Seek first to Understand, then to be Understood.

When it comes to our Sustainability Story, we must seek first to understand, then to be understood.?

It’s not just all about telling the world the good we are doing and the great we plan to do (although I truly believe these two facts to be true) we need to first seek first to understand why sustainability is important to us AND to our consumers.?

As an industry we produce a product for people to consume and “consumption” has copped a lot of flack lately. The things we produce as farmers and growers are often single-use products (fibre-farmers, even you sell meat too), and what used to be a ??3R model of sustainable consumption(Reduce-Reuse-Recycle) has blown out into the ??7R model (Rethink-Refuse-Reduce-Re-choose-Repair-Reuse-Recycle). In the agriculture sector are in the unique position to be part of the climate change solution, we have the power to take daily actions which will influence the drawn-down of CO2 from our atmosphere.?

Our consumers are not often given the same privilege, the only power they have to influence change is to control their footprint and they do so by engaging with these 7Rs. A thinking pattern for a household decision-makers might go as follows, “when purchasing food that my family will consume, what are we willing and able to rethink, refuse, reduce, re-choose…and what should influence our decision most: sustainability, nutrition, money, convenience”…the list goes on. This leaves people Hungry & Confused. (Grimmelt, A, Moulton, J, Snezhkova, N, Pandya, C, Hungry and confused: The winding road to conscious eating, McKinsey & Co, October 5 2022, accessed May 2023.)

Health trumps Sustainability, but only just. So how can we easily and readily ensure we deliver a nutritious & sustainable product to our consumers, that reduces consumer guilt and makes them feel part of the climate change solution?

As we shift to deeply understanding our consumer’s concerns, now we have empathy. So in sharing our story, perhaps we can be a part of the solution to a decision-dilemma, not standing up to defend our case.?This empathy also primes us for a relationship built on trust which positions us to listen when a consumers concerns, needs or desires change - we will be less reactive and more involved in the process.

People may choose to eat less meat, people may choose to eat no meat at all, and that is OK. Heavens, I make choices every day that won’t please everybody, and that freedom of choice is a right that I plan to continue to exercise. So if we choose to operate in an industry that sells to a consumer who needs to choose to purchase from us, then there are two parties with options on the table, it becomes an intricate dance built on a trusting relationship.

Listening builds trust. When we seek to understand those who do actively choose to purchase our products, we position ourselves as a sector in the listening chair. This is a chair full of opportunities which if we choose to listen, we will hear.