Charlie Arnot, CEO of the Center for Food Integrity, told annual meeting attendees that “consumers consider farmers responsible for the humane treatment of farm animals.”
Arnot shared the podium with Alan Foutz, president of Colorado Farm Bureau, and Don Lipton, AFBF director of public relations.
   Foutz noted the agriculture industry in Colorado has been working to engage the public on the issue of animal welfare. He stated that Farm Bureau members in Colorado have expressed concern; however, not all agricultural groups in that state are aligned.
   He said activist groups want Colorado to be the next state to pass legislation codifying their version of the humane treatment of pigs, laying hens and veal calves.
   Foutz said the mission of the initiative in Colorado is to preserve farmers’ social license to raise animals for food.
   Lipton told members of the audience that if they went out on a typical American street and intercepted people, asking what are the biggest problems facing the U.S. today, they wouldn’t mention the treatment of farm animals.
   “It is not a major top-of-mind issue,” he said. “But when you put the issue into an initiative or referendum, people will be in favor of it, if it talks about a requirement to treat animals humanely. To most people, the humane treatment of animals has ethical and moral value. We have an opportunity to show them that we understand and are concerned about the issue, and that we are taking steps to ensure farm animals are treated properly. The real challenge is how and where and when we are going to do that.”
   Arnot added, “Americans know very little about where their food comes from and what they want is ‘permission to believe’ that what we are doing is consistent with their values and ethics.”
   Arnot said it is not science, technical capacity or ability that drives trust.
Instead, it is whether consumers believe we share their ethics and values. Arnot asked, “Are we committed to those?
Are we committed to doing the right thing?” The most important job ahead, according to Arnot, is to communicate in a way that helps people have trust in what we say and do.
  Many food stores and food retailers have announced implementation of third- party verification measures to ensure the animals from which food products are derived were treated humanely. Arnot said customers will demand third-party verification and if it doesn’t exist, the store providing the food is not going to be credible with the public.