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STUDY REPORTS 91% OF CANADIANS KNOW LITTLE, OR NOTHING, ABOUT MODERN FARMING PRACTICES
Nov. 21, 2019
Financial Times reports:
To view the complete report, click here.
Every time an outspoken pundit calls GMOs categorically unsafe it undermines decades of past and in-progress scientific research and reminds an entire industry of its vulnerability to the often-uninformed and/or misinformed bent of a public whose strong opinions about the food they eat and the food Canada grows are the veil disguising a pervasive and problematic ignorance.
Public opinion has become the molasses through which the agricultural industry must wade. It's an uphill battle, especially in a landscape where "influencers" are publicly asking to get paid by private industry or whomever in exchange for exposure.
"Together, a large proportion (91 per cent) of Canadians claim they know little, very little or nothing about modern farming practices," according to the Canadian Centre for Food Integrity's 2019 Public Trust Research report, which was released this month during the organization's Public Trust Summit in Saskatoon. Of those, 60 per cent are interested in knowing more.
The report, which is available on the organization's website, is ultimately an optimistic story. Three in five Canadians want to know more about agriculture and there is increasing curiosity over farming practices.
However, home economists and dieticians are finding that the number of people who know very little about food, in general, is growing and they're concerned. Home economics as a course is not as prevalent in the school system as it once was and what students learn about agriculture is often entirely dependent on the intelligence of the teacher saddled with that particular curriculum.
It's a problem. If sustainability, food security and the environment are, in fact, important issues, then getting outside your city to a farm is an absolute must.
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