More and more you hear companies saying we must protect our brand. What is meant by this is to make sure you brand is not being mentioned negatively, whether in traditional or emerging forms of media.
For those of us in Agriculture our “Brand” gets pretty fuzzy: Are we animal agriculture, plant agriculture, forestry, soy, corn, dairy, beef or any of the various segments of Agriculture?
In my opinion we are first and foremost “Agriculture” and that is the true brand we need to spend the time sharing our story about. We are doing a disservice to ourselves by using an age-old tactic of war “divide and conquer.” As the California Farm Bureau Federation President, Paul Wenger, said in his address to the Annual Meeting delegation, in Monterey, last December, “If you cut one farmer, we all bleed.”
I feel it is our duty as farmers, who collectively are some of the most knowledgeable people on this planet, to band together, share our story and promote “Agriculture” our brand.
Some great examples of unity and positive “Agriculture” promotion are the Agchat Foundation, the Farm American project and the US Farmers and Ranchers Alliance. On a regional level I am personally a contributor to the Know a California Farmer effort and encourage others to do what they can to help promote “Agriculture”.
These projects are great examples of working together for all of agriculture, without showing favoritism and divisiveness.
Now, as “Agriculture,” we need to join together and support programs like these.
Ray, I agree with your thinking. The time is now for agriculture to come together as one voice, one brand and tell our agriculture story. We will always have differences but have so many commonalities and shared passions. There are great efforts that can combine these passions and connect with broader audiences to tell our agriculture stories.
Posted by Katie | January 20, 2011, 12:06 PMThanks it is a grand question.
Posted by raylindairy | February 2, 2011, 12:24 PM