New livestock organization gathers steam

With consumer values increasingly determined by fear and insecurity fueled by pop culture, a coalition of agricultural groups wanting to counter the misinformation formed the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance about a year ago. Today, the alliance continues to grow and is developing funding sources and plans to launch its first public relations campaign this summer.

Hugh Whaley, general manager for USFRA, reported on the alliance’s goals and plans during the National Institute for Animal Agriculture’s annual conference this week. The alliance began with 20 organizations, including the National Corn Growers Association, American Farm Bureau, NCBA, the Pork Producers Council and others. Membership now has grown to 32. These organizations, he says, have significantly different positions on some issues, but all want to build consumer trust. Individually they each have relatively small budgets for advocacy, and organizers believed they could create a bigger impact working together.

To facilitate cooperation, the group agreed to take two issues – biofuels and the Farm Bill – off the table for the organization, which will focus exclusively on presenting a more realistic and positive portrayal of modern American agriculture to the public.

In developing its model for collaboration, the group drew upon the experiences of the Council for Biotechnology, which was successful during the 1980s and 1990s in countering fear-mongering and changing attitudes toward biotechnology.

The alliance currently is developing funding sources, which might include support from commodity checkoff programs and allied industry, as well as funds from affiliate organizations. Noting that it takes $20 to $30 million to successfully run a national PR campaign, Whaley says the group likely will contract with one or more existing agricultural-advocacy organizations to execute the eventual campaigns. The USFRA, he notes, has no staffing of its own, but contracts its management to Drake & Company.

The group is now developing a communications strategy and plans to launch its first initiative this summer, Whaley says. Ahead of the launch, they plan to test and evaluate their messages with consumer focus groups, to help ensure positive responses.

The alliance Web site contains information about the group, but they plan to launch a separate site with information targeted to consumers in the near future.