Agro Perspectiva

Farmers Feed Us - From the Farm to the Table

16.03.2010 13:08 "Agro Perspectiva" (Kyiv) — The old adage, «From the farm to the table» seems to have lost something in translation over the years. Many people now think food comes from the supermarket. They don’t think about the efforts that go into bringing that food to the supermarket, where it really starts — with the farmer. A new program called Farmers Feed US hopes to help change this misconception. The site invites you to learn more about what American famers do each and every day. You can tour family farms, meet the families on those farms, and see for yourself how the food is grown that eventually ends up on your family’s table. «The program is all about building trust and confidence in the consumer,» Brenda Cockrell, youth outreach manager, said. «It’s geared to help consumers know more about how food gets to their table.» According to Cockrell, the consumers trying to be reached are women, ages 25 to 54 as this demographic is one that does the majority of the food shopping for their families. And, by entering the site and registering in your participating state, you could win free groceries for a year. Plus, you’ll get some insight into the world of beef, dairy, corn, soybean and pork farmers through short video clips. The program is currently running in Missouri, Iowa and Indiana for a 90-day period that began on January 11 and will end on April 10. Prior to the launch in these three states, Farmers Feed US also ran in Michigan and Ohio. «Monsanto’s involvement right now is in Missouri,» Cockrell said. «Missouri is in our backyard, which is one of the reasons why we are so supportive. Monsanto is also one of the founding sponsors of the Center for Food Integrity (CFI), and the Farmers Feed US program originated with CFI. So, because of this association, Monsanto will look to have a presence in more states going forward.» Looking to have a bigger presence moving forward seems to be the right thing based on the number of hits the site is seeing. Based on the latest statistics for the Farmers Feed US site, more than 57,000 people have registered; 4500 of those registrants have asked to receive further communications from the site on recipes, newsletters and promotional information regarding Missouri farmers. Missouri Farmers Feed US also has a social media aspect accounting for more than 1800 fans on Facebook and more than 420 followers on Twitter. The other participating states are showing impressive results as well and the response has been very positive from farmers and the general public «This is a great opportunity for farmers to help share their story and their values to the general public and consumers and help increase that trust and confidence that consumers have,» Cockrell said. «The more we build that trust with the consumer, the more trust and confidence will hopefully be built in modern agriculture as a whole.»