Talking with the dairy and grains industries

Dr Heather Bray from the Food Values Research Group recently presented at two industry forums: the Dairy Research Foundation Symposium at the University of Sydney’s Camden Campus, and the Future Farming Forum organised by the Australian Biotechnology Council of Australia at the University of Adelaide’s Waite Campus.

At the Dairy Research Foundation Symposium, Heather presented work from the ARC Discovery Project What Shall We Have for Tea? Toward a New Discourse of Food Ethics in Contemporary Australia and highlighted the themes emerging from that work. Heather was part of a session emphasising that identifying shared values between producers and consumers is the key to communication.

At the Future Farming Forum, Heather presented work from both the Food Ethics project and recent smaller projects that have looked at attitudes to genetically-modified foods and crops.Again the emphasis was on understanding community values about food production and how the community’s perceptions of GM foods may or may not align with those values.

As researchers, we value these opportunities to hear and speak to producers about their challenges. All though the dairy and grains sectors are dealing with slightly different issues, both sectors acknowledge that their social licence to operate is at risk unless they find ways to engage in a conversation with the broader community about their farming practices.

Heather Bray at the Dairy Research Foundation Symposium. Photo courtesy of Lynne Strong.

Heather Bray with co-presenters at the Future Farming Forum. Photo courtesy of Deanna Lush.