By MEGGIE I. FOSTER
Assistant Editor CLINTON, N.C. — In an effort to inspire pork producers to inform and educate local civic groups and the often misinformed media, the Pork Checkoff launched an outreach program known as Operation Main Street in 2004. Nearly seven years later, the advocacy training program is still going strong with 885 farmer-speakers trained and 4,476 speeches given across the United States.
Just last week, a group of North Carolina pork producers gathered in one of the most hog-populated counties in the nation (roughly 2 million hogs) – Sampson County, N.C. – to become the next class of Operation Main Street (OMS) graduates.
“The core of this program is for pork producers to have the authenticity to share their own story, effectively,” said Al Eidson, president of Eidson & Partners and facilitator of the OMS workshop.
According to Eidson, the two-day OMS training, sponsored by the Pork Checkoff, included a thorough review of critical issues in the pork industry such as animal welfare, environmental issues, food safety, public health and antibiotics. In addition, attendees learned the basics of giving an effective presentation, as well as understanding and working with the media.
According to Eidson, OMS-certified speakers will go on to give countless media interviews and speak to rotary clubs, Kiwanis, dieticians and college classes.
Eidson said that the program was created in 2004 to help educate and inform local communities of the modern changes in the pork industry.
“The public senses changes in the pork industry, but does not understand,” said Gary Reckrodt, of Custom Agribusiness Solutions, also a facilitator for the OMS training. “And this lack of understanding is creating opportunities for activists and detractors. Change is constant in the hog industry and we must begin to tell our story convincingly.”
Reckrodt went on to describe the most misunderstood trends in animal agriculture including expanding production, fewer and bigger operations, more specialized farms, contracting, increased efficiency and consumer demand.
Despite the many changes in the hog industry, Reckrodt said that in order to “protect our freedom to operate in this new environment – we must begin to influence people by telling them what we do.”
And in order to influence people, Reckrodt explained that farmers must first have a “social license” to operate or the “privilege of operating with minimal formalized restrictions such as legislation, regulation, or market restrictions) based on maintaining public trust by doing what is right.” Reckrodt went on to define public trust as a belief that activities are consistent with the social expectations and the values of the community.
Essentially, Reckrodt said that the pork industry must become proactive in issues management by engaging and educating the public as opposed to being reactive and becoming victim to lobbying, litigation and regulatory affairs. And in order to earn the public’s trust, pork producers must share both the confidence message and the competence message.
And while the confidence component highlights the emotional aspect of the story, the confidence message shows the scientific evidence and resources that back up the information presented.
“We must give customers, policymakers, community leaders and consumers permission to believe that contemporary animal agriculture is consistent with their values and expectations. Failure to do so will result in revocation of our social license and our freedom to operate,” said Reckrodt.
Seemingly, the OMS training has been “effective” thus far, according to Eidson, who has facilitated nearly every OMS training since its launch seven years ago.
In fact, the National Pork Board recently released results from 30,000 audience evaluations provided from presentations given by OMS speakers - showing that 45 percent of participants’ opinions were not changed after hearing the OMS presenter. Additionally, 17 percent said, “no, this presentation did not change my opinion,” and 3 percent said they are “unsure if the presentation changed their opinion.” However, 35 percent of participants said that in some way the presentation did change their mind, clearly good news for the checkoff-sponsored program.
Also, according to a survey of 9,888 audience members, 81 percent of the audience left the presentation with a positive impression when it comes to the pork industry.
“I didn’t realize the changes and economic impact of the pork industry. I thought swine were automatically given quite a few shots of penicillin and this concerned me – I am so glad to know this is not so,” said two audience members from recent OMS evaluations.
While the most recent training took place in rural North Carolina, Eidson mentioned that OMS trainings are available all across the country. For those interested in participating in an OMS training, contact the Pork Checkoff at 800-456-PORK or Ernie Barnes at ebarnes@pork.org |
