Top 5 takeaways from the 2017 Sustainable Agriculture Summit

The Sustainable Agriculture Summit in Kansas City, Mo., was another eye-opening experience. This was the second year that staff from the cooperative attended and it was great to see more farmers and agricultural interests represented.

Attendees included employees of major brands like General Mills and Starbucks and retailers like Walmart and Aldi. Many commodity organizations were there including beef, pork, poultry, soy, corn, rice and dairy.

Two days of panel presentations and breakout sessions covered a broad range of sustainability-related topics like applying indicators and metrics, managing for biodiversity, disruptive technology changing on-farm sustainability and more.

Here are five key takeaways for farmers and agriculture allies:

1.       Worker welfare is a concern for brands and retailers

In a panel presentation about dairy farm management, representatives from Foremost Farms, Select Milk Producers Cooperative and Dairy Farmers of America shared their experiences with various parts of the National Dairy FARM (Farmers Assuring Responsible Management) program facilitated by National Milk Producers Federation.

The fourth version of the animal care segment of the FARM program is in the works and the federation is rolling out the first version of an environmental stewardship model. Coming next is a worker safety component. Brands like Starbucks have employees working on understanding the welfare of employees on farms to ensure ethical sourcing of their products.

2.       Facts don’t persuade people, people persuade people

Tamar Haspel, a columnist at the Washington Post, gave a great presentation with insight on how we can better connect with others. While people think they make decisions by putting facts together, the reality is that decisions are made based on gut feelings, intuition and values. Confirmation bias rules the human psyche and people seek out information sources that confirm what they already believe. People find innovative ways to reject “facts” they disagree with. Therefore, facts are not persuasive because we make decisions based on values. The idea that “if only they knew this information” would change people’s minds is incorrect.

3.       The future of food is drastically different

Mike Lee is an entrepreneur who founded The Future Market, an idea that explores how we will produce, shop and consume food in the next 25 years. He shared his idea of what the future of food looks like – it will be flexible, experiential, productive and customized.

4.       Brands/retailers aren’t looking to pay more for added claims

It is no secret that brands and retailers are always looking for the next best thing or claim they can add to their products or stores to differentiate themselves in an uber-competitive marketplace. The trend continues to move toward sustainably sourced products – whatever that means to a particular brand or product.

Brittni Furrow, senior director of sustainability for global food businesses at Walmart shared with the audience that soon Walmart’s stores will have signs in their seafood cases that describe what the different labels mean on packaging. When asked about providing incentives to farmers to meet the different demands of brands and retailers, she said that third-party verification for all agriculture products must first be in place before any incentives would be considered. What this means for farmers is that it doesn’t sound like brands or retailers are willing to pay more for certain claims or production practices they want in place on farms. 

5.       Farmers need to be at the table

The whole summit fostered discussions on expectations from customers, brands and retailers for the future of food and how it is produced. As farmers, it is vital that we are represented and engaged in these conversations. Many decisions are made by retailers and brands about product sources and labels that have to do with our production practices. If we aren’t at the table to discuss these issues with the rest of the food supply chain, they will continue to make decisions that affect our businesses without our input.

We had the opportunity to meet a variety of people from across the supply chain and offer our contact information if they ever need more information about dairy farming or want to tour a dairy farm. We want all Edge members to know that we are out there representing the dairy community and looking out for your best interests.

Panel presentations at the summit covered a broad range of topics. Photo by FoodMinds.