A new US organisation known as “The Hand That Feeds US” has been formed to educate urban news reporters, answer agriculture’s critics, and explain why farmers and farm policy are so important to the nation’s future.
The American Sugar Alliance and the peanut, rice, cotton, corn, sorghum and ethanol industries have joined forces and introduced their web presence at www.thehandthatfeedsus.org.
“We’re the best farmers in the world, but we’re far from being master communicators,” says Andy Quinn, a Minnesota corn and ethanol producer.
“For too long, we’ve let a handful of environmental extremists and coalitions, bankrolled by big business, define our industry in the news.”
Linda Raun, a rice grower from Texas, is a spokeswoman for the campaign.
She says producers haven’t done a good enough job telling the media their story, which has led to agriculture being demonised in many of the nation’s top media markets.
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