Trust of Organizations Communicating about Agriculture and the Environment

Trust of Organizations Communicating about Agriculture and the Environment

Quisto Settle

Keelee McCartyJoy RumbleTaylor Ruth

Trust

We seek information from those we trust

We trust those who we have relationships with

Trust is essential to good public relations and effective communication

Trust can be the glue that puts the broken plate back together

Trust Today

“Society depends on those organizations or individuals who grow and supply food, and therefore society must find trust in knowing that quality food will be supplied. When this trust is broken, organizations suffer and the public seeks to find trust in others (Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2000).”

Trust

Competence Integrity

Goodwill

Methods

Online panel of 524 from Qualtrics

Methods

Quota sampling to Match 2010 U.S. Census

Methods

Reviewed by expert panel– Faculty at three universities

Sections

• Importance of Issues• Likelihood to Pay Attention to Issues in

News• Awareness of Organizations• Knowledge of Organizations• Trust of Communications by Issue• Trust of Organizations

The Issues

Agriculture

Environment

Food Safety

Nutrition

Animal Welfare

THE ORGANIZATIONS

THE RESPONDENTS

Gender Percent

Male 50

Female 50

Race/Ethnicity PercentHispanic 17

White 77

Black or African-American 14

American Indian 3

Asian 6

Other 2

Relationship Status PercentSingle 32.4

Married/Civil Union 51.0

Divorced 12.4

Separated 1.1

Widowed 2.9

Other 0.2

Education PercentLess than HS/GED 1.7

HS/GED 16.0

Some College 23.5

2-Year 13.5

4-Year 29.6

Masters 11.3

Professional 2.9

Doctoral 1.5

Political Beliefs

Series10

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

11.5

13

11.1

37.8

10.1

12

4.6

Very ConservativeConservativeSomewhat ConservativeModerateSomewhat LiberalLiberalVery Liberal

THE RESULTS

Importance MeanFood Safety 4.75

Nutrition 4.66

Agriculture 4.65

Environment 4.56

Animal Welfare 4.49

1 = Unimportant, 5 = Important

Importance MeanFood Safety 4.37

Nutrition 4.15

Environment 4.12

Animal Welfare 3.99

Agriculture 3.91

1 = Very Unlikely, 5 = Very Likely

Awareness

Moderately or Extremely Knowledgeable

Awareness

94.3%


40.6%

Awareness


Awareness

91.4%


34.0%

Awareness


Awareness

87.3%


30.7%

Awareness


Awareness

81.1%


26.5%

Awareness


Awareness

79.8%


29.8%

Awareness


Awareness

76.9%


10.8%

Awareness


Awareness

75.8%


17.2%

Awareness


Awareness

73.3%


28.8%

Awareness


Awareness

64.1%


17.2%

Awareness


Awareness

51.7%


16.6%

Awareness


Awareness

43.7%


13.0%

Awareness


Awareness

30.0%


10.5%

Awareness


Awareness

26.0%


8.6%

Awareness


Awareness

22.7%


9.9%

Awareness


Awareness

17.6%


7.9%

Awareness


Awareness

14.1%


6.3%

Summary of Awareness

FDA

USDA

EPAW

WF

PETA

DuPont

Greenpeace

HSUS

Sierra

Monsan

to AFB

Farm

ers & Ran

chers

Extensio

nEW

G CFI

Synge

nta0

20

40

60

80

100

Awareness

Summary of Knowledge

FDA

USDA

EPAPETA

HSUS

WW

F

Greenpeace

Sierra

Monsan

to AFB

DuPont

Farm

ers & Ran

chers

EWG

Extensio

n CFI

Synge

nta0

10

20

30

40

50

Knowledge

The Filters

• Did not respond to the following trust questions if they were unaware or had no knowledge of an organization

Respondents by Organization

Organization Number Organization Number

FDA 444 Sierra Club 192

USDA 404 Monsanto 184

EPA 316 AFB 161

PETA 274 Farmers & Ranchers

122

WWF 252 Extension 99

HSUS 245 EWG 95

Greenpeace 244 CFI 72

DuPont 234 Syngenta 56

Extensio

nHSU

SEW

GW

WF

AFB CFI

Farm

ers & Ran

chers

USDA

EPA

Sierra

Club

Greenpeace

FDA

Synge

ntaPETA

Dupont

Monsan

to1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

Trust Communication about Agriculture

1 = Distrust, 5 = Trust

EWG

Extensio

nW

WF CFI

AFBHSU

S

Farm

ers & Ran

chers

Sierra

Club

Greenpeace

EPA USD

AFD

A

Synge

ntaPETA

Dupont

Monsan

to1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

Trust Communication about the Environment


WW

FHSU

SEW

G

Extensio

n

Farm

ers & Ran

chers CFI

Sierra

ClubAFB

Greenpeace

PETA

Synge

ntaEPA

USDA

FDA

Dupont

Monsan

to1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

Trust Communication about Animal Welfare


EWG

Extensio

n

Farm

ers & Ran

chers

AFB FDA

USDA

HSUS

EPA W

WF

Synge

nta

Greenpeace CFI

Sierra

ClubPETA

Dupont

Monsan

to1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

Trust Communication about Food Safety


CFI

Extensio

nEW

G

Farm

ers & Ran

chers

AFB FDA

USDA

Synge

ntaHSU

SW

WF

Greenpeace

Sierra

ClubEPA

PETA

Dupont

Monsan

to1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

Trust Communication about Nutrition


HSUS

WW

FEW

G

Extensio

nAFB

Sierra

Club

Greenpeace CFI

Farm

ers & Ran

chers

EPA USD

APETA

FDA

Dupont

Synge

nta

Monsan

to1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

Overall Trust in Organizations


Correlation between Trust of Orgs and Trust of their CommunicationsOrganization Correlation Organization Correlation

Monsanto .86 Syngenta .67

PETA .77 WWF .63

EPA .74 HSUS .59

Greenpeace .74 US Farmers .55

DuPont .72 Farm Bureau .55

USDA .70 Extension .48

Sierra .69 CFI .45

FDA .69 EWG .37

Correlation between Knowledge and Trust

Negligible to low for trust of the org

Low to moderate for trust of comm

one substantial (Syngenta)

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN AND WHAT CAN I DO WITH IT?

Government Organizations

Government organizations highest in awareness and knowledge, but they weren’t especially high in trust

– Except Extension

Speaking of Extension

Continues streak of best kept secret– This is awful news– Priority for Extension is to expand its audience

There is a clear need to continue to push broaden awareness of Extension

Especially important in times of budget cuts

Lack of Trust

Until trust improves, organizations like Monsanto will have difficulty getting the public to believe their communications

There is a need to work on (re)building relationships with the public

Trends

Results tie in with decades-long trend of eroding trust in government and industry organizations

Trust will not magically come back– Needs to be earned

NGOs

NGOs on the other side of the fence of traditional agriculture tended to be more well-known than groups like American Farm Bureau

– But trust was fairly comparable for those who were aware of the organizations

At the End of the Day

Trust isn’t low, but it also isn’t high– And that’s bad enough

These organizations communicate about issues impacting our food and our environment

At the End of the Day

We know the public is disconnected from Ag

We also know they’re trying to pay attention

But they don’t always pay attention to good sources

– And we need to find our niche in fixing that problem

QUESTIONS?

Trust of Organizations Communicating about Agriculture and the Environment

Science

issue trust of organizations

effective communication

conservative conservative

liberal liberal

supply food

quality food

environment quisto

education percent