If you are like me, you have been glued to the television for the past two weeks. Most Americans are watching with fear and, to some degree, with fascination the war that is going on in the middle east. Many of us are engrossed in March Madness as we watch our favorite, or not so favorite, basketball teams battle it out on the hardwoods. And some of us are watching the weatherman intently to see if we will finally get some of that spring weather we have patiently been waiting for.

Without a doubt, the most important issue for many of us is the military conflict in the middle east and the repercussions that are evident around the world. Although the safety of our men and women in uniform is our greatest concern, we are equally concerned about the stability of our nation.

Our concern about world affairs has increased since the terrorists attacks on our nation over a year ago. This increased concern about world affairs has also increased our concern about our food and food supplies.

Dr. Ronald Wimberley, a professor of sociology in North Carolina State University, recently conducted a survey of 819 randomly selected American citizens. This survey showed that American residents trust the steadily vanishing American small-farm owner but don't favor corporate, nonfamily farms; that generally we don't trust genetically modified or foreign-grown food; and that the terrorists attacks of September 11 have made many people nervous about the safety of our food supply.

Using the results of this survey, Dr. Wimberley has recently published a book entitled The Social Risks of Agriculture. In this book he looks at how Americans feel about their food sources, who they trust, food security, genetic modification, food labeling, and the environment.

• 75% of those polled agreed that government policies should favor family-owner/operated farms as opposed to those run by corporations.
• 53% prefer to buy food they know has been grown on small rather than large farms.
• A solid majority of 74% would not relinquish food production to other countries even if that resulted in cheaper food.

• 74% said it is important that the food they buy to be grown and processed in the United States.
• 2/3 would pay more for food grown in the United States rather than abroad.
• More than 70% would spend more for locally produced food.
• 80% think United States-grown food is fresher than imported food.
• 79% think it is safer than imported food.

• About 1/2 of those surveyed say that American-produced food is more nutritious and tastes better than imported food.
• Slightly over 1/2 perceive that United States-grown food costs less.
• 92% say they would eat United States-produced meat,
• 21% would eat South American meat,
• 14% would eat British-produced meat,
• 10% would eat meat from other European countries.
• But nearly 1/2 say "no" to South American-produced meat; the majority reject meat from England or other European countries.

• 88% believe listing contents on food labels is important.
• Also, 87% say their food's nutritional value is important to them.

• The survey results indicated that respondents are not sure about eating foods grown using biotechnological techniques.
• Nearly 1/2 of them are undecided about the safety of foods from genetically modified plants and animals. Those who take a stand on biotech and genetic modification are about evenly divided, with a sizable majority seeing genetically modified animal products as unsafe.

Those surveyed appeared to be somewhat wary about the sources of the information they receive about the safety of United States farming practices.

• 70% trust farmers;
• 57% trust university professors;
• 20% trust elected officials;
• 12% trust celebrities; and
• 11% trust business executives.
• Elected officials, celebrities and business executives actually are mistrusted by about 2/3 of the respondents.

• Only 13% trust foreign governments for information about food safety,
• 67 percent don't trust them, and
• the remainder are undecided.
• This is in line with the mistrust of meat grown in countries outside the United States.

Farmers enjoy the benefit of the public's doubt on environmental issues and are generally not blamed for major damage. But, in some cases, respondents were not decided about how much farmers harm our environment.

• Almost 2/3 think most farmers take good care of the soil and
• almost 1/2 agree that most farmers safely use pesticides and other chemicals on food crops.
• But 20% think farming is a major source of United States pollution and
• 61% worry some or a great deal about environmental problems caused by United States farming methods.
• However, the vast majority claim that they have a lot of concern about farming's impact on the environments of other countries.

• 43% are undecided if American farmers use more chemicals than needed to produce food.
• Another 43% think farmers do use more chemicals than necessary.

Recent world events have had an impact on the responses of those surveyed. When the survey was started in July of 2001, Wimberley reported that food safety was an interest to 46% of the people. But after the September 11 terrorist attacks, 91% indicated they were somewhat or very concerned about food safety.

In summary, this survey indicated that people in the United States are:

• Concerned about the global sources of their food.
• They want their food produced under safe environmental conditions, whether domestically or globally.
• And finally, they would pay more for food labeled with assurances that it was produced under such conditions.

E-mail address: Everett_Davis@ncsu.edu

Mailing Address:
P. O. Box 2280
Lumberton, NC 28359-2280

Phone: 910-671-3276
Fax: 910-671-6278

Date Created 4/03/03