Farm Leaders Courting Consumers New Group Puts Positive Slant On Nation’s Agriculture Industry

Farmers are familiar with the old saying that you are known by the company you keep.

Well, a group of farm leaders is aiming to become best buddies with a fairly large and important segment of the population - American consumers. Some of them think they might even have a civil conversation with their worst critics in the environmental movement.

Tired of being targeted as despoilers of the environment, a number of farmers, located mostly in the fertile Grain Belt of the Midwest, have formed an organization that aims to put a positive slant on the agricultural story, namely that most farmers are good stewards of the land who follow environmentally sound practices.

The Chicago-based organization, Foundation E.A.R.T.H. (Environment, Agriculture, Research & Technology in Harmony), was described by President Tim Trotter of Coal City, Ill., as the first farmer-led effort to address agricultural-related environmental issues with farm and nonfarm audiences.

“We had discussed for some time the need for an organization to show agriculture in a positive light on these issues,” Trotter said. “We also saw a need for a link with consumers.”

The foundation, financed by the farmers, took only four months to organize, he said.

The group has attracted current regulators and former officials. Its board includes Mary Gade, director of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency; Jim Mosley, an Indiana farmer and former chief of the Soil Conservation Service in the Bush administration; and Steve Wentworth, a farmer and policy director of the Illinois Department of Agriculture.

Gade praised the idea and said her agency has a good relationship with farmers.

“My role is to let regulators in other states know what the foundation is doing and also provide link to the environmental community,” Gade said. “The foundation is a catalyst for bringing farmers and the public together to work toward protecting and enhancing our environment.”

She said that “the timing of the foundation is great, because the 25th anniversary of Earth Day will be celebrated this spring, which can give us an opportunity to explore common ground we all share.”

As outlined by Trotter, the foundation aims to gather and exchange information among farmers through a clearinghouse, improve public understanding of new agricultural technologies and encourage the development of agriculture-based, environmentally friendly products.