Farmscape for July 12, 2011   (Episode 3621)

The Farm Animal Council of Saskatchewan reports the public's reaction to this year's "We Care" billboard campaign has been positive.

The "We Care" billboard campaign began back in 1996 and billboards began appearing this year in mid-May and will remain on display until November.

Farm Animal Council of Saskatchewan executive director Adele Buettner says consumers are more interested in knowing how their food is produced and are making more informed buying decisions so with only three percent of the Canadian population having direct ties to modern agriculture it's important to make sure accurate information is readily available.

Clip-Adele Buettner-Farm Animal Council of Saskatchewan:
Who is portrayed are active producers, active individuals involved within their respective commodities.

The message is we care.

Two years ago we did a consumer study on the feedback to this campaign and when we have a generic message like on our farms we care or on our ranch we care the public is taking that into three different channels.

One is we care about food safety, one is we care about environment and one is we care about animal care so that is the message that we're giving is that producers care.

Consumers are more interested in how their food is raised.

That helps to make some of their purchasing decisions and, as I mentioned, with such a small percentage of our populations involved with producing food it gives us an opportunity to educate the rest of our public.

The significance is very important to let them know that we are a modern industry, a caring industry, a dedicated industry and committed to providing safe, healthy and responsibly produced food.

Buettner notes, because this is an annual campaign, we have see a steady increase in the recognition of the efforts of livestock producers across the province.

She encourages the public to visit the Farm Animal Council of Saskatchewan web site at www.facs.sk.ca.

For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

       *Farmscape is a presentation of Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork Council