Episode 03 (Season 03) - Supporting Dairy Farmers - How Journalists Help Inform Consumers

The world has put dairy farmers and cows under a magnifying glass. How our food is produced has never been under so much scrutiny from governments, media, and consumers.

But what is the best way to inform everyday people about dairy farming? And how can journalists help by promoting the efforts of farmers?

To learn more and hear great stories about dairy farmers worldwide, we invited two journalists with over 20 years of experience to share their knowledge of the press’s role in bridging the gap with consumers and boosting support for dairy farming in times of pressure.

Guests:
Christian Friis Hansen, Director and Senior Editor at LandbrugsMedierne
Chris McCullough, Freelance International Agri-journalist

Host:
Tomás De La Rosa

Transcript

0:10

The world has put dairy farmers and cows under a magnifying glass. How our food is produced has never been under so much scrutiny from governments, media and consumers. But what is the best way for everyday people to stay informed about dairy farming? And how can journalists help by promoting the efforts of farmers? To learn more and hear great stories about dairy farmers worldwide, we invited two journalists with over 20 years of experience to share their knowledge on the press's role in informing consumers and boosting support for dairy farming in times of pressure. Christian Friis Hansen, Director and Senior Editor at LandbrugsMedierne in Denmark, and Chris McCullough, an international freelance journalist from Belfast, Northern Ireland. This is the BreedCast produced by VikingGenetics. I'm your host, Tomás De La Rosa. Hello and welcome, Christian and Chris. Thank you. Thanks for joining us. Nice to have you calling in from Northern Ireland, Chris. No problem. To start, Christian, can you tell me about your background and how you became involved with agricultural journalism? Yeah, well, it's really quite a coincidence, to be honest, because, well, my background is I'm a journalist and have been so for more than 25 years, and I've been working in Danish media, mainly papers and writing regular news. But then suddenly there was a position open at the LandbrugsMedierne as a director and managing editor. And I thought, well, why not try that? I've always been fond of agriculture, and I grew up in the countryside, so I thought, well, that would be nice. Back to the roots, can we say. Yeah. Well, my problem, though, was that I didn't really know anything about agriculture, so I've had quite a steep learning curve. Yeah, because it's a very difficult field to work in as a journalist. And what about you, Chris? Yeah. So I've been an agricultural journalist now for 21 years and seven months, three days, I think. And I started off when I left Agricultural College. I didn't know what job I want to pursue, but I was from a dairy farm in the middle of Northern Ireland. So I embarked on a career as a technical sales rep selling seed, semen, you name it. Cow cubicles to dairy farmers, and then I started writing lots of marketing columns for the newspapers and developed purely into journalism from there. And it’s been, even though I am from a farm, I can say that the journalism aspect has been a steep learning curve since then and continues to be so. Mass media influences consumer trends through narratives, which ultimately affect the food supply and therefore the farmers and their way of farming. What are some of the most notable trends right now? If I can start with you, Chris. So I guess we've got to focus on the mass media attention to alternative dairy products, plant based products, as is one of the biggest examples of how consumer perceptions of a product can change positively. But it was short lived. I think it's still short lived, but it just shows you how using national media not so much maybe agricultural media. But national media in all forms; print, digital, radio, you name it, can influence a consumer to think one way that they'll see of the world if they use something else. And yeah, so but on the flip side, the mass media hasn't really gone to the lens of supporting dairy farmers. And I guess that's one of my jobs in agriculture journalism is to change that. And what are we seeing here in Denmark, Christian? Well, I, agree, but I think overall and certainly in Denmark, it's the focus on carbon emission by eating meat. But also in dairy production. It's...of course Denmark is one of the countries where this in mass media as you say, Chris, is very high focused but all over the world and in Europe also it will be what we will be discussing for the next five, ten, 20 years. And as you say, dairy farmers, they play a pivotal role in feeding the world. How do you as journalists ensure that you report fairly and accurately about the efforts they’re doing to feed the world? Chris? So I guess the biggest responsibility that I have is to actually listen to what the farmer is saying and get his message across to the readers of whatever media I am working for. And, you know, journalists have their own thoughts sometimes and they like to say things themselves. But at the end of the day it’s what the farmer thinks and what he wants to get across to the consumers that's important. Okay. We can listen to the farming unions, to the governments, to everything else. But essentially it's what the farmer says and what he's doing that the consumer wants to connect with. And at the end of the day. And what can you tell me about LandbrugsMedierne, Christian? Well, when you ask about fair reporting, that's actually a very, very interesting topic because fair reporting by whom? Because when we write or if we make a podcast and so on, our main customer is a farmer. But actually right now I think it's even as important that the whole rest of the world actually reads and listens to what we make - the articles. Because the discussion about carbon emission, for instance, you know, it starts in a place where no one or most of the people that discuss it actually don't know anything about food production. So they just sort of dream whatever they want, but they don't know how it's going to be made. Is it at all possible? As you know, in Denmark, it's been politically... There's a very wide consensus that we have to reduce carbon emission by 70% in 2030. So that was a government decision, but no one knows how we're going to do that. And of course, the whole agricultural sector is responsible for a part of this. But how is it possible to do that while we are still feeding people, while we're still producing food? So there are a lot of scientists and other people that actually know something who work on this. And so I consider it part of my job to ensure that the rest of the world gets to know some of the things that we report on this issue, for instance. And I guess this demonstrates one of the biggest issues right now between consumers and farmers, and that's the gap between consumers and their perception versus the reality of modern dairy farming. What is the role of an agricultural journalist in bridging this gap? Well, it's quite difficult to answer, actually, because, of course, we write about the agricultural sector. We don't write about the interior decorating of houses. So that's what we write about. And because of that, our customers are farmers, but they also have to be able to stomach critical journalism. If you see aside from media like us, there's a lot of criticism in the media about farming and pollution and carbon emission and so on. And some of it might be true and some of it we might be reporting also. But I consider our role sort of also balancing so that if we make articles that other media could take and report on as well, then that would be a good thing for us. Chris, your thoughts? Yeah, I mean, there definitely is a gap between what consumers think and what the farmers do. And I'm fortunate enough that I can write for national media as well as agricultural media in my capacity as freelance reporter. What I will say, I use the links of the stories heavily on my social media channels where ordinary consumers, let's call them, can get involved with the conversation and get involved with the story. And hopefully learn something from it. And as Christian said, also, other media has a chance to read or learn from what we do in agricultural media. And that also is a help. I mean, I have national media, so-called agricultural editors calling me all the time to check something or to ask something. What that is. So I'm quite happy from that capacity to learn both the national media and the consumers about what the farmers actually do. And that's another point. The national media journalists, even though they do call themselves, some of them environmental editors, or agricultural editors, don't have the first clue about the reality on a farm and what's happening in the agricultural industry globally. I agree in this, Chris, because just when I started in the business, so around 30 years ago, almost every Danish paper had its agricultural journalist that actually knew something about agriculture and maybe had been working with this for many years. Now, I think maybe one or two Danish media outlets from the mass media have journalists that are specialized in this. So all the other journalists that work in this field, they write about climate change and so on, but they don't actually know anything about agriculture. And then if I may add one other thing; it's very important that we use the digital platforms because again, 30 years ago there was only papers and you couldn't expect someone who's not a farmer to read our paper, for instance. But if we use social media and use our website and so on, we can reach a much more diverse audience than if we only printed on paper. And Chris, as you mentioned, you have the opportunity to write in both agriculture and national media. With that platform, can you share a story or an experience where you felt that your reporting made an impact in the public perception of farming? Yeah, yeah, I do have a perfect fit story for that. For your criteria there. I live in a semi-rural town that's got about 30,000 population and then we're surrounded by Belfast, the greater Belfast area where the population extends. And we have one local young dairy farmer. He's now 24 years old. But three years ago he decided to bridge the gap, if you like, between the farmer and the consumer, and he revived the actual milk delivery concept using glass bottles. So he started bottling his own milk on the farm and he started delivering it, bottle by bottle to our local town and then further uphill. And to date, like his response to that has been overwhelming. But at the start he wanted me to wait for like a couple of weeks before we had it in the media. But once we put the story in the media of what he was doing as a young farmer, bottling the milk, reviving glass delivery, increasing his sustainability, etc. and we put the story in the newspaper, both national and local agri media. It just... in modern terms went viral, so to speak. And the business and the connections that he got from the consumers, the population over social media was amazing, absolutely amazing. Any stories from LandbrugsMedierne, Christian? Yeah, well, I can share with you just a very recent story we wrote just last week and the context in Denmark is that Denmark is an agricultural country. Around 60% of the whole landmass of Denmark is farmed. And so, that's the big story. But the story we had last week was that during the last 30 years, actually 200,000 hectares of agricultural land has disappeared. And well, there's been built roads and cities and so on. So nobody knows that. The big story is that it's very intensely farmed, but the reality is that a land area of around two thirds of... well, I don't know if the audience knows, but the island Funen in Denmark, two thirds of Funen has been lost as agricultural country during the last 30 years. So that's sort of, I guess, a little wake-up call. So, the story that almost the whole land mass of Denmark is farmed, is that true? No, it's not. It's actually decreasing. But the good story, if I may, in this one, is that we harvest just as much on these less 200,000 hectares than we did 30 years ago. So it's about the development and the technology that Denmark pushes with the farming. Thank you both. And for those of you who want a deeper dive into farming in the future and how political trends influence agriculture, we have two other episodes on the topics which you should listen to. Now we've heard about the role journalists have to play in helping dairy farmers and informing consumers. Now I'd like to focus more on sustainability because as you say, Christian, it's a huge part of the discussion right now. Many would argue the main part of the discussion because some would say it's an agenda and a subject in the media. What are some ways in which you've seen dairy farmers adapt to make their operations more sustainable? Christian? Well, there's a very good example in Denmark by farmers delivering milk to Arla. Arla has made sort of a climate bonus that if you live up to certain criteria, you'll get an extra pay for the milk you deliver. So it's done as of now without being sure that the consumer will actually pay more for this milk. So, your investment...you don't know if you'll get a rate return. So Arla has made it within the company possible to gain an extra bonus by living up to certain climate criteria. I think it's a very good example that the discussion and where the consumers are, doesn't necessarily meet were the farmers are. Chris? Yeah, a lot of our farmers here are reducing their dependance on energy, water, things like that, by installing their own recycling water systems, by installing or building AD plants to use their own energy. One dairy farmers has actually gone an extra mile and built themselves his own yogurt factory to turn his milk into yogurt. So it's quite a good one there. Oher things that farmers here are doing is actually using sexed semen to bring down their dependance on or the production of bulls So there's less animals effectively in the system that shouldn't be there creating extra methane or carbon or whatever. Also, Northern Ireland farmers - some of them - are bringing down their calving age of heifers from 27 months, 24 months down to 21 months if possible. Again, the circle system there is helping the environment as well. Others are putting more clover into the forage. Or nitrogen fixing plants into the forage. All in an effort to increase their sustainability. And Chris, you've been writing for many years all over the world. You've written stories from India, Kenya, Zimbabwe, and many other. Northern Ireland, of course, in the UK. What are some practices or innovations that you've seen in these countries that deserve more global attention? Yeah, well, I'll give you a perfect example. It's actually from Northern Ireland. I have to emphasize this one that should be thrown out across the world for farmers to do, and that is soil. Sustainability and good dairy farming begins in the soil. And if your soil is not right at the start, nothing is right. So here in Northern Ireland, the Department of Agriculture has embarked on a system or on a project that is going to test the soil in every field in Northern Ireland, which is some 650,000 fields. So they're going to test each field, test the soil, see what it's lacking, or if it's too much of something and form a map of each farm of what that farm should be doing in certain fields, if it needs extra nitrogen or less, more lime, etc.. Some farmers here would soil test 25% of their acreage per year, but this is a new initiative to get those farmers who don't reseed generally or don't test the soil to get up and see exactly what our soil has. And it gets back to what Christian said earlier. Our land availability in Northern Ireland is also reducing to grow food on - agricultural land. So we need to know what's in the soil that we can grow more food from that reduced acreage in the future. Do we have something similar like that here in Denmark, Christian? Well, I recently went to a seminar on how to increase the production of milk with cows by changing what they eat. And so for a normal person, this would be absolutely nonsense. But there was scientists and people from the agricultural industry, from all over the world. And so when you sit and listen to this, you realize and you appreciate that, you know.... If you are really, really, really specialized, you appreciate how much is being done to work on this and to be efficient. So it is really efficiency and the fact in Denmark some 50-60 years ago there was about 1.5 million cattle in Denmark. Now it's around 500,000. They produce the same amount of milk. So that's actually the story told in a very short way. Exactly. That is a huge focus for us, as you say, here in VikingGenetics. Feed efficiency becomes every day a more important part of the conversation, both in genetics and for farmers, it's ultimately about having a cow that can produce the same or more milk for less feed. This not only saves money for the farmer, but also helps the environment. And at VikingsGenetics, of course, we will always think that cow genetics are fascinating and that they are a very important part of dairy farming that have a huge influence on producing positive results. What have you heard, Chris, from farmers about how science and research help them improve? Well, exactly. I mean, we're moving into - as each year passes, we move into a different generation of younger farmers and they are more into the science and the research and listening to what our local research stations here and colleges have to say. So it is about, as Christian hit on it earlier, about carbon, where it's coming from, how much it’s going to be, how do we reduce it and those things laid back again to the soil, to genetics, to the farming systems. And our farmers here are looking more closely at breeding and how they can affect their own carbon reduction by a simple process, I guess, by just choosing the right bulls to sit their herds and to get and produce a more feed efficient cow, maybe a smaller cow that eats less but still produces maintenance and milk, and they'll be able to keep less numbers of them. So it should be a win win situation. Yeah, I can add. My experience is if you talk to young farmers, especially those who are about to take over the farm. They have a very different perspective than most of their fathers. And they look into this in a different way then, because if they are to take over the farm and they have to be there for the next 20, 30, 40 years, their perspective is a little different. And in Denmark, we are talking a lot about license to produce. And so, my experience is they have taken this in. They know that if things don't change, they will not have this license to produce. So they're very keen on doing a difference. So the problem is for them, of course, will people pay? A lot of people talk, but will people pay? We just had... because of the Russian invasion in Ukraine, we just had a crisis where everything got more expensive and we had inflation and so on. And it was very clear what happened in the supermarkets. People were shopping, as we call it, in Denmark downwards. They were taking the cheap milk, the cheap meat and so on. So it's not as easy as some politicians want it to be. And for our listeners out there, you too can have a more profitable, feed efficient herd with world class Nordic genetics. To discover what VikingGenetics breeding bulls are available, please visit VikingGenetics.com and browse our Jersey, Holstein, Red and beef bull selection. Nordic Farmers, they’ve focused on breeding healthier trouble free dairy cows for almost 50 years, with the philosophy that ultimately a healthy cow is a more profitable animal with a higher lifetime production. Christian, what are some ways in which agri journalism helps promote this side of things? The animal welfare side of the business? Well, in a way it's very simple. It's reporting accurately. So again, if you take the mass media, there will be a lot of reporting that is not accurate and that is biased in many ways. We can, of course, also be accused of being biased, but it's not our job to correct whatever mass media writes or broadcasts. Our job is to report accurately. And I hope we do so. And if we do so, maybe some of the mass media will be inspired by our stories and maybe report it also. That's just about as much as we can do, because our journalism has to not be biased as well as others shouldn't be. Chris? Yeah, I agree with Christian there. I also would like to add that, I guess, the more farm stories that we can get into the media from a farmer that's doing well, maybe focusing on his animal welfare, thoughts and processes on the farm that is in turn read by other farmers who maybe don't have the same levels of welfare on their own farm and maybe they can learn something. We also have lots of farmers groups here that meet up and educate themselves on what they all do and what products they use or whatever. But one thing I will say about agricultural media leading the readers is that unfortunately, a significant amount, let's say, of agricultural media purely just use the press releases that they're given by companies depending on who’s advertising with them, etc.. And there's no actual critical journalism in there. And no actual, let's say, factual journalism in there and of really what's going on. The media is being kind of directed in the direction that money tells it to be. So again, that's our role to come in and be critical. But yet factual and get the story right to the readership. Thank you. And for our listeners, if you want to learn more about Nordic cattle breeding and the benefits of a healthy herd, you should listen to our episode on the Nordic Total Merit Index featuring a leading veterinarian. You'll get a lot out from that. We've spoken about the sustainability discourse and how agri journalists report on it. Now I'd like to take a look at dairy farming in the future and the upcoming challenges for farmers. As we said, adapting to more sustainable practices is just one of the many challenges facing dairy farmers. What are some of the future trends that farmers will have to cover in the coming years? Christian? Well, for me, there's not a shadow of doubt that it's the carbon emission. There's nothing more important than that. Of course, animal welfare and so on, but above it all will be carbon emission. Chris? I totally agree. I mean, I think it's going to come to a stage where every farmer is going to have a carbon value put on his farm and that value is going to be maybe even put on the milk and sent to the consumers, maybe put on the government ID. It's definitely going to come down to that. And that's a huge problem that in itself is going to cost a lot of money, as is increasing your sustainability. And where does this money come from? The profits from your milk. And with milk prices currently are decline and going further, the investment in this type of technology or type of guarantees that your farm is on the level is going to be a huge problem in the future, I think. And as you say there, Chris, it's ultimately about how the milk ends up with the consumers and giving the global nature of food consumption. What's one message or thought that the consumers should take away from today's conversation if you were speaking directly to a consumer, to the everyday person? Briefly. Consumers, in my opinion, are put into three groups. The first that ultimately does care a lot about where their product comes from. And the last group is for those who don't care. And the final group is those in the middle who kind of care. So the message that they all should be taking from what we're discussing here today is that dairy farmers is not your enemy. Dairy farmers are there to produce food that is essential for your growth and well-being. And there is a will by dairy farmers to connect with consumers and tell their story exactly what they're doing without having to be chastised or ridiculed or any of these things from consumers that put dairy farmers down. I mean, I see all too often on social media dairy farmers saying that they've been bashed again by consumers, by the general public, and all they're trying to do is do a job and produce food. Again, that's the message that we want to get out. Farmers are there to produce your food.

If you want to know how to do it: 29:37

read our media, connect with the farmer. And that's how it should be. Yeah, I agree totally, Chris. And another thing is that... and maybe things are changing right now, I see signs definitely in the Danish public and Danish debate that things are changing a little bit because it's been up till now it has been sort of a bashing of could be the transportation industry. It could be the agricultural industry. But it doesn't really get us anywhere. So the sign right now, I think I see, is a sign of change where you address that if we really want to do something about the climate change, it will cost the regular consumer money. So that's never been addressed by the Danish politicians, for instance, because they want to be elected again in four years. So don't mention the war, so to speak. But it's obvious for everyone that it needs a lot of investment. And this return of investment, well will have to come from the consumer. So a message would be that the consumer have to realize that things will cost them more and maybe they can't buy as much as they have been used to. And finally, to wrap up, what would you say to or share with dairy farmers or just like in your case, Chris, some of those who might be aspiring agricultural journalists tuning in today? I guess the key message to anybody who wants to be an agricultural journalist is that it is a tough gig. There's no doubt about it. You've got to be on your guard on your factual wellbeing knowledge every day. But what I would say is to anybody that want to comment is just to listen, listen to what the farmers are saying and listen to what the scientists are saying, Listen to whatever anybody is saying. But listen to both sides of the story. Make sure you get it right. Make sure you got it factual. Don't let your potential ego trip you up or get ahead of you. Ask a simple question. Keep it short and concise. Listen to what's being said and write that down and get the factual side. That way, readers and journalists benefit from what's in the media. Yeah, and I can say from my own experience, having only been in my job for three years, you have to be aware that it's a very steep learning curve. It's quite difficult. It's biology, and it's very scientific, actually, to write about agricultural journalism. So you have to be prepared to learn because it's a very, very difficult area to report from. But what I can also say from my own experience is that it's well, I think it's maybe the most exciting area to report from actually right now. There's nothing that is more focus on than agriculture and the feed business. So, you will get a job that's exciting. Thank you for joining us on the BreedCast today. We've looked at the role of the journalist in the world of dairy farming and how they can help inform consumers about the efforts that farmers make on a daily basis. If you want to learn more about VikingGenetics, our dairy and beef breeds, get tips and tricks from breeding and management and much more, please visit our website VikingGenetics.com. Huge thanks to Christian Friis Hansen and Chris McCullough for sharing their insights. A shoutout to all of you out there listening if you have an idea for a topic in the world of cattle breeding you would like us to focus on, please visit BreedCast.com. Or message us on the VikingGenetics Facebook page. I'm your host, Tomás De La Rosa. Please tune in for the next episode where we'll hear from Leo Hansen, a Danish farmer who runs one of Estonia's highest producing dairy farms. And Hanna Driscoll, product manager for VikingHolstein. You've been listening to the BreedCast. Innovative Breeding in Your Ears.