USFRA Creates a Dialogue With Consumers

Since its launch in 2011 - the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance has raised agriculture's voice in a public dialogue about food and food production. National Pork Board CEO Chris Novak says this public discussion is important

Novak: "We recognize today that there is a lot that we do on the farm that consumers want to know about. They want to know how their pork was raised, how it was cared for, what type of products we are using. That was one of the reasons that led us to make the decision to invest in the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance because we knew that we needed to create this new dialogue with consumers. We knew that it was it just about pork, that consumers had questions about crop production, about cattle and dairy and other livestock. We knew this was an agricultural issue."

Novak says USFRA has made tremendous inroads over the past year by hosting a public discussion about key issues.

Novak: "Antibiotic use on the farm -- from our standpoint we're doing that with veterinary care. We are doing it to protect the health of our animals and the safety and quality of the meat we provide consumers. But we know there has been a lot of news reports and there is consumer concern about antibiotic resistance. So USFRA stepped forward and was helping address some of those issues and took a medical doctor, took veterinarian and a farmer to New York and to Washington D.C. to talk to different reporters about these issues from their individual perspectives and that has been very well received."