06/28/2000

Ag Development Roundtable First Step Toward Strategic Plan for Alabama Agriculture

AUBURN, Ala. —Auburn University officials and Alabama agribusiness leaders launched a unified effort to strengthen the state's $4.7 billion farm and forestry industry during a recent Agricultural Development Roundtable held on the AU campus.

The roundtable kicked off a process that will include six "listening sessions" with producers around the state in October and will culminate in February 2001 with a statewide, open-to-the-public Ag Summit. The goals of that first-ever event will be to call attention to the importance of farming and forestry in Alabama's economy and to develop a strategic plan to ensure that the industry continues to grow and hold a pivotal role in economic development in Alabama. Currently, as the state's leading industry, agriculture and forestry accounts for 22 percent of Alabama's total economy.

Auburn's College of Agriculture, the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station (AAES) and the Alabama Cooperative Extension System (ACES) hosted the roundtable and are spearheading the effort to bring all sectors of the agriculture industry together and move it forward in today's technologically advanced, highly urbanized and increasingly global environment.

Dr. Luther Waters, AU agriculture dean and AAES director, urged roundtable participants to begin formulating ideas and potential solutions, to present at the summit, on how Alabama agriculture can both build on its strengths and overcome the many challenges it faces, including its image, dwindling profits and global competition.

In a series of producer sessions across the state last fall, one of farmers' chief concerns was the public's perception of agriculture. Alabama farmers contend that consumers neither understand the crisis farmers face nor appreciate the safe, affordable food supply they provide.

The farm sector can most effectively communicate with and educate consumers about agriculture with messages that are simple, direct and based on trust, Progressive Farmer publisher Ed Dickinson told the 80-member roundtable group.

Dickinson said a recent informal survey his magazine conducted in Jefferson County found that, while less than 25 percent of the public viewed farmers as successful business people and less than 50 percent saw them as technologically advanced, 74 percent viewed them with great respect and 80 percent considered farmers highly trustworthy.

"We should build on that trust," Dickinson said. "Trust should be the foundation of all our communications with the public. Agriculture's message to consumers has to compete with a flood of other messages. If we want people to listen, our message must be simple and must take the form of information consumers want. We need to tell them how farmers and the products they produce are contributing to consumers' health and well-being."

Any advertising or public relations efforts should take into consideration the tremendous impact that terminology can have on perception, Dickinson said.

" 'Farmers' and 'farming' hold a very positive image with the public," he said. "But 'agriculture' is not nearly as positive."

The profitability hurdle for agriculture is where university research can step up and take a lead, Wayne Boutwell, president and CEO of Southern States Cooperative, Inc., in Richmond, Va., said in the roundtable's keynote address.

Noting that research for decades has centered on increased production capabilities, Boutwell said higher productivity alone no longer assures a strong future for farming.

"Agricultural productivity in the U.S. is growing at a rate of two percent a year, but at the same time, the U.S. population is growing at less than one percent a year," Boutwell said. "The simple laws of supply and demand tell you that you've got to either find niche ways to add value to the surplus production, or find somewhere to send it or take it out of production.

"We need university research to look at ways to build characteristics in products that will add value to those products," Boutwell said. He cited as one example a Virginia Tech research project aimed at developing a tobacco that can be used for medicinal purposes.

For Alabama agriculture, the new global economy represents a burgeoning opportunity, said Dan Smalley, a Marshall County poultry farmer and chairman of the board of Gold Kist, Inc.

While Alabama farm and forestry exports currently total an estimated $1 billion annually, the potential is far greater, Smalley said, adding that the state's poultry industry strongly supports giving free trade status to China.

"World trade is crucial to the future of Alabama agriculture, and China represents the most phenomenal opportunity in the global marketplace," he said.

Before Alabama can be truly competitive in a global economy, however, funds must be made available to add containerized and refrigerated shipping capabilities to the Alabama State Docks in Mobile, Smalley said, echoing a recent recommendation by the Alabama Commerce Commission. Because those facilities aren't available in Mobile, many poultry exports must be transported to Savannah, Ga., for shipment. That hurts the Alabama poultry industry and the state's overall economy, Smalley added.

In its report to Gov. Don Siegelman, the Alabama Commerce Commission cited as Alabama agriculture's biggest strength the natural resources of soil, land, water and climate. Corky Pugh of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources agrees.

"The land is a strength we can definitely work to agriculture's advantage," Pugh told the roundtable group. Pugh is convinced Alabama farmers can cash in on people's "primal need" to occasionally get reconnected to the land by leasing their property, which is heavily populated with crop-eating deer, for day or overnight hunting trips.

"Deer are a secondary cash crop that our farmers are absolutely wasting," Pugh said. "There are a lot of people who don't want an annual hunting lease; they just want to show up, hunt for a day and go home. Farmers ought to be marketing their abundant supply of deer as part of day hunting trips."

With day trips, the landowner has complete control of the time and place of the hunt and often can net several hundred dollars for a day of hunting, Pugh said. The same holds true for day fishing outings to farm ponds and day trips for wildlife watching.

"Farmers and landowners literally hold the key to the gate for people who want to get back to the land for a little while," Pugh said. "Taking advantage of that is a great economic development opportunity for Alabama agriculture."

Auburn University President William V. Muse commended agriculture for its united effort to look beyond the current disastrous drought conditions threatening to wreak havoc on the industry.

"We cannot afford to dwell on the past, nor can we get completely caught up in worrying about the present," Muse said. "We must look beyond the current crisis, to identify ways to expand and enhance Alabama agriculture and make it more competitive in the future."

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News from:

Office of Ag Communications & Marketing

Auburn University College of Agriculture
Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station
3 Comer Hall, Auburn University
Auburn, AL 36849
334-844-4877 (PHONE) 334-844-5892 (FAX)

Contact Jamie Creamer, 334-844-2783 or jcreamer@auburn.edu

06/28/00