The ongoing public discussion about sustainability tends to make agriculture wrong unless its local or small farms, but the reality is feeding our communities, whether they be next door or around the world, lies with responsible food-production systems that produce all kinds of foods on all sizes of farms.

Some deplorable U.S. hunger statistics were published a couple of weeks ago in the Institute of Food Technologists newsletter.  A study from Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic hunger relief group, reports more than 37 million people – one in eight Americans – receive emergency food annually. This is an increase of 46% over a 2006 study. Hunger in America 2010 is the first research study to capture the significant connection between the recent economic downturn and an increased need for emergency food assistance.

Couple this with estimates that the world will need 100% more food than currently produced to feed increases in world population by year 2050 and you see a daunting challenge in need of new and innovative solutions. The need to merge feeding objectives with increased productivity, poverty reduction and sustainability is surfacing in multiple professional forums around the world.  It’s a movement long overdue.

Observations from the world’s largest fresh produce stand – PMA Fresh Summit:

Packed Floor
Reports from the floor indicate this year’s trade show was the association’s largest in its 60-year history with more than 20,000 attendees.  Some think it’s an indicator of an economy on the rebound, considering the expense for scores of marketers and sales folks to set up shop on the trade show floor.  Add to that the costs of the customer dinners, lunches and receptions, and from the looks of the morning hangovers (I’m fighting a combo sinus infection and allergy attack, so my consumption was a two-beer max), there were plenty of good times and cash flowing.

The prevailing theory, however, is consumers are turning to fresh produce more often in this economy – choosing to dine at home and forego family dinners out on the town.  Couple that with the national dialogue on health and swine flu scares, it’s more likely consumers are taking the bounty of fresh produce health benefits to their own kitchens and dinner tables.

Food Safety
Food safety was the dominant discussion on the floor and even outside the Anaheim Convention Center.  The fresh produce industry is well known for its very high self-regulation of an unregulated industry.  The challenge is our political administration is under the gun from various interest groups to establish standards and policies on an industry the administration has very little knowledge of.  What’s more, those on the floor say, it’s highly likely the administration will push down standards and policies with little regard for what the industry, grocery retailers and foodservice operators have done together to affect change.  Fortunately, leaders of the three channels have spent ample time in D.C. trying to bring our elected officials up to speed.

Social Media
Given all the talk and lightening-speed momentum in social media over the past year, it was astonishing to see what little (emphasis on minuscule) has taken hold in the fresh produce industry.  There were exorbitant amounts of discussions and displays about engaging with consumers, but you have to wonder if the industry is still grappling with what social media is and how it can bring consumer engagement to the next level – well beyond the product giveaways and numbers of friends/followers and the like.  The industry is missing a phenomenal opportunity in building true relationships and loyalty with consumers and in creating ROI for their customers.  It all hinges on strategy.

NST Cited in State of the Industry
Nuffer, Smith, Tucker’s Food Foresight trends anticipation collaboration with California Institute of Food and Agricultural Research at University of California, Davis was cited by PMA CEO Bryan Silbermann in his state-of-the-industry address Saturday morning. PMA is a long-time partner and client with NST. Earlier this year, the firm helped PMA design and facilitate a foodservice think tank with the National Restaurant Association and International Foodservice Distributors Association. The event, sponsored by Markon Cooperative, another NST client, brought together leaders from foodservice chains, distributor companies and produce suppliers together to identify collaborative opportunities for increasing produce usage at foodservice. The group put forth a plan to double usage of fresh produce in foodservice by 2020.

Great Food
I’m woefully inept when it comes to cooking with fresh produce.  The sights and smells of the fresh produce, and the amazing cooking demonstrations, kept me starving for hours on end.  Each year, I make a pledge to eat more produce, and today for lunch I had two burgers from the fast food joint down the street.  But I do have my sights set on making a mean stir fry this weekend.

Many growers and agricultural leaders are caught in the proverbial
headlights as a bullet train of “diverse stakeholder opinions” increasingly
defines acceptable agricultural systems and food products.

Foundations, environmental groups, public health groups, labor groups, chefs as well as the marketplace continue to demand change in agriculture in the name of healthier consumers, healthier animals and a healthier planet.

Expect crosscutting agri-food sector metrics to emerge for energy use, GHG
emissions, water use, water quality and, perhaps others, including working
conditions.

These initiatives include strange bedfellows that represent broad interests
that now are working together for common goals – a more profitable,
people-centered and environmentally restorative food system.

Growers who can translate these goals into practical business models will
create a unique competitive advantage.

Please visit The Packer to see the full story.

TechCrunch, in its soap opera about the PR profession, finally made a valuable and worthwhile point: Our writing, collective as an industry, stinks.  I hate to admit it, but author Robin Wauters got it right in a rant about 10 Words I Would Love To See Banned From Press Releases.

Robin is dead-on accurate. Seeing those words in news releases is better at inducing vomiting than ipecac.  Are we lazy and leech onto the lowest hanging fruit when banging away at our keyboards?  Are we choosing sizzle over substance?  I know I’ve heard time and again until my ears bleed about what “sounds good.”  It might be fancy and sound or look good, but realistically we look like foolish grade-school writers and, worse yet, we embarrass our clients.  Every organization wants to talk about “quality” products or services, or “leadership” in a category or on an issue.  But are we clearly differentiating them from the competition?  If we can’t clearly define and back up what we’re writing, thus demonstrating a competitive advantage, then it’s just puffery falling on deaf ears.

Most of all, I suspect, is speed.  The 24/7 information cycle forces many of us to crank out material with little forethought on what we’re trying to accomplish.  Time is of the essence, but at the risk of clear, compelling and informative writing.

Here are the other culprits:

Colleges and universities: Classic liberal arts training, where writing well matters, is disappearing, and we’re getting a young workforce that literally struggles writing something as simple as a new product announcement or new hire release.  Not only are they challenged with how to write the release, but, moreover, with basic sentence structure, grammar and punctuation.  Yes, all you new grads out there will be peeved at me, but it’s true.  Many of us old folks in the profession lament about the quality of writing new grads have, but if you’re dedicated to writing well and are lucky enough to land a job at a place that has the same view, you’ll do just fine – just be prepared for some mentoring.

Social media:  Yes, I said it, social media is destroying the very essence of communication – human interaction, clear and skillful communication and, for *#&(@ sakes, good writing!  It seems to be more about getting information out fast and sacrificing proper grammar and excellence in writing.

PR Industry: Every firm or in-house communications department should ensure they at least have one resident word nerd on the team.  In our shop, all new hires – regardless of their level of experience – go through a lengthy writing program, and every product we produce goes through an arduous QC protocol.  What’s more, we all should follow the basic tenets of communication writing:
•    Identify a need, concern or interest
•    Present a desired behavior as a solution
•    Show the benefits of action and the consequences of inaction
•    Give your reader some rehearsal steps

Spell check: Just ban it, write and edit slowly, and pick up a dictionary.

Millenials: How can we xpct dem 2 care abt ritin good in 140 chrctrs or <?

Consider this:

Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind. – Rudyard Kipling

Most writers enjoy two periods of happiness – when a glorious idea comes to mind and, secondly, when a last page has been written and you haven’t had time to know how much better it ought to be. – J.B. Priestley

In many ways writing is the act of saying I, of imposing oneself upon other people, of saying listen to me, see it my way, change your mind. – Joan Didion

Traditional science institutions, especially the land-grant universities, appear to be taking a back seat to popular and private information sources in many discussions about agriculture, food systems and food choices.

Science is not the foundation for decision-making it once was, according to a recent Food Foresight trends report from Nuffer, Smith, Tucker and the California Institute of Food and Agricultural Research at University of California, Davis.

Support for “public” science across a number of traditional fronts is eroding. As this plays out, important decisions affecting the agri-food chain may be made using only perception and inferences rather than data and facts.  The challenge for science and, we would argue, the agri-food chain is to reclaim relevancy for science in long-term decisions.

Consumers – and for that matter, government officials and health professionals – are not turning to the traditional institutions as a resource like they once did. They’re pulling the information they want from sources they choose, such as the Internet and personally selected media and expert sources.

To the chagrin of traditional scientists and some industry leaders, few check or verify the information that these consumers, thought leaders and policymakers receive (and often believe).

This new paradigm counts on the collective wisdom of the crowd to trump the professionals who once served as guardians of accuracy. In fact, research from a variety of Food Foresight sources shows that the biggest influence on consumer decisions is coming from personal networks of neighbors, family and friends. And, with the Internet, that neighbor or friend may be next door or around the world.

Reclaiming relevancy for science will take new approaches. Whatever the approach, credibility is likely to come from sources inclusive of many points of view.  Picture multi-stakeholder partnerships around issues like obesity, sustainability and the health care food nexus.  These arrangements will feed on public, private and popular information sources. Fundamental honesty will be the price of admission with inaccuracy or insincerity quickly identified as such and exposed.

It will be up to scientists and, for that matter, agri-food companies to determine the advantage of participating in what is likely to be a transparent process of vetting and distributing credible information. Science can have a say, but it won’t be the only voice. Organizations and individuals that choose to go it alone, no matter how “good” their science, will be marginalized as these stakeholder partnerships build trust and credibility

The benefits of agri-food scientists and companies engaging and embracing in these new consumer-driven information venues and fueling a voice for science within “the wisdom of the crowd” far outweighs the risks of standing on the sidelines and allowing inaccurate information to continue to go unchecked. As the saying goes, you’re either at the table or on the menu.

Differentiation is everything. Your brand – how others perceive you – is your differentiation.

You can leave it to others to shape or proactively do it yourself. Your competitors are probably pretty good at shaping your brand for you.

Building consumer brands – once considered to be out of reach for most agri-food companies – is becoming more practical with the expansion of technology-driven media. At the very least, you should be operating from a trade brand positioning strategy and supporting your customers in advancing their produce brand with their end consumers.

Food Foresight is a trends intelligence system for the agri-food chain that is developed by Nuffer, Smith, Tucker and U.C. Davis, and there are a number of trends accelerating this idea of brand building. Those trends tend to interconnect.

First and foremost, is the erosion of trust in any and everything traditional – business, government, media, even universities. Trust in business is at a 10-year low in the U.S. according to the Edelman Trust Barometer, an annual worldwide consumer study released the first of this year. Only 38% of Americans say they trust business to do what’s right – a 20% plunge since last year.

According to a February 2009 Center for Food Integrity research update, fewer people understand and appreciate how food is produced, resulting in lower levels of consumer trust and confidence in animal agriculture and higher levels of consumer concern and special interest pressure…but don’t think the plant side of agriculture is off the hook. Large plant-based agriculture isn’t far behind. Large-scale agriculture continues to be challenged on multiple fronts and characterized by terms like “industrial” or “factory farms.”

The Center for Food Integrity research suggests that unless the public is convinced agriculture shares its ethics, values and expectations, the industry’s freedom to operate without more legislation and regulation will continue to decline.

Consumers, the center says, must understand that while food systems have changed, operations are bigger and the technology is different, agriculture’s commitment to doing the right thing, however, is stronger than ever.

So we have consumers searching for brands they can trust…

Second consumers aren’t turning to the traditional information sources – again business, government, media, even universities – they once relied upon for help in decision-making.

It’s not that they are not listening to independent, third party credentialed experts, but they are expanding their information sources – using the Internet, blogs and social media – to seek out people like themselves – family, neighbors, friends – to talk about products and issues of common interest. The only difference is that a neighbor could be next door or around the globe given these new technology tools.

This explains why our company is building online forums where consumers can talk to one another about products and issues. We have 114,000 consumers who belong to one client’s fan club and come to their Web site to talk about their well-known product. Another client, Chicken of the Sea has 120,000 members of its Mermaid Club. We’re helping Ocean Mist Farms with its Artichoke Aficionados Club – a club to grow artichoke lovers. And we’re in the development stages of strengthening a Web presence for California wine grape growers.

So there are opportunities for building brands with consumers, even creating product ambassadors, especially if you’re a company like Ocean Mist that dominates a commodity the way OMF dominates artichokes.

But given these trends – the erosion of trust and consumers seeking their own advice from people like themselves over the Internet –brands need to be more than a few descriptive words.

See the article we wrote for The Packer (PDF).