Where OH Where?

Talk to Any Consumers Lately? I have.

As a volunteer at a local fall fair, I was manning a dairy display. Many diverse people stopped in at the display., asking the usual questions. But extraordinarily, I had many questions by women and their partners about “local” food or milk. I think this is a very, very , important development.

It tracks with my ‘gut’ instincts about this issue. I have been posting about this, for a while now.

A sampling:

"What is the difference between dha milk and omega 3 milk and ordinary milk?
Is the milk in my store from Ontario?
What ice cream brands should I look for? How can I be sure my food is grown and produced in Ontario or Canada?
Why doesn’t the store tell us about this?
What do I have to do to ensure I am getting ‘local/Canadian’ food?
Why doesn’t someone ‘do’ something about this?!"

I tried my best to be as informative as I could but every time I answered one of these questions I got more and more angry at a farm community who is crying out for Canadians to buy Canadian and a system where NO ONE is telling the public what they need to know to do this and how to make it change. Our governments are not much help on this one either. To be fair, any government trying to balance the diverse interests of a processing or retail industry and the needs of agriculture, would have a difficult time doing this.

Of course in Ontario we have the ‘Foodland Ontario’ program which is helpful . But the public doesn’t seem to understand that without the Foodland symbol…they cannot be sure their products are grown here. There must some added element to it. Our vegetable and fruit farmers need to get together and promote ‘Foodland’, what it means and what the retailers are not doing.

In the dairy business, the only comparable symbol or program is the ‘blue cow’ symbol form Dairy Farmers of Canada. Except for recent forays into the ice cream market with this symbol, the blue cow’s presence or lack thereof, is not making a mark with the public. A much higher profile is needed!

We have a profound disconnect occurring between the farmers' products, what is happening in the retail and processing sectors and our buying public.

I think it is very simple. There is no school, no program, no book, no article, no advertising, no one explaining to the consumer how the system works or what to look for. How the heck are they supposed to 'get it'!?

Someone needs to get real aggressive here and make the message very plain and very simple. No symbol…don’t buy!!!! Agriculture must educate the public. It is in their interests to do this.