Each year a few staff at Farm & Food Care Saskatchewan and Canadian Food Focus look for opportunities to learn and connect with others in the industry. One of the most anticipated events we look forward to attending is the GrowCanada conference, organized by CropLife Canada and partners. The event is one of Canada’s premier agricultural gatherings focused on crop production, providing insights on innovations and issues that will impact agriculture in Canada and the world.
This year’s conference offered a wide perspective on emerging technologies to political issues faced by agriculture. However, one of the highlights is the networking that occurs with different influencers in the food system.
Through Canadian Food Focus, we were very pleased to sponsor the influencer portion of GrowCanada. The partnership with CropLife Canada, Hello Canola, Cereals Canada and Canadian Food Focus brought a group of dietitians, communicators and online influencers to the conference to learn more about the agriculture industry. In addition to sharing a wider perspective about the ag sector with these participants, initiatives like these help us build relationships with people who influence others’ food choices. Often, food professionals are asked questions about things like pesticide use, GMOs, hormones and more. We can be a resource for information and support to address questions about food and farming and we can learn more about consumers’ questions and concerns.
The relationships built through events like this offer opportunities for collaboration into the future. In fact, many of the current contributors that have written articles on Canadian Food Focus were first discovered at events like GrowCanada. It’s also important to connect with other leaders within the agriculture sector to both understand important issues in our industry as well as make our partners more aware of the important work we do to connect with consumers.
As we continue to evolve our engagement with Canadians, we know how important it is to partner with others, especially those who already have influence with consumers. We look forward to seeing how these connections grow in an effort to increase alignment within our sector and build consumers’ trust in agriculture.