An under reported but well attended conference took place
last week, laid on by the Agricultural Industries Confederation.
As one of the speakers, Joanne Denney Finch of the Institute
of Grocery Distribution pointed out agri supply businesses will have a critical
role to play in feeding the 9bn people projected to inhabit the planet by 2050.
It is these companies who have the research muscle and investment
funds to identify and bring to market new ways of feeding more people whilst
using less natural resources. They therefore have a societal responsibility to “get
it right”.
Yet as Ms. Denney Finch pointed out, they will only fulfil
their responsibilities if they understand and engage with consumers, for as we
in the UK know only too well from the GM experience, if consumers do not want
something it will not succeed in the market place.
For too long agri supply companies have hoped that a
combination of farmer support and government indecision will push through
solutions that the consumer does not want. As a result they have created an
appalling image for themselves, and seem in no hurry to change it.
The average consumer has no idea which companies operate in
the agri supply sector, or what they do, or why they should trust them. Their
one experience is likely to have been Monsanto, and many would not have liked
what they saw.
All this needs to change if agri supply companies want to fulfil
their potential. Players need to come out of the shadows. They need to explain
their work, and be clear about the benefits it brings to society as a whole.
Some of their work will be more sensitive than others. GM
foods and animal cloning are two areas which, based on where the research on
both stands now, are likely to continue to be unacceptable to many consumers.
There are though areas where agribusiness is working far
less controversially, and very effectively. Examples might be prevention of
loss in wheat crops post harvest, more sophisticated irrigation techniques,
more sophisticated and less costly mechanisation, or provision of advice to the
developing world.
In planning both their business strategies and the way they
communicate them, agribusinesses need to have a clear grasp of what matters to
people as they make decisions about the food they purchase. It is not, as might
be expected, just a wish for the cheapest possible food to help balance budgets
in tight economic circumstances. Rather it is a trade off between price,
quality and ethical considerations.
Above all, the industry needs to become transparent. It is
symptomatic of the secrecy of the industry that exists today that when I went to
download speeches made at the conference my access was barred. Why for heaven’s
sake?
If it is a mechanism to encourage more people to join the AIC
to get information them it is short sighted to say the least.
If it is because they have something to hide then this just
sets off alarm bells and reinforces the feeling that agribusiness is up to no
good.
This feeling of unease is further exacerbated in a
communications environment where access to information via smartphones or tablet
computers is becoming the norm, and bad news can spread like lightening. Today
there is simply nowhere to hide.
The world needs agribusiness to understand those who will ultimately
shape their future, namely the public, and armed with this understanding to act
responsibly, ethically, and openly, and to successfully meet the food supply
challenge. All of us need food, regardless
of where we live, and we rely heavily on agribusiness to help supply it.
