Survey Shows Publics Trust in Agri-Food Industry
By Shankar Das, PAg, Public Trust Specialist, Regional Services Branch, Saskatoon
Since 2013, the ministry has participated in an annual public trust survey to gain insight into the public’s perception of the agri-food industry. The purpose of the survey is to maintain and grow the public’s trust in modern food production, which is critical to agriculture’s sustained growth. This article takes a look at the 2022 survey results and how they compare to previous years.
Through a decade of surveys, respondents have been asked whether they have a positive perception of Saskatchewan agriculttryure. The response has been consistently positive hitting a high of 91 per cent in 2020 and coming in at a strong 87 per cent in 2022. Even the lowest score of 85 per cent in 2019 is still at our ministry goal of maintaining public trust at 85 per cent.
The 2022 survey asked 16 questions to gauge Saskatchewan residents’ perception of agriculture. Most of these questions have been consistent over 10 years, providing the ministry with data on how perceptions have changed over the last 10 years. We are happy to report that overall, results show that Saskatchewan residents continue to have an optimistic outlook of agriculture.
The public confidence has also remained stable for environmental stewardship and humane treatment of animals by industry.
Most Saskatchewan residents (90 per cent) believe it is important that Saskatchewan farmers and ranchers have freedom to use modern technologies for food production. A new question in 2022 on the use of crop protection products also showed that two-thirds of the respondents support the use of such products. A detailed analysis of all the results can be found in the final report.
The survey demographic analysis showed higher disagreement scores came from the 18–35 year-old urban female segment of the population. This suggests a focus on better connecting with individuals in this demographic could be useful in continuing to build public trust in agriculture. The analysis also showed that Indigenous respondents were more likely than non-Indigenous respondents to disagree on some questions, including positive perception of Saskatchewan agriculture, safety of food produced by Saskatchewan farmers and ranchers, food made from genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and trusting Saskatchewan farmers and ranchers. This suggests there are gains to be made in public trust among the Indigenous population.
When compared to the national polling conducted by the Canadian Centre for Food Integrity (CCFI), Saskatchewan residents continue to show more acceptance/agreement on several agricultural practices such as overall perception of the industry, humane treatment of animals, environmental stewardship, food safety and trust in farmers and ranchers. A full comparison can be found in the final report.
These differences indicate that our province needs to work closely and collaboratively across the Canadian agri-value chain to build the public’s trust and enhance industry’s sustained growth.
Gaining insight into the public’s perception of the agriculture and agri-food industry is essential to understanding how we can build public trust. Although there are some areas that we can improve on, the results show that Saskatchewan residents have confidence in producers and that is something to celebrate.