THERE’S no “silver bullet” to solving the issues of misperceptions about the agricultural industry, according to United States Center for Food Integrity chief executive officer Charlie Arnot.
Mr Arnot, who was a keynote speaker at the LambEx 2018 conference in Perth, said the issues were many and the solutions varied, but it wasn’t helpful to go aggressively toe-to-toe with animal activists.
However, he said it was beneficial to listen, find common beliefs and then share a personal story to influence debate on issues such as live exports and intensive farming.
Mr Arnot said “people want to know more but they don’t want to be educated – they want to be engaged” and so it was the responsibility of the industry to be transparent about the good and the bad and share the knowledge learned in a way that would be well received.
He said agriculture was based on scientific data and understanding and although that was vital to the discussion, it wasn’t the first thing that should be used to prove a point.
“Science has the ability to end hunger on earth,” Mr Arnot said.
Beyond the science, however, “there are greater social questions about whether what we are doing today is considered acceptable”.
“And the answer to whether or not you are going to be able to continue to use production systems and technology that you use today lies in part to the answer to this question – how does the Australian public see you?” Mr Arnot said.
“Do they see you like someone who will use technology and collaborate and work with others for the greater good?
“Or they see you as someone who will maximise profits regardless of any other impacts on people, animals and the planet – that’s the question you want to address.”
In recent years the public has become disillusioned due to “violations of public trust – by government, banks, religious institutions, businesses and educational institutions” and society had become conditioned to be “sceptical of whether or not institutions are worthy of public trust”.
He said the changing communication environment – with social media now a major information sharing tool – had brought society to “this intersection where consumers are more confused and skeptical regardless of the fact that your commitment to do what is right has never been stronger”.
People were more likely to turn to their peers for information instead of going to experts, because they considered science as “just another opinion” among so many.
Mr Arnot said the social licence to operate was defined as “the privilege of operating with formalised restrictions based on maintaining public trust”.
“If the public trusts us to do what’s right they will oppose greater restrictions” to your trade, he said.
“We see that social licence is put at risk when we see things like the 60 Minutes footage and stories of live export, or when we see other protests against live export.”
Mr Arnot said losing social licence could damage a business’ bottom line through the costs associated with future regulation or litigation and there could also be a reduction in access to technology.
“We’ve seen that in the US where it has been taken away because the market no longer wants that risk,” he said.
“Here’s my challenge to you – don’t just look in the rear view mirror?
“It’s too late by the time you have a crisis and your social licence has been put at risk – start thinking about what is next, not what has been.
“What’s the next potential threat to social licence that the sheep industry should start working on now, five years from now, 10 years from now?
“Because that’s where those lessons will pay off.
“You can mitigate the impact of what you are going to lose with live export, but you have the opportunity to prevent that from happening going forward with the next issue.”
He said frequently the industry finds itself answering the wrong question.
“Science and economics can tell us that you can do something but society will tell us whether or not we should,” he said.
“Those are very different questions.
“We are really good – we are skilled in agriculture at answering the can question.
“We need to get a lot better at answering the should question.
“Should we continue to engage in live exports?
“Should we mules?
“Should we use that kind of technology, should we be doing what we are doing?
“And we have to find a good answer to those should questions because that’s what will grant us a social licence.”
Mr Arnot said with the public’s trust the industry could continue to operate and prosper without disruption and interference.
“There’s no silver bullet – a simple quick fix doesn’t exist,” he said.
“Building trust is a process, not an event (and) something that you have to invest in on an on-going basis.
“And you will see the result over time.”
He said the industry should stop persuading, correcting and educating and instead engage with people in order to “win a friend” and not alienate them.
“They are hungry for more information but we need to not educate,” Mr Arnot said.
“We need to make education available to them in a way that is most meaningful to them.”
When wrapping up his speech he said that farmers could no longer “expect to fly under the radar” and they needed to “embrace the fact that transparency is no longer optional”.