Thursday 5th of March "Communication"
The first speaker was Jean Pierre Beaudoin and his presentation was titled: "Why do we need to communicate and how to have an accurate communication." He provided excellent insight into the relationship between farmers and the general public (non-farmers), issues and opportunities. He described the relationship between desire, obligation, duty and requirement between farmers and public. Farmers must have social acceptability and a license to operate. Most common items society wants are laws to protect HEALTH, SAFETY & ENVIRONMENT. Even more so if more than one or all three items are involved. On the farmers side are FOOD, QUANTITY & QUALITY. There is an ever increasing disconnect between the general public and farmers. The disconnect is two-way and based on perception. They (general public) see farmers as a cliche, absent and subsidized whereas farmers see the public as multiple, urban and spoiled. Having shown that, he then went on to identify with the general public as being romantic, trendy and nostalgic while farmers are authentic, producers and farmers. With a general understanding of this relationshp, farmers need to improve communication with the general public. So, we can use key words like seasons, green, nature, choice, personal and modern. We must focus on these NOT on economics or we are (in Jean Pierre's words) dead. The general public will not communicate well when we discuss issues around money. But, although the general public may not be rational, they are reasonable. So they will understand things / issues if it is reasonable. He gave some good and bad real life examples of communications that were relevant to the information he discussed. In the question period he made reference to how farmers address the pesticide issue with the general public. He said we should communicate that we do not want pesticides (because we really don't!). We need to publically communicate that we need to grow food and we want to do so with less pesticides (because we really want to!). He went on to say that we have spent the last 60 years communicating for the agri-chemical companies.....STOP! We have an obligation to produce food and we have to use pesticides (but we want to use less).
The next two speakers, Olivia Ruch & Antoine Part from Pssion Cereales and Jean Baptiste Vervy from Symbiose, provided two practical examples in France of efforts to improve communication with non-farmers.
In the afternoon we went on a tour of very modern, very large champayne production facility called Moet et Chandon.
Friday 6th of March morning session "Leadership"
I had the pleasure of introducing the first speaker Michael Ehmann who's presentation was titled "Leading Agriculture Through a New Product Through Farmers." Michael is in the Popcorn business. He has grown his business significantly over approximately 25 years. It is apparent that has occured with a strong culture of innovation, sustainability and leadership. He provided an overview and history of his business. He then shifted focus to his leadership and what he thought were some of the more important aspects. He focused on being open to ideas, honesty and the importance of networking. He also talked about the importance of excellent communication, delegation, making decisions and how to inspire people. I really enjoyed his presentation.
We also had anther presentation on "Leadership and people skills" from Pierre Martin, Fanny Mingham and Geraldine Weber-Budd from Bio 3G. Their presentation was from more of a corporate view. They provided and excellent overview of several key points of good leadership through people skills. These included doing what you say, being very involved in good and bad times, to take risks, must know employees well, succession planning and payning attention to employees. They also shared the corporate values and the importance of them to their company.
Friday 6th of March afternoon session "Big Data"
In the afternoon we had three presnetations on Data. They provided a good review of the past, present and future of the digital transformation in agriculture. They were very informatiove and interesting. Some of the key issues that were discussed amongst scholars were data security and costs versus value. There seemed to be varying opinions on these two points around the world and between farmers for various reasons.
The first speaker was Jean Pierre Beaudoin and his presentation was titled: "Why do we need to communicate and how to have an accurate communication." He provided excellent insight into the relationship between farmers and the general public (non-farmers), issues and opportunities. He described the relationship between desire, obligation, duty and requirement between farmers and public. Farmers must have social acceptability and a license to operate. Most common items society wants are laws to protect HEALTH, SAFETY & ENVIRONMENT. Even more so if more than one or all three items are involved. On the farmers side are FOOD, QUANTITY & QUALITY. There is an ever increasing disconnect between the general public and farmers. The disconnect is two-way and based on perception. They (general public) see farmers as a cliche, absent and subsidized whereas farmers see the public as multiple, urban and spoiled. Having shown that, he then went on to identify with the general public as being romantic, trendy and nostalgic while farmers are authentic, producers and farmers. With a general understanding of this relationshp, farmers need to improve communication with the general public. So, we can use key words like seasons, green, nature, choice, personal and modern. We must focus on these NOT on economics or we are (in Jean Pierre's words) dead. The general public will not communicate well when we discuss issues around money. But, although the general public may not be rational, they are reasonable. So they will understand things / issues if it is reasonable. He gave some good and bad real life examples of communications that were relevant to the information he discussed. In the question period he made reference to how farmers address the pesticide issue with the general public. He said we should communicate that we do not want pesticides (because we really don't!). We need to publically communicate that we need to grow food and we want to do so with less pesticides (because we really want to!). He went on to say that we have spent the last 60 years communicating for the agri-chemical companies.....STOP! We have an obligation to produce food and we have to use pesticides (but we want to use less).
The next two speakers, Olivia Ruch & Antoine Part from Pssion Cereales and Jean Baptiste Vervy from Symbiose, provided two practical examples in France of efforts to improve communication with non-farmers.
In the afternoon we went on a tour of very modern, very large champayne production facility called Moet et Chandon.
Friday 6th of March morning session "Leadership"
I had the pleasure of introducing the first speaker Michael Ehmann who's presentation was titled "Leading Agriculture Through a New Product Through Farmers." Michael is in the Popcorn business. He has grown his business significantly over approximately 25 years. It is apparent that has occured with a strong culture of innovation, sustainability and leadership. He provided an overview and history of his business. He then shifted focus to his leadership and what he thought were some of the more important aspects. He focused on being open to ideas, honesty and the importance of networking. He also talked about the importance of excellent communication, delegation, making decisions and how to inspire people. I really enjoyed his presentation.
We also had anther presentation on "Leadership and people skills" from Pierre Martin, Fanny Mingham and Geraldine Weber-Budd from Bio 3G. Their presentation was from more of a corporate view. They provided and excellent overview of several key points of good leadership through people skills. These included doing what you say, being very involved in good and bad times, to take risks, must know employees well, succession planning and payning attention to employees. They also shared the corporate values and the importance of them to their company.
Friday 6th of March afternoon session "Big Data"
In the afternoon we had three presnetations on Data. They provided a good review of the past, present and future of the digital transformation in agriculture. They were very informatiove and interesting. Some of the key issues that were discussed amongst scholars were data security and costs versus value. There seemed to be varying opinions on these two points around the world and between farmers for various reasons.