Sadly, misconceptions run rampant throughout the agriculture industry; from things such as GMOs are absolutely nothing but trouble, and broiler chickens are pumped full of steroids and hormones to grow them to three time their normal size and many others. As agriculturalists, it is our job to help educate the public about our way of life and the industry that feeds us, because, as the saying goes, without agriculture, we would be naked and hungry. However, many of these misconceptions are due to a lack of understanding about the farm to plate process within agriculture. Though, it is not always the people that are misled in their ways of thinking about the industry, …show more content…
Thus, business and public misconceptions are the largest challenge facing the dairy industry and its farmers today. The dairy industry produces not only pure milk, but milk to be processed into other things such as ice creams, cheeses, creams, butters, and so much more that faces the challenge of public misconception every day. This is a huge challenge because, if the public becomes too misconstrued in their opinions about the dairy industry, they could cease the use and consumption of dairy products. These products are produced by over 60,000 hardworking producers across the country, who would be out of work disrupting their livelihoods, and causing an economic crisis with the loss of one of our countries’ signature agricultural commodities. If this happened, it would not only destroy the dairy industry, but our economy, the lives of many, and the agriculture industry …show more content…
I have three ideas for this: educational initiatives, encouraging response to drastic statements, and reaching out to consumers utilizing everyday things such as social media. Education is important, and we are always learning, so why not use this opportunity to teach about something vital such as the dairy industry? Through efforts like public service announcements, encouraging producers to incorporate facts into advertising, along with my personal idea, placing information on production practices on dairy product packaging would educate consumers with minimal extra effort required. Consequently, as many of us have done many agriculture related myths online, responding to drastic statements as agriculturalists is important to combat this risk to sustain industry credibility. Finally, using things such as social media and direct marketing campaigns to reach out to consumers with correct and proven information will keep their faith and belief in the dairy industry so it stays alive and well, preventing this huge risk and devastating chain of events from ever