Title: Technology - It's Impact on the Consumer and You
1Technology - It's Impact on the Consumer and You
Mark Armfelt, DVM, DABVP
2What Does Freedom to Choose Technology Offer You?
3Objectives
- Describe the impact technology has on
productivity and efficiency - Discuss the impact of technology on the consumer
- Protecting your right to choose technologies
4Global Population Growth
Billions
Source United Nations, World Population
Prospects The 2004 Revision (2005).
5Consumers Want
- Economical food
- Safe food
- Abundant food
- Sustainable agriculture
6Technology, Productivity, and Efficiency
7Technology
- Production Agriculture
- Abundant wholesome food
- Sustainability
- Profitable manner
- Positive impacts on the environment
8Technology - Crop
- In 1950, total world production of all major
cereal grains was about 620 million tons in
2000, it was more than 1.9 billion tons. (With
conventional technologies) wed have had to cut
down approximately three times as much forest or
plowed up three times as much grazing landto
produce a harvest equivalent to 2000. Thats how
much land high-yield technology saved for Mother
Nature.
Norman Borlaug, Father of the Green Revolution
9Cropland
USDA, 2003
10Cropland Availability
11Sustainability 2004 Grower Benefits
- Incremental yield increase of 6.6 billion pounds
- Reduction in production costs of 1.7 billion
- Reduction in pesticide use by 64.6 million pounds
- A net economic impact of 2.3 billion
- Economic benefits in all 43 surveyed states where
biotech crops were grown
National Center for Food and Agriculture Policys
(NCFAP)
12Technology - Soybeans
- Almost ½ of soybean growers have increased their
no-till during the past 6 crop seasons
(1996-2001) - 247 million tons of topsoil were saved in 2000
- 234 million gallons of fuel was reduced in 2000
American Soybean Association
13Technology - Beef
- If U.S. cattle producers were to attempt to
produce the current beef supply with 1955
technology, we would need a cattle herd about 80
larger than that of today. Gary Weber, PhD,
executive director of regulatory affairs for
National Cattlemans Beef Association.
14Technology - Dairy
- Total milk production has increased by 50 since
1950 - Milk per cow has tripled since 1950
- Number of cows declined by 62 since 1950
- Annual milk production per person approaching
1,000,000 - Impact of milk testing and processing on dairy
product safety
15Limiting Technology - Wheat
- Producers allowed processors to manage the market
- Currently wheat has little long-term R D
investment potential - Lack of market opportunity for biotechnology and
other traits
16Technology and the Consumer
17Consumers Want
- Economical food
- Safe food
- Abundant food
- Sustainable agriculture
18Top-of-mind Food Safety Concerns -
What, if anything, are you most concerned about
when it comes to food safety? (Open-ended
Multiple responses allowed, n 1000)
Food Safety Concerns 3/05 Handling/Preparati
on 42 Disease/Contamination (foodborne
illness) 28 Ingredients (chemicals,
preservatives, fats) 23 Packaging (expiration
dates, packaging) 14 Chemicals/Pesticides 7
Biotechnology lt ½
International Food Information Council, 2005
IFIC 2005
19Milk Safety - Consumers
Label Claim Milk Considered Safer Milk Considered Healthier
Vitamins AD fortified 73 85
Hormone-free 73 85
No antibiotics 57 56
r-bST or r-bGH free 28 28
Marketing Horizons, Inc. (n403 consumers across
U.S.)
20Milk Safety - Consumers
- Vitamin D is a hormone
- All food contains naturally occurring hormones
- All milk in the dairy case has been tested and is
virtually antibiotic free - According to the FDA, milk from cows supplemented
with rbST is the same as milk from
non-supplemented cows.
21Hormones in Milk
- The fact is, of course, that our own bodies
make hormones on a daily basis, and we'd be dead
without them. We consume all kinds of hormones in
the foods we eat, organic or otherwiseIn fact,
soy milk, another high-priced competitor with
real milk, has far more bioactive hormones than
cow's milk. Jerry Kozak, President and CEO,
National Milk
22Technology Safety - Science
- Scientific Safety Reviews
- World Health Organization
- Food Agricultural Organization of the United
Nations - National Academy of Sciences
- American Medical Association
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration
- Society of Toxicology
- Institute of Food Technologists
- American Cancer Society
- National Institutes of Health
- U.S. Surgeon Generals Office
- American Dietetics Association
23Abundant, Economical Food
Country Percent of Income Spent on Food Prepared at Home Percent of Income Spent on All Food
United States 6 11
European Union 11 20
Mexico 24
Philippines 48
Source, USDA, 2003
24Consumers Get - Productivity
- Productivity is the reason we have more stuff
than our grandparents had without working harder
than they didthe productivity of the American
worker is the envy of industrial countries around
the world. David Wessel, deputy Washington
bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal
25Abundant, Economical Food
- "For Gods sake, Ive always said, Use all the
organic fertilizer thats available, but dont
come around Third World nations telling them they
can produce all the food they need with organic
fertilizer. (If we tried to substitute manure
for chemical fertilizer) wed have to increase
world cattle population by about six-fold...Its
a lot of nonsense, and it comes from people
whove never produced one ton of food in their
entire lifetime." Norman Borlaug, Father of the
Green Revolution
26Sustainability
27Cropland
28Consumer or Marketing?
29Marketing Dairy Today
- (There are) fear profiteering tactics
companies like Horizon Organics and Organic
Valley have employed in their marketing
strategies ( labels that wrongly suggest that
organic milk contains no hormones, or that
conventional milk contains antibiotics and
pesticides - messages that are developed not by
scientists, but by PR and marketing
hucksters).Alex Avery, Director, The Center for
Global Food Issues
30Marketing Dairy Today
In my opinion, authentic consumer demand is not
driving things here. Instead, I am suspicious
that the choice may be part of a deliberate
marketing strategy. It may be more plausible that
Dean Foods decided that it could increase or
defend its market share and/or command a markup
in price with rbST free milk that it couldnt
with generic milk. John Fetrow VMD, MBA,
Professor, College of Veterinary Medicine,
University of Minnesota
31Does Technology Give Consumers Want They Want?
- Economical food
- Safe food
- Abundant food
- Sustainable agriculture
32Protecting Your Right to Choose A Call to Action
33Premise
- Producers, along with their advisors, are in the
best position to select which technologies are
appropriate for their operation
34What Technologies are at Risk?
- Synchronization programs
- Growth promotants
- Antibiotics
- Artificial insemination
- Genetic advancements
- Feedstuffs
35Safety - Consumer Culture
Label Claim Milk Considered Safer Milk Considered Healthier
Vitamins AD fortified 73 85
Hormone-free 73 85
No antibiotics 57 56
r-bST or r-bGH free 28 28
36Value of POSILAC
- More Milk
- Save a cow
- Repro
37Call to Action - Veterinarians
- Veterinarians are trusted leaders in their
communities - Veterinarians have high integrity and are the
producers most trusted source of information on
issues of animal health and productivity - The veterinary profession is one that has relied
on technology advancements to achieve the great
productivity gains that we have seen across all
sectors of the animal agriculture industry
38Call to Action - Producers
- Speak up! Tell your Co-op directors, field men,
and executives you want them to protect your
right to use licensed approved technologies. - Speak up! Speak the truth about production
agriculture when you get a chance, we have a
great story to tell.
39Call to Action - Veterinarians
- Failure to do so will have severe negative
consequences on - our producers
- their products
- future investment and development in agricultural
production and veterinary technologies - our profession and our livelihood
- the environment
- the future viability of the animal agriculture
industry as we know it
40Call to Action - Producers
- Failure to do so will have severe negative
consequences on - Your livelihood and your industry
- Your ability to compete
- The products, or tools available to you to manage
your dairy - Future investment and development in agricultural
production and veterinary technologies - The environment
41Call to Action
- We are trusted leaders
- We are in a tremendous position to take this
challenge on and keep agricultural productivity
and environmental safety on a forward and
progressive path, decreasing our ecological
footprint
42Summary
- Allowing producers the freedom to use licensed,
approved technologies ensures the consumer will
have a safe, healthy, sustainable and economical
food supply for years to come!
43Update
- And then he (Rob Horsch) got one of those
life-changing phone callsIt was the Bill
Melinda Gates Foundation, asking him to join them
as senior program officer. His mission improving
crop yields via the best and most appropriate
science and technology, including biotechnology,
for problems in regions including sub-Saharan
Africa. (Rob starts with them in Nov, 2006)
44Thank You