Consumer interest in food and produce means that agriculture has to answer more questions than ever before about how it delivers our food supply.
With many demands for health, animal welfare and sustainability, there are now a plethora of ways that agriculture has sought to demonstrate that it can meet consumer expectations, from labelling and sustainability certification to traceability and regional landscape agreements.
Yet the level of trust has been dropping with consumers. It’s now critical that the sector identifies and manages contentious issues more effectively to win a social licence.
Katherine Teh-White, Managing Director of the international management consultancy Futureye, has advised clients on building community trust across a range of agricultural industries such as palm, soy beans, dairy, live export and red meat, and she’s going to be talking about her innovative approach to resolving some of the contentious issues facing modern agriculture when Queensland’s Rural Press Club meets on July 22.
Just this week Ms Teh-White said former High Court judge Michael McHugh's carefully constructed definition of the greyhound industry's social licence uses animal welfare at its foundation; not the human benefit through jobs, taxes and enjoyment.
She told Fairfax Media the McHugh inquiry into greyhound racing - which underpinned a ban on the sport by the NSW Coalition government last week - should ring warning bells for livestock farmers and exporters.
“I think it's worth noting that once Mr McHugh made animal welfare the foundation of his analysis, the next set of critical decisions he made were about how industry implicitly condoned the ‘unnecessary deaths of tens of thousands of healthy greyhounds’ and didn't change its practices; including ‘barbaric live baiting’ and treating greyhounds as ‘dispensable commercial commodities’.
“In other words, all of his judgements about the industry were through the lens of animal welfare and not commercial management of a sport.
“Imagine for a moment that animal welfare was the foundation of an analysis of the livestock industry and not the commercial management of a food source.
“The same type of analysis could shut down many livestock industries today.”
Futureye’s specialities in social licence strategy, engagement, communication, research and governance should make for a thought-provoking debate over lunch and beyond.
Book for lunch at www.ruralpressclub.com.au
Sally Gall
Based at Blackall, CW Qld, where I've raised a family, run Merino sheep and beef cattle, and helped develop a region - its history, tourism, education and communications. Get in touch at 0427 575 955 if you've got a story idea for me.
Based at Blackall, CW Qld, where I've raised a family, run Merino sheep and beef cattle, and helped develop a region - its history, tourism, education and communications. Get in touch at 0427 575 955 if you've got a story idea for me.
