Content about consumer

Bacteria at the Gate? The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently released the 2011 Retail Meat Report and the 2011 Summary Report on Antimicrobials Sold or Distributed for Use in Food-Producing Animals. These documents, the most recent as of February 2013, highlight there are some serious concerns about the use of antibiotics in animal agriculture.

Wired Magazine's Superbug blog is publishing material that many people are seeing this month, shaping consumer views on how agriculture needs to operate.

How are farmers and ranchers participating in these conversations? Farmers and ranchers are aware of the issue and are participating (see 2012 One Health Approach to Antimicrobial Resistance and Use ).

Ray Prock and Jeff Fowle, both California farmers and ranchers, provide a perspective on the evolution of digital and social media in agriculture and the need to connect with people not familiar with farming and how food is raised.

"I think we've reached the time where the ability to create an app for some online feature that is useful to people outside of agriculture is going to be the next focus" says Jeff Fowle

Direct link to MP3 audio file, right click and download file

Urban Agriculture is a phenomenon consumers are starting to connect with. What are some of the issues and resources? These links can help.

Farmers Markets and Consumers What are some of the issues and requirements for farmers to sell their produce at farmers markets? How are farmers markets and opportunity to connect with consumers? These are some of the discussion points from this week's AgChat.

Reminder: Agvocacy 2.0 Application Deadline June 4th - The deadline for the Agvocacy 2.0 social media training conference application is June 4th, 11:59pm ET.

Communicating Shared Values Across the Food Chain - Greg Ferrara, National Grocers Association, VP of Public Affairs, from the Animal Ag Alliance Stakeholders Summit, Real Farmers Real Food, Celebrating Tradition and Technology, May 2-3, Arlington, VA, USA.

Food Comes From Someplace Food is everywhere and yet where does it come from? Consumers see food stacked and organized in groceries and restaurants magically bring the food from the kitchen. But food has to come from someplace, doesn't it? This FoodChat aims to help consumers understand the origins of food and help farmers learn more about consumer's questions.

What Consumers Want If you, as a consumer, had the opportunity to ask farmers and ranchers questions, what would you ask? Better yet, what would you like farmers and ranchers to know about you and your family’s food buying decisions? This AgChat convo brings in several consumers (@mz55qrf, @agrospheric, @RyanByrneTweets, @hoadlck, and @jay_kitchener) to find out what consumers want.

Sharpening Your Competitive Edge - Mac Stone, from the 2012 Indiana Farm Bureau Young Farmers Conference, January 27-28, 2012, Indianapolis, IN, USA.

Dr. Tom Shryock provides a comparison of the antibiotics used in animal health, what the connections are to humans, and what steps are being taken to protect and improve public health. From the 2011 Antibiotic Use In Food Animals conference, October 26-27, 2011, Chicago, IL, USA.

The Chicago Public Schools took a public policy stance in 2011 by serving local, antibiotic chicken in 473 of its schools. This action makes the statement that consumers have a preference for food that is free of antibiotics and is locally grown. Independent of the view of farmers, ranchers, or producers, consumers do have a voice and are influenced by how science and technology is positioned.