behalf of the ranchers whose lifestyle we represent. We also hope to be a useful testing ground for how ranchers and the livestock industry at large can best share about ranching with the public.
Currently, the primary takeaway we have from interacting with the public on a daily basis is that each person starts with a different reference point. In decades past, we were often able to safely assume visitors had at least some understanding of ranching. Presently, that balance has tipped. More and more people are several generations removed from agriculture. As such, we have been working to employ a revised approach to our communications. We are working to “meet the public where they are in their understanding” of ranching. To do this, our communications should strive to do the following:
- Start with the basics
- Provide context
- Give visuals or experiential opportunities
- Relate the topic to something the audience member may be familiar with in everyday life
- Link the topic to the impact it has on the audience member’s day-to-day life
First, we begin with the basics. We have learned through hosting student field trips and working with educational partners that many in today’s youngest generations have never seen such things as a thunderstorm moving across the horizon, let alone a cow. As such, we start with the first building block of understanding – an accurate representation of cows and horses and the living things on a ranch. We can then expand on these basics for those who are ready to learn more or are already deeply knowledgeable and appreciative of the ranching lifestyle.
Armed with the basics, audience members are then ready for context. For those in the livestock industry, the context is already embedded in their being. However, those outside the industry are still forming a picture in their mind about ranching and how the parts and pieces fit together.
Photo courtesy of National Ranching Heritage Center – Texas Tech University.
Context, or “setting the scene,” is essential to understanding and can be provided for almost any ranching topic. A recent example for us here at the National Ranching Heritage Center of needing to employ more context was with an exhibit featuring a spur collection. Approximately 50 pairs of spurs were displayed in cases to show off their features. For collectors and those familiar with cowboy gear, the exhibit was intriguing. For audience members outside that niche, the exhibit was interesting, but they were struggling to understand the significance of what they were viewing. The exhibit needed more context to put spurs into perspective.
That’s where the third element comes into play: giving visuals or experiential opportunities. Audiences benefit greatly from visual references or hands-on experiences whenever possible. For our spur display, we learned from guests that they needed to see where on a ranch a spur fit in. Just for starters, they needed the context that spurs are worn by cowboys on their boots, and that the spurs are worn in a certain orientation. A visual representation of this would help the audience put those contextual pieces together just by looking at one image. To expand that to something experiential, we could offer demonstrations of putting a spur on a boot, or allow the audience members to try strapping on spurs to the boots themselves. Demonstrations, experiences and visuals often require more resources; however, the impression on the audience members is substantial.
Once the audience has the basics, some helpful context and a visual in their mind, they can now begin to connect it to something for which they have a prior frame of reference. Connecting to their own frame of reference helps the viewer make connections to the significance of the topic within the ranching and livestock industry. Using the spur exhibit example, we tried relating the spurs to athletes’ jewelry for certain audiences who understood that reference. Cowboys spending their hard-earned money on a fine set of custom spurs with intricate details and taste-specific design was easily understood when it was related to a pro athlete buying their first custom gold and diamond chain with their jersey number.
Finally, we work to connect these new understandings to the impact the information has on the audience member’s everyday life. To the extent that we can, we aim to make the communication about the audience members and the value they can gain. With regard to the spurs, audience members connected their new understanding to their own lives. Learning that spurs are among a cowboy’s prized possessions, and that spurs require a substantial investment in relation to a cowboy’s living, led audience members to an appreciation for how hard cowboys work. Not only did they make the connection that cowboys work hard, but they also made the connection that it is not about the money for most cowboys; cowboys work hard to steward the land and livestock for the benefit of the public. Learning that someone out there is investing their own hard-earned money in equipment for their job and putting in long workdays to benefit the audience member connected them to the impact.
Connecting the public to the impact on their everyday lives will have a full-circle impact on the future of the ranching and livestock industries. Today’s public audience is diverse with many different backgrounds. As an industry, we can continue to do our best to meet the public where they are in their understanding of ranching and livestock by offering the building blocks for their growth in awareness and appreciation of ranchers and cattlemen in their daily lives.
