Ag Retailers Should Engage The Environmental Sector
December 6, 2011 
Sustainability was a hot topic at this year’s Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA) Conference. Held in Boca Raton, FL, the meeting examined the major pillars of sustainability — social, economic and environmental — from three unique perspectives including customers, consumers and the government. Attendees heard many practical ideas and management solutions for making their business more sustainable from leading agricultural retailers.
Two ARA members have since continued that conversation online. Tim Mahoney, Business Devolpment Manager at IRM Ltd., Philadelphia, PA, recently started a discussion titled “Engaging the Environmental Sector” on ARA’s online forum. He said he was encouraged by what he heard during the Retailer Panel he attended, which emphasized the need to reach out to local groups and engage them in discussion. But he also questions whether or not an opportunity may have been missed.
“While we heard from a representative of the National Resources Defense Council, it does not look like there was anyone else from this sector present at our conference,” Mahoney commented. “It seems we missed an opportunity to gather local groups from the other side of the table in the many environmental discussions going on in Florida.”
Dave Downey, Director of the Center for Food and Agricultural Business, Purdue University, replied to Mahoney’s post.
“Tim makes a valuable observation,” he said. “The national ARA conference was very interesting with full gamut of perspectives, from PepsiCo to farmers. While there are some good examples of the ag sector reaching out to engage environmental groups, we mostly seem to take a defensive posture, defending our industry and arguing ‘they just don’t understand how much we are doing.'”
Downey said he applauds ARA for inviting the NRDC to speak at this year’s conference.
“The dialogue was constructive and there was listening on both sides,” he said. “That is progress, I believe. Constructive dialogue creates trust and opens the door for mutual understanding and progress.”
To initiate further dialogue between ag retailers and environmental groups at industry events, Downey said he thinks we need to take a more proactive approach.
“I am wondering if the reason we don’t have more dialogue is that we don’t invite these groups to our meetings, nor do we attend theirs,” he said. “We seem to prefer to talk to ourselves about ‘the other guys.’ Perhaps the time has come to be more proactive in engagement.”
To read Downey and Mahoney’s comments and/or to post your own, visit ARA’s online forum here.
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