FAIR OAKS, Ind. — The nation’s farmers and consumers often talk about each other, but last Thursday they had an opportunity to talk to each other – the first-ever Food Dialogues, a nationwide event hosted by the U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance (USFRA), took place at four locations around the country.

The only Midwest site was at Fair Oaks Farms in Newton County, Ind.; others were in Washington, D.C., New York and at the University of California-Davis. The four sites were linked to one another in real time via satellite.

“Americans want to know where their food comes from, how it was raised and if it is good for their health long-term,” said Bob Stallman, chair of the USFRA and president of the American Farm Bureau.

The USFRA is a coalition of some 50 national, regional and state agricultural groups organized to improve how they grow and raise food and to provide healthy choices for people everywhere.

“We realize farmers and ranchers haven’t always done the best job answering Americans’ questions about how food is grown and raised, and hope The Food Dialogues event will be the start of an ongoing discussion that addresses these questions and more,” said Stallman.

“We hope everyone who cares about the future of food and how we provide healthy choices for people everywhere will join the discussion, including farmers of all sizes – small and large, conventional and organic – consumers and food decision-makers.”

Each of the town hall-type panels around the country presented a different aspect of agriculture. In Fair Oaks, the focus was on family farms; at the Newseum in Washington, it was on policy and politics. At Chelsea Studios in New York, panelists focused on food consumption from supermarkets to restaurants, and at the Robert Mondavi Institute in Davis, panelists focused on research and education.

Leading up to Thursday’s discussion, the results of two national surveys by the USFRA about food and how it is grown and raised were released. The results showed while Americans agree food production is important to the nation, they’re split over whether it’s headed in the right direction.

The survey also showed while consumers think a lot about food production, most know very little about how the food on their dinner table is produced. The numbers show 72 percent of consumers know nothing to little about farming or ranching and that 69 percent think about food production at least some of the time.

Additionally, the surveys showed 70 percent of consumers base their food purchasing decisions on how they think food is raised. The biggest concern among consumers is the use of chemicals and pesticides, genetic engineering and the impact of government regulations on the food supply.

On the other side of the equation, 93 percent of farmers and ranchers say consumers have an inaccurate perception of what they do. Panelists at Fair Oaks Farms, one of the largest dairy operations in the country, talked about what those numbers meant to them.

The panel was moderated by broadcaster Max Armstrong and included Malcolm DeKryger, vice president of Belstra Milling in DeMotte, Ind.; Phil Bradshaw, an Illinois corn, soybean and hog farmer; Gary Corbett, CEO of Fair Oaks Farms; Dr. Wendy Wintersteen, dean of the College of Agriculture at Iowa State University; and Casie Conley, Indiana president of the FFA.

Wintersteen said the numbers show the divide between farmers and consumers and added the gap needs to be bridged in order for agriculture to continue to expand.

“There is a real separation between the folks who farm and those who haven’t grown up on a farm,” she said.

Corbett agreed. “That’s the driver that led us to open up our farm. Historically, farmers haven’t been the most open people when it comes to the public; their world ended at the farm gate.”

To that end, Fair Oaks has opened up its operation, which milks more than 32,000 cows a day, to the public. “That’s the equivalent of 5.8 million 8-ounce glasses of milk a day,” said Corbett.

While a large operation, Fair Oaks remains family-owned. It has become a major tourist attraction, drawing more than 800,000 visitors annually. “It’s a great opportunity to interact with consumers,” he said.

“When anyone has a meal, they have expectations what that meal should be,” said DeKryger, who oversees hog production for Belstra. “That’s why our standards are very high. There are no hormones in our pigs; end of conversation.

“The theory that there is, is unfounded. If an animal gets sick, just like a sick human, they need to be cared for, and sometimes that means antibiotics,” he said. “They are kept out of the food system until the antibiotic is withdrawn. It’s not a preference; it’s the law. Medicine is money, and you want to be very judicious and very careful. Our margins are very small and we want to keep our wastage very small.”

On that issue, the farmers agreed. They said each input in the production process costs money and they want to keep that to minimum.

Corbett said farmers and ranchers need to be more open with the public in order to explain their production methods. “It’s going to take us talking to consumers to explain the difference between hormones and antibiotics,” he added.

Bradshaw described his operation as “a typical family farm.

“My father started the farm. Today it’s 4,000 acres of crops and we also produce about 150,000 to 200,000 pigs a year. We manage it very much like my father did years ago. The family is all involved in the operation and I think we’re typical of family farms today.”

That drew a comment about corporate farming and the belief among consumers that big isn’t necessarily better when it comes to farming. The perception among consumers is that family farms are small 200- to 300-acre operations – but once farms become bigger, they’re no longer family farms; they’re corporations.

“We’re just redefining what family farming is,” said Corbett. “I’m not sure the average consumer understands this.”

Wintersteen said farm operations such as this are typical throughout the Midwest and as such, are the backbone of the rural economy. “Farmers are also community leaders and on community boards,” she said. “They’re on the school board and they’re church leaders. It’s what makes the fabric of Iowa and the Midwest.

“They make financial contributions to their communities. It is collaboration between farmers, businesses and education that moves agriculture forward.”