Farmscape for December 4, 2018

A professor with Iowa State University says some of the demands placed by a well meaning public on agriculture are actually counter-productive.
As the use of social media expands an expanding segment of the population is demanding a say in food production.
Dr. John Patience, a Professor of Applied Swine Nutrition with Iowa State University, observes food producers are facing pressure from an increasing number of directions.

Clip-Dr. John Patience-Iowa State University:
Knowledge in the world took around 150 years to double back in the late 1700s, early 1800s.
They're projecting that the knowledge in the world will double in 73 days in 2020 so the pace in change is really the big factor.
As people involved in food production and in protein production we have to pay attention to the legislators and what they see as being important.
In particular we have to pay attention to what consumers are asking for and make sure that we're providing them with the product that meets their needs.
We have to listen to people who have an interest in the environment and animal welfare and so on because they also have a voice.
Really agriculture has changed a lot in that more people want to have a voice in food production than has been the case in the past.
The frustration with that is that sometimes well meaning people will ask the producers to do things for a particular purpose and really what they're asking for will be counter-productive to that purpose.
So we have to be a little bit careful.
So what I'm saying is we have to be responsive, we have to pay attention but we can't just respond to every request, every statement because as well meaning as they may be they may be vastly incorrect.

Dr. Patience notes anybody can put information on the internet and a lot of that information is at best misleading and at worst just flat out false.
For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

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