Center for Food Integrity CEO Charlie Arnot to give Monmouth College Wiswell-Robeson Lecture on Sept. 9

Eighth annual agriculture talk to explore 'From the Green Revolution to Factory Farming.'

by Duane Bonifer

MONMOUTH, Ill. (08/07/2024) — Charlie Arnot wants the agriculture community to view trust as being just as important as a well-cultivated soil, favorable climate and good farm management.

Arnot, who is CEO of the nonpartisan Center for Food Integrity, will deliver this year's Monmouth College Wiswell-Robeson Lecture, "From the Green Revolution to Factory Farming The eighth annual lecture will be at 7 p.m. Sept. 9 in the college's Dahl Chapel and Auditorium. The talk is free and open to the public.

Arnot's talk will explore the changing social expectations that consumers have for agriculture and the food system, as well as how the agriculture industry can build a stronger level of trust among the public.

A journalist-turned-communications leader, Arnot was working in the pork industry when he noticed a shift in communication tactics from promoting an industry and its interests to building trust between an industry and the public.

"That led me to change my philosophy from defending an interest to ask the question, 'What would it take if we began to focus on building trust as opposed to defending a position?'" he said. "That was a fundamental shift, because if you're going to focus on building trust as opposed to defending a position, you have to engage in very, very different strategies in a very, very different approach."

Arnot worked with researchers in Iowa State University's rural sociology department to study trust. Their work identified three primary elements for building trust between a brand or industry and the public -- the role of influential others, technical competence and the perception of shared values.

Arnot said that "what we found in that research was that shared values or confidence is three to five times more important than demonstrating competency in facts and science in building trust."

For the agriculture industry, that means "we've had the historical equation exactly backward, because we always lead with science," Arnot said.

Rather than science being the only currency of agriculture's public relations efforts, the industry also needs to focus on connecting with consumers and the public through shared values.

"We've operated under the assumption that those who are making decisions -- be they in policy environments or in commercial environments -- will look at the facts, look at the science, and then make a logical and rational decision," he said. "What we know now from our peer-reviewed model is that building trust is absolutely driven by connecting on shared values."

Arnot said his research has "fundamentally changed the way we think about engaging" with the public because it shifts the focus to connecting on values.

"If we can connect on values, if we can help consumers understand that we appreciate their questions, we validate their concerns without validating misinformation," he said. "(If) we're willing to engage them in a way that helps them understand that we understand and we share the same concern for protecting the environment, making sure animals are well-cared for, making sure workers are treated fairly and that we produce safe food with minimal environmental impact, then all of a sudden we can become much more credible."

The Wiswell-Robeson Lecture was founded in 2016 through a gift from 1960 Monmouth graduate Jeanne Gittings Robeson of Monmouth. The lecture's purpose is to annually feature a speaker from the agriculture community who explores issues, challenges and innovations in the industry. Robeson and her late husband, Don Robeson, who was a 1954 Monmouth graduate, operated their farm in Warren County.

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