| Teaching consumers key to pork producers’ future |
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| By MEGGIE I. FOSTER
Assistant Editor
DANVILLE, Ind. — Delicious pork chops, smoked bacon and cured ham may be purchased at a local supermarket, but that’s certainly not where it comes from. Farmers obviously know this; but the average consumer, now that is often a different story.
To gear up on ways to educate the everyday consumer, pork producers from across the state attended the annual Midwest Pork Conference on Sept. 11 in Danville, Ind. One of the featured sessions of the day discussed ways to address community issues and work with the local media to tell the true story of pork production from the farm to the dinner plate.
“Most reporters in T.V. and radio don’t know much about agriculture, so it’s your job and truly your opportunity to set the record straight and tell them all the good things about your family farming operation,” said Brian Baxter of Baxter Communications, who conducted the community issues session.
Baxter shared tips on talking with local reporters to portray the benefits of pork production, rather than enforcing a negative portrayal of how pigs are raised in the state, especially if the story carries a negative tone or message about agriculture.
“What you want to try to prevent is being negative, stay positive and focus your message around the benefits of your industry and farm operation,” said Tim Maniscalo, government and public affairs manager from Dow AgroSciences, who participated on the panel discussion with Terry Henderson, president of Achieva. “Also, don’t lose sight of the subtle images of farm and family life, things that you do everyday.”
Adding to Maniscalo’s point, Baxter emphasized the importance of shaping a personal message when communicating with reporters, neighbors and community members. “Once you develop a message personal to you and your farm, you have to reemphasize that message, this supports what you’re trying to get across,” conceded Baxter. “And have your message ready, kept in a file, so you’re prepared at all times.”
To stress his message, Baxter discussed five tips for effective communication:
•Be correct, or use accurate numbers when representing farm records or industry facts. An example of an industry fact could be: Indiana is ranked as the fifth largest pork producing state in the country or Indiana markets over 6.5 million pigs a year.
•Be clear by avoiding jargon terms such as A.I. or farrow-to-finish – often terms producers use, but consumers don’t understand.
•Be consistent by re-emphasizing the message.
•Be convincing by “adding pizzazz by putting a personal perspective in the story.”
•Be credible by implementing farm or industry facts into the message.
For more information on working with the community and media to tell the story of modern pork production, Baxter encouraged producers to contact Indiana Pork for tips and resources at www.inpork.org
Trade show and seminars
In addition to the community issues session, producers were invited to attend a pig handling and transportation seminar, economic update, legislative session and National Pork Producers Council update, a PCVAD panel discussion, economic and quality issues of DDGs report or an Indiana State Department of Agriculture update seminar, just to name a few. Also, the Conference, returning for its seventh year to the Indianapolis area, featured an expansive trade show area.
In between sessions, producers walked the aisles meeting with representatives from companies such as Elanco, Farmer Boy Ag Supply, Farmweld, Fort Recovery Construction and Equipment, JBS United, Ralco Nutrition, Whiteshire Hamroc, PIC, Vitaplus and the Indiana Board of Animal Health.
Numerous other companies from across the Midwest participated in the trade show, and many also served as sponsors of the conference.
Not without adding a little flavor to the event, a particularly interesting session for many may have been the keynote speaker, Damian Mason, who took the stage just after lunch, featuring you guessed it – pork chops. Mason, a professional speaker, entertainer and comedian since 1994, was raised on a dairy farm in northern Indiana and drew from that experience for his Humor for Agribusiness presentation. Mason, entertained an audience of nearly 500 producers and agribusiness professionals during the featured afternoon session at the conference.
“While the majority of our time was spent learning and sharing information, we thought our attendees would appreciate taking some time to look at the lighter side of our industry,” said Keith Schoettmer, pork producer and chairman of the Midwest Pork Conference committee.
As hearty laughter erupted during the keynote session, it was apparent Mason had struck a laughter cord with producers as he utilized his background in farming and life experiences as a Clinton impersonator for his at times, hilarious stories and comedic observations.
New location in Danville
For the past seven years, the event has taken place at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Indianapolis, but this year the conference started a new chapter in its history at the Hendricks County Fairgrounds in Danville.
The Danville fairgrounds, completely renovated and re-built in 2005, features an expansion indoor trade show climate and convenient site location just on the west side of Indianapolis.
According to Indiana Pork, this facility was “developed and specially designed to support agricultural events, making it the perfect venue for bringing together the region’s thousands of pork producers.”
For more details on the facility, visit www.hendrickscountyfairgrounds.com
This farm news was published in the Sept. 19, 2007 issue of Farm World, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee. |
| 9/19/2007 |
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