Someone told me long ago that animal production is not sexy, is not appealing. I just wrote a story on advertising and animal agriculture, and there is a big problem in this area.
World ad agencies like to take chances with big soda brands showing how joyful life can be, perfumes with beautiful women and men, airlines traveling around the world, and medication telling you that everything will go back to normal.
But chickens, eggs? Not many.
Well, the same is happening with animal production. Youngsters want a job in a skyscraper, not in a poultry house. They want to buy their food – free of god knows what chemicals or compounds – right there, at the supermarket, in wonderful and colorful packaging, without even wondering where the heck it came from.
Universities are having these problems too. I have heard that vet students in Mexico only want to take care of pets, not cows, pigs, turkeys or chickens, animals that provide us food. Yes, pets give a lot of love, but production animals don’t? Also, every year it is harder and harder to encourage people to work on farms, and this goes from Brazil all the way to Mexico.
I somewhat understand this in developing nations, in which conditions are not as good as in the developed world – access roads may not be paved, transportation is scarce or low quality, and obviously wages can be low.
However, this taken-for-granted food also happens in Europe, as well as the lack of interest. For instance, urbanites in Spain criticize the so called “macro farms.” I may say that they have never seen a pig in their lives.
Last week the well-known ag trade show SPACE took place in Brittanny, France, a beautiful rural area where 60% of French poultry is produced. One of the main topics of this edition was young people succeeding the older generations, essential for maintaining these activities, vital to France.
In 10 years, a third of farmers will reach retirement age, so SPACE wanted to offer a whole range of reflections and solutions to make agricultural professions more attractive and to give farmers the keys to earning a decent living.
This is something to seriously think about. Otherwise, who is going to provide eggs and chicken?
What do you think?
