Breakfast on the Farm, an educational farm tour, improves consumer trust in animal care, food safety and modern conventional dairy production

Abstract Text: In 2015, five Breakfast on the Farm (BOTF) educational dairy tours were held in Michigan (MI) with 12,068 participants; one in Ohio (OH) with 3,009 participants; and one in Vermont (VT) with 550 participants.  Exit surveys were collected from 1,406; 578; and 220 participants from MI, OH, and VT, respectively, to determine the impact of educational farm tours on consumer trust in animal care, food safety and modern food production.  Thirty-seven, 60, and 25% of participants from MI, OH, and VT, respectively, had not visited a working dairy farm in the past 20 years (first-time visitors). Upon exiting the tour, participants were asked about their level of trust on topics “before” and “after” the tour on a 5-point scale from 1 being very low to 5 being very high trust. The mean (±SD) for before, after and change (after – before) for first-time visitors’ level of trust in modern food production were, respectively, 3.60 (±1.14), 4.50 (±0.75), and 0.90 (±0.94) for MI; 3.68 (±1.13), 4.44 (±0.89), and 0.76 (±0.86) for OH; and 3.96 (±1.02), 4.59 (±0.80), and 0.63 (±0.89) for VT.  First-time visitors’ level of trust that dairy farmers will do the right thing in caring for food-producing animals for before, after and change, respectively, were 3.94 (±1.07), 4.69 (±0.59), and 0.75 (±0.93) for MI; 4.00 (±1.04), 4.64 (±0.68), and 0.64 (±0.89) for OH; and 3.88 (±1.03), 4.57 (±0.73), and 0.69 (±0.88) for VT.  First-time visitors’ level of trust that dairy farmers will do the right thing to safe-guard milk for before, after and change, respectively, were 4.02 (±1.03), 4.75 (±0.53), and 0.73 (±0.95) for MI; 4.11 (±1.01), 4.71 (±0.58), and 0.60 (±0.91) for OH; and 4.24 (±0.82), 4.73 (±0.53), and 0.49 (±0.64) for VT.  All mean increases (after – before) were significant at P < 0.005 using a paired-t test. Forty-five, 44, and 41% of MI, OH, and VT participants, respectively, rated farmers’ efforts to prevent milk from cows treated with antibiotics from being sold to the consumer as a major factor for increasing their trust and 42, 44, and 65% of MI, OH, and VT, respectively, rated their comfort with how animals are housed and managed as a major factor.  Exit surveys show educational farm tours increase the level of trust consumers have for animal care and housing, food safety and modern dairy farms.

Keywords: educational farm tours, consumer trust, modern food production