28 September 2022 - On Day 1 of the Feedinfo Summit, four speakers from different backgrounds joined a panel discussion to reflect on the image of the animal protein value chain.
In the panel session named “Are We Doing All We Can to Improve the Image of Animal Protein?”, moderator Simon Duke, Editor-in-Chief of Feedinfo, started by sharing his discussions with a number of TV producers and Netflix series showrunners, which do not necessarily portray the agriculture sector in a favourable light. Duke said that the producers believe that there is a huge divide between popular concepts of farming and the lack of transparency associated with companies operating in the industry.
Starting with the opposition the animal industry is seeing, Duke asked the panellists if people in the industry should tackle the misinformation about the animal protein value chain head-on or ignore it.
Johan de Schepper, CIO of Agrifirm, said that the industry needs to enhance practices which are doing “more good rather than less bad” to improve its image.
Silvia Sonneveld, SVP Corporate and Nutrition Strategy at DSM, commented that the industry should acknowledge the status quo and lean towards innovation.
Anne Villemoes, Strategic and Political Communications Advisor and Former VP of Group Communications of Danish Crown, argued that misinformation, or fake news, is just an excuse for the industry and that the transparency which the industry currently shows is mainly marketing. “We’re not going to build an image from marketing notes,” she added.
Rob Percival, Head of Policy, the Soil Association and Author of ‘The Meat Paradox: Eating, Empathy and the Future of Meat’ argued that the industry is “not yet doing enough for nature” and that fundamental issues must be tackled to improve the industry.
Speaking of proactive ways for image improvement and tackling fundamental problems that can lead to a better industry image, Sonneveld suggested that not only the industry should continue to innovate, but it should also actively communicate to the public that there have been improvements made within the industry.
De Schepper highlighted the importance of rethinking the use of soil.
On another note, “we need to be talking about realistic presentations,” said Percival. He listed a few actions that need to be taken, for example, rebalancing diet, restructuring the food system, and scaling down animal products.
Villemoes spoke from what she witnessed that when there is a new law made, people in the farming industry would take credit for what they do that obeys the law. She argued that it is not proactive because actions are only taken when there is a law enforced.
Asked what kind of stories in the world of animal nutrition will resonate more with consumers, Villemoes answered that storytelling is “doing marketing, and it is the fastest way to not being credible”, and she added that behaviours need to be changed within the industry in order to achieve the image that people want to see.
Percival suggested that consumers prefer products with farm labels, yet the products might involve greenwashing as some labels are deceptively created by supermarkets. He thus argued that “we need to rely on reality”.
Adding onto the point about farming, de Schepper said that farmers should be paid more in order to incentivise them to take efforts in reducing carbon footprint as many of them are below poverty levels.
Sonneveld also commented that “the industry is not in the position to think about storytelling” because it should be focusing on dealing with the current global challenges.
All panellists share a similar view that going forward, every stakeholder in the industry from different geographic locations must be involved in conversations regarding sustainability together as climate change is a global issue. The largest markets such as China, India, and the African continent must be included in such debates. Percival also argued that climate urgency must be the underlying subtext of every conversation about the agriculture sector.
“The debate has always been: Should we, in terms of transparency, show the reality; what if we turned it around and said ‘let’s make the reality [to be] those pictures [that we hope to see],” commented Villemoes.
