I recently attended the Animal Agriculture Alliance’s 14th Annual Stakeholders Summit. It was a great summit with top-notch speakers, important and relevant topics, and great networking opportunities (you can find the agenda and full details here). This year the theme was the Journey to Extraordinary, focusing on transparency and opening the barn doors.
I wanted to share some of the messages that resonated with me, via my twitter account that was blowing up last week. These are just a few of the messages, to follow the entire conversation check out #aaa15. Also, you can listen to the presentation recordings here.
– Rising global temps will make it a challenge to provide a stable environment to grow food in the future.
– Hunger and food availability are very real issues in America!
– In depth look at food and ag by National Geographic.
– Lots of great Millennial research.
– The average U.S. family of four waste every 1 in 3 calories – Wow!
– 1 in 8 people suffer from hunger. Yet we still fight over safe Ag technologies (ie GMO).
– Retailers don’t like Ag to use a technology that they can’t defend to consumers.
– Mandatory GM labeling would add approx $500/yr/family in grocery costs!
– All food is local, it is just globally dispersed.
– Personable, passionate, and transparent people are good for Ag.
– Don’t throw your fellow producers under the bus for personal gain.
– Most animals get a perfect diet, they prob eat better than most people!
– Social media doesn’t replace one-on-one conversations with people – engage in person too.
– In order for teams to have a lot of innovation, they embrace the risk that comes with it!
– Stay calm and keep messages consistent! Good advice for a daunting interview.
– Start planning today if you don’t have a crisis management plan yet.
– Your employees are your best brand investors in the communities and at home.
As you can see the speakers, topics, and conversations were varied and diverse. There was some great information I can use instantly, and there is some stuff I will have to think on some more.
Do any of these message hit home for you?
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Dr. Lindsay can also be found on:
– Website (http://food.unl.edu/ag-and-food)
– Twitter/Instagram (agwithdrlindsay)
– Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/agwithdrlindsay)
– Pinterest (Lindsay Chichester-Medahunsi)
Agricultural with Dr. Lindsay 
Great information for us all! Thanks for sharing your highlights of the conference!
Thanks Alice. This was my second year to attend, and it was another great one!!
The one about 1 in 8 going hungry, but fighting about safe tech. This happened with things like pink slime, too. We fought so much about whether it should exist but didn’t talk about the fact it provides food. I also don’t like that the new nutrition guidelines suggest cutting back on meat and other such things when children in schools who are on free or reduced lunch might not get enough food at home.
Elise, the 1 in 8 was surprising to me too. Fighting over advances in Ag technology is truly a first world problem. I completely agree with you on the concerns about the new dietary guidelines. Research has shown there are so many benefits to meat consumption for kids, especially cognitively.
Lindsay,
I agree with Elise, it’s amazing how much food Americans waste and yet we still have people starving in America. The US has great technology that makes it possible for us to raise a sumbstantial aount of wholesome, healthy, safe and affordable food, yet the non-hungry American public fight against modern agriulture technology.
Are there other industries that get attacked for using technology? How many of these anti-ag GMO fighters would go without their smart phone and social media or not use computers at their work?
Sounds like a great conference with lots of continued food for thought.
Robyn – I agree, people love technology when it concerns phones, computers, and even cars that can back or drive themselves. One of the biggest arguments I hear against ag technology is the lack of understanding of the science. But I would argue the same is true for most technologies, most people do not understand it and probably do not want to! Such a strange phenomenon.