Agriculture Community Continues to Push Communication to Consumers

Feb 18, 2020

Alanna Cook has been a longtime champion for agriculture in Canada.

She served for many years as Deputy Agriculture Minister with the provincial government and now speaks at events like Agri-vision in Lloydminster about the importance of farmers and ranchers talking to Canadians about what it is they do on the farm.

"I think that it is encouraging to think that farmers and ranchers are the most trusted sources for so much information about agriculture and food. I think the challenge is to make sure we continue to communicate in the right way to consumers so that we keep that trust ad connect them and continue to engage them," she explained.

Social media is a great way to communicate with consumers, but Cook understands that for some older farmers that may not be a possibility for them. She said that if they could even sit down with friends and family to have a conversation about food production, it would make a world of a difference.

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.