In a new global study, Cargill found consumers have conflicting expectations regarding how they think food should be raised.
The majority of survey participants said farmers should care most about “providing safe, healthy, abundant and affordable food,” yet the same respondents preferred their food came from smaller, organic or niche farms—which tend not to compete on cost.
Half of Food4Thought survey participants found a farmer as a “person who feeds the world” and one-quarter felt a farmer was a “steward of the earth’s natural resources.”
“Sustainable” was the No. 1 word that participants wanted farmers to be, with “efficient” coming in second.
Respondents felt technologically advanced farming was a good thing, yet “technologically savvy” was one of the words least associated with farmers.
