For the first time in 20 years of Gallup surveys tracking American’s views on business and industry, the top three on the list of industries viewed most positively are farming and agriculture, the grocery industry and restaurants.
Betsy Huber, president of the National Grange organization, says ag’s image began to change at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In the beginning when people went to their grocery stores and found empty shelves. That was a wake-up call to how essential farmers and grocery store workers really are. The whole supply chain disruption back then was a real wake-up call, I think, to the general consumer. I’m not sure they really understand that it was just the transportation, the supply chain that we really do have plentiful food. Hopefully they got that message.”
Huber says the survey shows why now is the perfect time for farmers, ranchers and other agriculture stakeholders to be telling their stories.
“There’s been an effort for the last couple of years to have farmers tell their stories, you know, on social media, and websites and agri-tourism and all those types of things to open up the farms to the consumer and to show them that farmers do care for their land and their animals.”
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