BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — If Facebook and Twitter had existed around 8,000 B.C., our food supply would probably look vastly different than it does today because of negative social media hype regarding farmers’ use of genetically modified (GMO) seed. For example, cereal grains would be much less abundant, strawberries would be the size of M&M candy and ears of corn would be about an inch long.

So says Richard Levick, CEO and chair of LEVICK, a global strategic communications firm with offices in Washington, D.C., and New York. Levick will bring his presentation, “GMOs: A Spoonful of Sugar Helps the Medicine Go Down,” to the 2014 Illinois Commodity Conference scheduled for Nov. 25 at the Marriott Hotel and Conference Center in downtown Normal.

The explosion of social media has been taken full advantage of by anti-GMO interests that understand emotion has always trumped science, according to Levick. To that end, the onus has fallen on agriculture and science to find ways to adapt their pro-GMO message to an evolving consumer landscape, where about 60 percent of Americans rely on the Internet or social media for nutritional advice.

“There is no shortage of companies and industries that are taken by surprise by the Internet revolution and what it means,” Levick said. “(Social media) changes how people get information, how they respond to it and how they feel empowered.”

After decades of earning consumers’ trust, agriculture and farming has lost control of the conversation, placing farmers in the unaccustomed position of defending their operations, he explained.

“When on the defensive we try and respond with facts. But the world runs on emotion, and we currently live in a time of zero risk tolerance. Right now GMOs are characterized as bad. We need to think about this emotionally, and we need to show pictorially our message, and our message then needs to be shown by third parties who don’t have an immediate apparent interest in the message,” Levick said.

For 60 years agriculture controlled the conversation with consumers about farming practices and food safety by employing a three-pronged model, the global marketing strategist said. “There were three things industry did to control the conversation: lobbying, PAC funding to legislative candidates and advertising. A little bit of public and community relations were thrown in.

“But in the 60 years we controlled the conversation, we grew big and fat and lazy. We thought we could just tell people how they were supposed to think and they would think that way,” Levick explained.

“The last time Farm Bureau did a study or poll on how well consumers trust farmers was during the Jimmy Carter administration, and the numbers were good. The trust factor has been reduced, if not eroded, since then and we now need to re-earn consumers’ trust and show them exactly how GMOs are good. What’s changed since the Carter administration is the Internet; now the consumer thinks (he’s) smarter than you.”

Other key speakers scheduled for the Illinois Commodity Conference, which is themed “Striving to Sustainably Feed the World,” include Rod Snyder, president of Field to Market (“Farmers Needed: Field to Market”), Caroline Wade and Mike Plumer of the Illinois Council on Best Management Practices (“Water Quality Control”) and Lauren Lurkins, director of natural and environmental resources at Illinois Farm Bureau (“The Intersection of CAFO and WOTUS”).

“We’ve also invited PepsiCo to come and talk about some of their sustainability goals, and the comments they’re hearing from their customers every day. There is a role for farmers to play here; we’re still learning what it is,” said Lindsay Mitchell, project coordinator for the Illinois Corn Growers Assoc. (ICGA).

“Your commodity associations are really excited to bring you an agenda focused on sustainability this year. We’ll talk about what sustainability is, how industries define it, what consumers are demanding and how farmers can be part of the whole movement.”

The annual conference, which carries a $60 fee for registration and lunch before Nov. 15 and costs $90 thereafter, is also a platform for crop growers and livestock producers to meet and discuss the trials and triumphs the ag sector faces, added Mitchell.

“You can connect with your farmer-peers, you can learn more about sustainability and you can leave refreshed and ready to explain what you heard to other farmers in your area,” she said.

For more information on the conference, go online to www.ilcommoditconf.word press.com

The event is hosted by the ICGA, Illinois Beef Assoc., Illinois Milk Producers Assoc., Illinois Pork Producers Assoc., Illinois Soybean Assoc. and Illinois Wheat Assoc.