Farmscape for December 27, 2017

The Executive Director of Farm and Food Care Saskatchewan says maintaining consumer trust in agriculture is all about transparency.
Adrienne Ivey, a Saskatchewan rancher and author of the blog, "View From the Ranch Porch," was named Farm and Food Care Saskatchewan's 2017 Food and Farming Champion.
Farm and Food Care Saskatchewan Executive Director Clinton Monchuk says more and more individuals have questions about where their food is coming from and, with less than three percent of the population having a direct connection to the farm, we know that direct connection to agriculture isn't there anymore.

Clip-Clinton Monchuk-Farm and Food Care Saskatchewan:
When these questions come up, there's no answers other than going to search on line and that's why having these champions like Adrienne go out and make sure the message is being discussed with consumers, it's an excellent opportunity to have that discussions and make sure that consumers are getting the correct information.
It's all about transparency.
One of the things that we're seeing more and more with the research that we're looking at across Canada and in through the United States is transparency of the food industry.
To have individuals like Adrienne and I know there's others as well but Adrienne does a really good job of being transparent of what they do and why on their ranch.
Having this transparency ensures that, when questions arise with consumers, there's individuals there to answer them.
That's again, what we need to make sure that the trust is strong.
We can see in a lot of other jurisdictions that there's a lack of trust in certain avenues of farming or ranching and that restricts your ability to use some of the tools that we currently use and are privileged to use here in Saskatchewan and Canada.
To make sure that consumers understand what we do and why puts some of the consumer concerns at ease and helps us continue on making food for Canada and the rest of the world.

For more on Farm and Food Care Saskatchewan and its Food and Farming Champion Award, visit farmfoodcaresk.org.
For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

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