America likes farmers

Washington—A just-released survey conducted by the American Farm Bureau finds that a majority of Americans believe farmers and ranchers are feeding the world in a sustainable way.

Sustainability is an important topic for many Americans in 2020. Economist John Newton says the recent survey found a majority of Americans trust farmers to use sustainable practices.

“We recently conducted a survey to gauge the public’s perceptions of farmers and ranchers and their sustainability practices, and what we found is more than half the adults, 58 percent, rate the sustainability practices of farmers positively. We have broad agreement on that from a majority of adults across demographic groups that trust farmers,” said Newton.

According to Farm Bureau nine in ten adults trust farmers, which is four percent higher than the last survey in June. While farmers can always improve their sustainability, The poll shows that Americans don’t think farmers should have to bear the cost of doing so by themselves.

“The public doesn’t believe that we need to go it alone. I think they recognize that climate-smart technology adoption is a public good. Seven in ten adults say that government incentives to encourage farmers to adopt additional sustainable ag practices would be effective in improving environmental sustainability in agriculture,” said Newton.

The Farm Bureau says Americans understand farms must be economically sustainable as well as environmentally sustainable.

“Four in five adults, they understand the importance of feeding the world, and then they also understand the importance of farmers being able to pass their farm down to future generations and keeping that farm in the family,” said Newton.

In challenging times, Idaho and US Farmers continue to farm and gain respect.