THE PUBLIC AND AGRICULTURE 1
The Public’s Knowledge and View of Agriculture
Jameson Pace
Southern Utah University
Abstract
People care about where their food comes from and how it is made. However, different perceptions about agriculture may be skewed from extreme examples portrayed by both agriculturalists who try to combat the extreme views portrayed by the animal rights activists and those views put out by the activists. These two extremes leave people confused and lost about where their food comes from. A survey was conducted, at random, to test the knowledge of college students at Southern Utah University.The gathered information was from 43 students. The survey tested two parts. The first helped gather information on who participated. Questions gathered information on the following: their age, their sex, major they are studying, personal experience with agriculture, their demographics growing up, and who was their closest ancestor involved in agriculture. The portion of the survey that tested their knowledge about agriculture included questions involvingthe rate of agricultural production, percent of population involved in agriculture, amount a farmer receives per consumer dollar spent, what does agriculture provide for the world, and what crop flour is made of. The survey included two short answer questions asking what concerns face this industry today and why agriculture is important on a personal level. The experiment concluded that even though there are some people who do not have a very good idea as to where their food comes from they still understand agriculture is important and most understand different concerns hindering the agricultural industry. In short, people in this study are more aware of agriculture than originally anticipated. However, different results would occur when replicated in a metropolitan area.
Keywords: agriculture, perception, knowledge, production, farmer, crop, industry, public
The Public’s Knowledge and View of Agriculture
I grew up on a ranch with 150 head of beef cattle and about 200 acres of farmland. In my town more than half of the people who lived therewere involved in agriculture. It wasn’t until I lived away from home for two years that I really understood what a unique life I was able to live.
In December of 2010 I was living in North Carolina. One of my colleagues was asking me about where I grew up. He was from a city in northern Utah. He marveled at what I had to say. I told him that we hardly ever bought potatoes or beef from the store. We would just raise our own. And he could not imagine that cowboys were still around. To think that they were still riding in the saddle gathering and herding cattle was a new thought process that had not occurred to him.My friend would often times ask me to tell him of the things that I had experienced growing up. This experience was also new to me. In my mind I had not fully understood that not everybody grew up the way that I did. Not everybody was involved with their food as I was.
This instance helped me to see that people aren’t as educated in the agricultural field as I thought they were. According to Rivera-Ferre & Ortega-Cerda (2011) many people across this nation are ignorant in some degree about agriculture, even those who are in a position to make decisions affecting this industry. They claim that ignorance is a big part detriment to policies being made about agriculture. In short, those creating bills to help agriculture are creating these policies with little to no knowledge about this industry and what may be beneficial.
According to Fraser (2001) there is a new perception in the public’s mind concerning agriculture. This perception involves six principles. The first is that animal agriculture is detrimental to animals and their well-being. Next, is that people view the agriculture industry as not involving family. They think that now most farms are being run by big corporations that have no feelings toward their animals. The third view point is that producers of agricultural animal products are not motivated by their passion for agriculture and animals but are motivated purely by profit. Fourth, is that instead of using grains that can be distributed to everybody, more particularly the hungry, agricultural producers are only using these grains to fatten livestock for the wealthy. In short, they use the essential grains used to make breads that can feed people quickly to fatten livestock over time to make the meat more desirable. Therefore, the agriculture industry is causing world hunger. The fifth view point is that the food grown here in the U.S. is unhealthy and full of steroids, hormones, and antibiotics that are harmful for human consumption. The last perception, and probably the most prevalent, is that agriculture is extremely harmful to the environment (Fraser 2011). However, I and fellow colleagues in agriculture know that these perceptions are taken from skewed extreme examples.
Though extremes exist, my study is not to deny those few examples. Even though these extremes are not the face of agriculture some animal rights activists feel that because they know where their meat comes from they are not going to eat it. They feel that the mistreatment of the animals in all of the agricultural industry is enough to drive people away from eating the products.People don’t want to associate with organizations that harm animals. Therefore, they are careful about where their meat is grown and how it gets to their plate. They are also scared about vegetables and other crops being heavily treated with pesticides. In short, if agricultural products are not produced the way that society sees fit, people don’t want to consume those products. Croney and Reynells(2007) suggest that consumers want full disclosure about how their food is grown and blames the agriculture industry for this lack of education claiming that the industry has things to hide about the production of food. Because of this lack of education, people do think that the industry has things to hide and the public remains in the dark about how their food is roduced (CroneyReynells, 2007; Fraser 2001). This lack of information and publicity leaves the agriculture industry vulnerable to animal rights groups and what they feel they can exploit in the production of agriculture.
With this vulnerability in the shell of agriculture, animal rights activists use the lack of publicity to portray the farmer and rancher as evil. They do all they can to use any information they can to break down this industry. Some sources and animal rights activists use words such as slaughter, murder, and enslave to describe animal agriculture. They even go as far as saying that the animals included in the production of agriculture are suffering their entire lives(Fraser, 2001). Because of these extreme views portrayed to the public, the agriculture industry has to combat this negative publicity. Therefore, the public is left in between two views. These views are that ranchers and farmers are greedy careless people and the agriculture industry is doing all they can to produce ethical safe food. Hence they are left confused and in the dark on how their food gets to the table (CroneyReynells, 2007; Fraser 2001).
To some degree I do know where the animal rights activists are coming from. I don’t believe in the mistreatment of animals. Hearing of extreme cases of individuals who abuse animals makes me feel bad for the animals. I don’t want to be involved with people who abuse animals and thinkingof a suffering animal only strengthens my desire to be involved in agriculture. This is the face of agriculture, that the people in agriculture are concerned for their animals.The face of agriculture is safe productive food. And the fact remains, we need food to eat. We need proteins, fruits, dairy products, and vegetables to have balanced meals. The public should know what a farmer and rancher goes through to bring these products to their table. They should know the passion, drive, and sometimes the disappointment and even sadness that ittakes to bring the food to them. If a farmer didn’t farm, and a rancher raise livestock, then the people of America would either starve or be threatened by the dependency and control of another country feeding us.
Of the nearly 3.14 million people living in the U.S., only 2% of the population is involved in the production of agriculture (AG 101, 2013). This means that only a small portion of the people in the current population are feeding the rest of the United States. According to the 2007 Agriculture census the average current age of the U.S. farmer is 57. The age of the average farmer has increasedfrom 1997 at 54 years of age(Clark & Vilsack, 2007). In short, the Agricultural industry, and America, is faced with nobody growing their food in the future. The number of people who are choosing agriculture as a career is dwindling. The number of farms in America is also decreasing (Clark & Vilsack, 2007). These statistics indicate that the views portrayed by the extremists that are pro-animal rights are in fact hurting America. Therefore with the crucial agricultural industry declining in America and its importance to keep it thriving, do people know the importance of the agriculture industry and that agriculturalists are not harming animals? Are the people aware of the true nature of the agriculturist or are they getting lost in the battle of information?
I reasoned that these students will have some degree ofknowledge about where their food comes from due to their demographics. Going to school in this rural setting will give an idea to the public about where they get their food. These students drive by fields and livestock every day. I don’t feel however, that they will have much education on what concerns are facing agriculture today. Of the students that participate in this survey I feel that those with even a small degree of an agricultural background will have a better idea of the importance of agriculture and the challenges that that industry faces today.Thus, those with some education in agriculture are going to be those who have backgrounds in agriculture. People will only be educated if their family has had a part in agriculture.
Method
Participants
The survey wasconducted on Southern Utah University campus. Participants will were young adults aging from 19-25 with some non-traditional students who may be older. The survey was given in four randomly selected classes. One class was an agricultural class while the others were general education classes. The college also has agood number of international students from Saudi Arabia and also some from China. The college is located in a part of southern Utah that is predominantly rural with a lot of agriculture coming from this half of the state. There were 20 male students who participated in the survey and 23 female students. The average age was 22.27 years old.
Procedure
A survey was written that generally asks different questions involving different aspects of the agriculture industry. These questions ask about the percentage of people in the U.S. involved in agriculture, whether or not this industry is increasing or decreasing in size, how much a farmer will get per consumer dollar, and what major crop is used in the ingredients of bread. There are two open-ended questions asking about the importance of agriculture personally and concerns facing this industry. There will also be questions asking them about their agriculture industry. These questions will help us to see to what degree they are involved with agriculture. Also, there is a space for them to record their major, sex, and age.(see appendix A)
The survey will be given to two different types of classes. One class was an agricultural class; the other classes will be a general education classes. It was given to these different types of classes so that comparisons could be made between those heavily involved in agriculture and those that may not be as involved. At random 11 agriculture students participated and 32 general studies students participated.Each survey was administered by the appropriate professor.
Results
Results from Agricultural Class
There were 11 students from an agricultural class here at SUU that took my survey. Of the 11 participants four were male and seven were female students. 36% of these students lived in an urban setting while the other 64% lived in more rural settings. Those students that had a lot of experience with agriculture totaled four. Out of the total 11 students five claimed to have moderate personal experience with agriculture and two claimed to have some experience.Of the students that were raised on a farm six out of the 11 marked that they were in fact raised on a farm, one checked that their parents were raised on a farm, three had grandparents raised on farms, and one student’s closest experience with agriculture is a relative farther back than grandparents.
From the part of the survey testing knowledge about agriculture, one student missed the second question which referred to the pattern of the agriculture industry. Only one student did not know that the number of farms in America was decreasing. Six out of the 11 students did not know that only 2%of the American population is involved in agriculture. Seven students did not know that the farmer or rancher only receives $0.10- $0.20 for every consumer dollar spent. One agriculture student marked that agriculture provides food for the world. This student was technically right however, the correct answer was “all of the above”. By checking “all of the above” they knew that agriculture provides food, shelter, and fiber. Every agriculture student marked wheat as the correct answer for what crop flour is made of.
The current issues mentioned by the agricultural students included: lack of water here in southern Utah, feeding a growing nation, safety of farmers and ranchers, “people not knowing where their food comes from”, the outlaw of horse slaughter, loss of agricultural lands, more people needing agriculture but decreasing numbers of farms, water rights, equipment costs, and environmentalists was also mentioned.
The importance of agriculture to these students involved four students pointing out that without agriculture people would be ” hungry and cold”, five students mentioned that it’s a way of life, one student said that she wants to help animals live healthy and better lives, and another stated that he likes to ride horses.
Results from general classroom
Thirty-two students participated in this survey that was randomly selected from the general studies classrooms. 16 students were male and 16of these students were female. 16 of which lived in urban settings and 16 were from rural settings. Only two of these students claimed that he personally had a lot of experience with agriculture. Nine students marked moderate experience, 12 with some experience, and nine of the students had no personal experience with agriculture. Of these 32 total students four were raised on farms while 11 participants said that their parents worked on a farm, 12 others claimed that their grandparents had worked on a farm,two students had a relative farther back than their grandparents as their tie to agriculture, while three students didn’t know.
From the questions testing agricultural knowledge, 14 students did not know that the number of farms is decreasing. The number of students that did not mark that 2%of the population was involved in agriculture was 26.There were 17 students that did not know that the farmer and rancher only receives $0.10- $0.20. Of the students that did not mark that agriculture provides food, shelter, and fiber totaled 8.The survey indicated that 5 of the students did not know that flour is made of Wheat.
Answers given about current issues facing agriculture were similar to that of the concerns given by those in the agricultural class. These short answers written by the students included: not being enough farmers, drought, high feed prices, farmers not making enough, corn and soy subsidies, how to harvest a crop, chemical resistant weeds due to using a lot of herbicides, competing with a global market, loss of agricultural lands, and pollution.
Shorts answers given in response to the importance of agriculture personally are as follows: “we get a lot of food today from agriculture”, keep people healthy and happy, helps the economy, culture, and there were 21 out of the 32 that mentioned that we get food from agriculture and without it we would be hungry.
Combined results from participants
Forty-three students were a part of my data on a whole. Randomly selected 20of the students were male and 23 were female. From the demographics questions of my survey 47% were from urban settings and 53% were from rural settings. Participants with a lot of personal experience with agriculture was 14%, those with moderate experience included 23% of the students, 13% stated that they had some experience, and 21% marked that they had none. From the students family farm history,23% of these participants were raised on a farm, another 28% stated that their parents were raised on a farm, 35% marked that their grandparents had been raised on a farm, only 7% said that a relative farther back than grandparents were involved with farming, and 7% did not know which situation fit them the best.