AgVocating to the Consumers

By Jessica Theisman, Associate Editor

Adrian Percy, global head of research and development for the crop science division of Bayer, recently discussed with California Ag Today the big need for AgVocating for agriculture so that consumers can understand the business.

“We need to make sure that we can maintain or restore trust in food and agricultural production methods because clearly there is somewhat of a disconnection between growers and the community,” Percy said. “Roughly two percent of the U.S. population are farmers. As many folks move to the cities, they are more and more disconnected from agriculture, and people need to understand the story of agriculture and why it is so important.”

Bayer conducted a survey over 10 countries and 10,000 individuals to poll consumers on their opinions of farmers.

“One of the interesting things was that despite a lot of controversy around agriculture, monoculture, GM, organic versus non-organic, still the public trusts farmers. There’s a high degree of trust and I think that comes from the emotional connection with food,” Percy said.

Growers are known to work sustainably and pass on to one another.

“This is not just in the U.S., it is also in the European markets,” he explained.

There are a lot of questions coming up around agriculture. As an agricultural input company, Bayer’s role is to help activate farmers or other folks in the industry to come out and talk about agriculture.

“We think that’s very important,” Percy said.