Personal public relations
(Alan Knight, manager of communications, New York Farm Bureau, Glenmont, N.Y.) “You have the opportunity (and maybe the obligation) to execute public relations every day in the way you farm. Maintain good neighbor relations. Join an organization outside of farming where you will spend time with a mix of people. At meetings, you have an opportunity to present a positive image about agriculture. Get to know local reporters. Become the local expert that reporters can call when they have a question about farming.”

Teaching moments
(Monica Novelle Coleman, director of communications for Dairylea Cooperative, Inc., Syracuse, N.Y.) “Be prepared long before a crisis pops us. Practice ‘what-if’ scenarios and include them in your business plans. For example, if you have a large farm, you may be singled out in the community. So be prepared to answer questions about your farming practices. Work through scenarios with your cooperative, industry council, Farm Bureau or Cooperative Extension. For example: What if the media stops by my farm? What if a neighbor has a problem with my farming practices?”

A media plan as part of your business plan
(Monica Novelle Coleman) “Prepare to deal with five or six of your industry’s top issues so you will be ready to respond to a reporter, a neighbor or a group at a village meeting. Know the questions that you could be asked, and practice your answers. For example, what on my farm is different, controversial or a threat to my community? Or what does the community want to know about my farm that they may not understand? Be ready to use these teaching moments to promote your message about the safety and soundness of your farm and the superior quality of what you produce.”

Empathy will win the day
(Jim Putnam, marketing director, First Pioneer Farm Credit, Enfield, Conn.) As ag producers, we can easily forget that consumers look at our farming practices through different eyes and with different values. We can’t assume that the nonfarm public understands our practices in the same rational scientific way that we do. Taking the time to explain to neighbors or naysayers what you do in a factual straightforward way can win the day.

It starts at the farm gate
(Keith Tidball, agriculture program leader with Cooperative Extension in Ontario County, N.Y.) “Take a hard look at criticisms, and address them. For example, I recently passed a dairy farm with a dead cow at the end of the driveway. Everyone knows cows die, in spite of quality care, but you can’t leave one by a busy road that your neighbors travel on their way to work. Manage perceptions. Paint your fence. Attend town meetings. We know that you care about your animals and the environment, but the folks in town may not.”

Put your best foot forward
(Gary Snyder, business consultant, Farm Credit of Western New York, Batavia, N.Y.) “Farmers have the opportunity to be great neighbors. A very small minority of farmers has a public-be-damned attitude in their business practices, which affects the entire industry. Very few industries can match the productivity and efficiency gains of farm businesses. So let’s put our best foot forward in the eyes of the public and reap our just rewards.”

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