Speakers and panelists will encourage attendees to ‘open the barn doors’ and increase transparency to build consumer trust at the Animal Agriculture Alliance’s annual Stakeholders Summit, to be held May 6-7, 2015 in Kansas City, MO. Early registration is now available for the 2015 edition of the Alliance’s showcase event, themed “The Journey to Extraordinary.”
Attendees will first hear from the consumer viewpoint as they take a journey into the blogosphere with a panel of participants from the Alliance’s 2014 Farm to Pork blogger tour. During the blogger tour, organized by the Alliance along with the National Pork Board, National Pork Producers Council and the North Carolina Pork Council, a group of 12 bloggers experienced the full ‘farm to fork’ experience, visiting Prestage Farms, Smithfield’s processing facilities and the meat science lab at North Carolina State University. Blogger tour panelists include:
David Wescott of Wescott Strategic Communications, who helped facilitate the tour
Ilina Ewen, tour participant and blogger, Dirt & Noise
Lisa Frame, tour participant and blogger, A Daily Pinch
On the second day of the Summit, Gary Cooper, chief operating officer of Cooper Farms, and Leah Lentini, Fair Oaks Farms, will serve on the “Another Stop on the Voyage to Radical Transparency: When Real People Open the Barn Doors to Real Farms” panel. Cooper and Lentini will offer the producer viewpoint on the challenges and benefits of increasing transparency and share how their businesses are progressing on their voyage.
“Transparency is crucial to building consumer trust, but producers are understandably wary of just how to implement ‘radical transparency’, our term for offering consumers complete insight into every step of the food production process,” said Kay Johnson Smith, Alliance president and CEO. “We’re excited for everyone to hear from our Farm to Pork bloggers about how much they valued the honest and open exposure to the industry, as well as what they learned about the people involved in farming and their passion. We are confident our attendees will also be inspired by Cooper Farms and Fair Oaks Farms to start on their own journey to increased transparency.”
This year’s event will explore animal agriculture’s continuous efforts to embrace new technologies that will help feed a growing population while measuring sustainability, engage consumers in innovative ways to bridge the knowledge gap, and highlight initiatives that demonstrate agriculture’s commitment to transparency.