Farmers and Ranchers Encouraged to Share Their Stories

The Executive Director of Farm and Food Care Saskatchewan is encouraging farmers and ranchers to become more involved in telling their stories of agriculture

by Bruce Cochrane – FarmScape Online

Last week, as part of its annual Farms at the Table Conference, Farm and Food Care Saskatchewan named Sherri Grant, a Val Marie area rancher, as the 2018 Farm and Food Care Champion Award recipient in recognition of her efforts to educate consumers about agriculture.

Farm and Food Care Saskatchewan Executive Director Clinton Monchuk says, “by recognizing those who have done an outstanding job in educating the public, we inspire others to do likewise.”

“Truthful and transparent messages that we need to get out to consumers”

“I think what it does is it encourages others to do the same by stressing the importance of how we all need to get out there and make sure consumers understand what we’re doing.

“We’re in a state right now where less than three percent of the population has a direct tie to a farm or a ranch.

“So where are consumers getting their information? Well, they’re getting it from other sources so we need to make sure we’re active in being in that environment to actually share our stories so consumers understand the truth of what we do on our farms.

“I know a lot of us, I know my family, our neighbors, a lot of us are being more active and engaged in telling our story and talking to consumers about what we do.

“I just want to tell all of your listeners to join in, to talk about what you’re doing on Facebook or Twitter or at the local hockey game.

“In a lot of instances there are a lot of people that do not fully understand what we’re doing and they do have questions. That open transparent communication is excellent to make sure we’re engaging with consumers.

Monchuk notes Grant has taken an active role in education, going as far as authoring a book called “Where Beef Comes From” which explains in easy to understand terms how a calf is raised and what ranch life looks like all the way from the feedlot to processing.

He believes these are the truthful and transparent messages that we need to get out to consumers.