Empty Buckets
Over the course of my career, I have lost track of the number of times that I heard someone at an ag meeting say that “we just need to educate consumers”.
That can work if consumers have an “empty bucket” that they want filled… but most don’t. The empty bucket theory suggests that if we fill someone’s bucket with science and data, they will change their mind.
Food consumers are no different than the rest of us; they make decisions and take positions mostly based on emotion and all of the experiences they have lived.
As much as we all think science and facts rule, they don’t. You must have the science and facts in your back pocket, but too often agriculture leads with that and consumers simply tune out.
In a world where too many people are starting to believe that "livestock agriculture = bad”, all livestock producer groups need to ensure that their sector has no bad actors and then work together to better influence consumers belief that “livestock = good”.