Conversation Key to Building Trust Between Agriculture Community and Consumers, Monmouth College Wiswell-Robeson Lecturer Says

'Trust is not just every organization's most valuable intangible asset, it's every sector's most valuable intangible asset.'

by Duane Bonifer

MONMOUTH, Ill. (09/12/2024) — Elvis Presley might have urged "a little less conversation" in his 1968 song by the same name, but that's not what Charlie Arnot counseled the agriculture community to do in the eighth annual Monmouth College Wiswell-Robeson Lecture.

Arnot, who is CEO of the Center for Food Integrity, told an audience Monday night in Dahl Chapel and Auditorium that in order to build better a better relationship with consumers and the non-agriculture public, the American agriculture community must "more effectively communicate their message and build trust by changing the conversation that leads to a better perception of agriculture."

As Arnot pointed out, trust is critical to the agriculture community's long-term future as consumers ask more questions about their food and governments are pressed to consider new forms of regulation and oversight.

"Trust is not just every organization's most valuable intangible asset, it's every sector's most valuable intangible asset," he said. "So you want to make sure you invest in it accordingly."

Backward equation

A changing communication environment, however, makes it harder to build trust between an industry and consumers.

As Arnot pointed out, there was a time when an industry such as agriculture could build trust with consumers and other outsiders by appealing to science and research. But that has changed as the public's faith in many longstanding institutions has eroded and consumers now give more credibility to "someone like me" than they do to a scientist or researcher.

"We've had the equation exactly backward because we've always led with the data, led with the science," said Arnot. "Because if someone like me -- someone on TikTok or Facebook or on Instagram -- is now as influential as a scientist, that has real consequences for how we think about engaging going forward. We were operating under the assumption that if we gave people the right data and we gave them the right facts, clearly they'll be logical and they'll accept that data and they will come to our side of the argument."

While acknowledging there is no "easy button" to build trust with consumers, Arnot said that "shared values open the door to more meaningful conversations that build trust."

A different mindset

Arnot encouraged the agriculture community to take three steps to better engage consumers and build greater trust with them - focus less on data and facts and instead focus on shared values; don't attempt to re-educate those who disagree with you; and don't make winning an argument the goal of engagement.

By taking that approach, he said that the agriculture community can seize "an opportunity to build a relationship (with consumers and others) in a fundamentally better way."

"We want people to trust us," he said. "So this is not about persuading. It's not about correcting, it is not about winning. It's about building trust. So we need to change our mindset first. This is not about facts and data, it's about making that values-based connection. Then providing enough information to support the conversation."

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.

Media Attachments