I have attended the SIAVS show in São Paulo Brazil since 2013. This last event was my sixth time invited by the Brazilian Association of Animal Protein (ABPA) under the Apex program. Apex is the Brazilian Agency for the Promotion of Exports which, from a personal point of view, and together with ABPA, are doing a great job in letting the world know what Brazilian poultry products are.
Communication is not easy. It has never been, but particularly in this era of fake news and very rapid transfer of information through social media, it is of the essence to convey actual data and information. And journalists have to be in the forefront of this.
Many journalists do not know anything about poultry. They have no idea what the difference is between a broiler, a layer or a breeder hen. They do not know the complexity of feed or how a hatchery works or why broilers gain so much weight now (blaming hormones, of course), not having the knowledge that genetics and nutrition is behind that. I definitely do not blame them, if they do not belong to the industry. In my case, for instance, I know nothing about airplanes or how the supreme court works, and I definitely would not say a word about it.
However, the problem is that the bad image of the animal production industry is in everyone's mind, including general journalists. So, going back to Apex and ABPA, they are doing magnificent work in speaking out loud, in showing the world what they do and that they do it well: producing food.
We all learned many things at SIAVS. Among the activities, we visited the two largest poultry companies: JBS (Seara) and BRF Marfrig. It was great to see what they are developing or, for instance, how a poultry integrator works to produce broilers and partner with the company. It was worth it to see the efforts they are putting in becoming more sustainable. I, for instance, did not know that chick papers are being recycled or that 61% of JBS’ integrators use photovoltaic energy or that rainwater is being collected for house chores or how BRF’s integrated producers contribute to the Human Development Index (HDI). The poultry industry is moving on and changing, adapting to new things.
Maybe some journalists are perhaps reluctant to see other concepts, but I'm sure the seed was planted. At least they now know other things.
So, my message is, as I have said before, we need to work on communicating what the poultry industry is doing and how food is being produced.
What do you think?
