Easy Connections Build Trust

By Lindsay Mitchell

Illinois Farm Families: it’s a simple noun with two short adjectives, but it’s also a movement that has captured Illinois for more than a decade. It’s a program, an opportunity, and a challenge.

Illinois Farm Families (IFF) is a collaboration with IL Corn and Illinois Soybean Association, but also Illinois Beef Association, Illinois Farm Bureau, Illinois Pork Producers Association, and Midwest Dairy. These commodity groups work together to build connections between farmers and the people living in Chicago that don’t understand agriculture.

Make no mistake, an IFF volunteer will not talk about “educating” people living in Chicago because those folks are already intelligent, functioning members of our state. What the people in Chicago aren’t exposed to is agriculture. Just like Illinois farmers might feel like Chicagoans are alien and foreign, Chicagoans might think acres and acres of corn and soybeans – or having a cow living just beyond your backyard - is another planet too.

So, IFF builds relationships, and that starts from finding shared values and experiences. Some of the most fundamental experiences on Earth are raising a family: parenting, cooking dinner and taking a turn driving the carpool. IFF volunteers found that if they talk about those experiences, they unlock a treasure trove of understanding and commonality that leads to trust.

IFF’s recent research and subsequent survey work shares that if the target market in Chicago (parents aged 24-39) believes that the farms in Illinois are run by families, then they are more likely to trust Illinois farmers and give them the social license to farm however they think is best.

People in Chicago know about families. They know how families work and make decisions and talk to their communities. They trust families.

The research also revealed that those familiar with IFF (about one-third of the people surveyed) are more likely to trust and speak favorably about Illinois farmers and their farming practices, including trusting how farmers make decisions on growing their food (63 percent), use ethical standards to make farm decisions (62 percent) and engage in open and honest dialogue about their farm (60 percent).

Familiarity with IFF begets an understanding of Illinois farmers as family farmers. That’s the key that unlocks this puzzle of mistrust and lack of understanding.

The research also showed us that people in Chicago are thinking about agriculture and their food supply differently as a result of the COVID-19 food supply disruptions. When food was plentiful pre-COVID-19, many people didn’t have to consider where it came from. Now consumers understand that food doesn’t just appear in the store, and they’ve taken an interest in how it’s grown, processed, and delivered to them. People are newly interested in food in a completely new way.

IFF is a collaboration between IL Corn, ISA, Illinois Beef Association, Illinois Farm Bureau, Illinois Pork Producers Association, and Midwest Dairy.

The commodity group partners take this information and run with it. IFF farmers show up in Chicago at food festivals like the Taste of Randolph in June 2022 or at Love Fridges around the city in February 2022. They show Chicagoans who they are and what they value. These farmers talk to Chicago parents about raising teenagers and toddlers, hogs and corn seedlings. They explain about good nutrition for families, and good nutrition for livestock and crops. IFF remembers family Thanksgivings, shares recipes, and explains how Illinois farmers plan to pass their farm to the next generation.

The opportunity is for other Illinois farmers to join with IFF to find those commonalities and share those conversations with the people in Chicago that are interested to know Illinois farmers.

The face of “trust” has changed, with the 2021 Edelman Trust Barometer finding that trust in all information sources is at record lows globally, including a decline in the credibility of spokespeople. However, the study also revealed that people are more likely to trust what is local, including people in their local communities.

Therefore, the faces and the voices of the farmers IFF represents are critical to the mission. If you are an Illinois farmer, yours is the face and the voice that is local and trustworthy. Yours is the face and the voice that can change the perceptions of people that don’t understand agriculture but want to.

Check out Illinois Farm Families on the social channels or website listed here. If you are a pro gardener or the family chef, there’s a place for your voice in our online content. If you are great with social media and interested in showing off your own farm family, we can use you. If you prefer one-on-one conversations, there’s a place for that too.

IFF gladly welcomes every face of Illinois agriculture into our mission. The stories are as different and compelling and intriguing and heart-wrenching as the families we meet in Chicago, and that sameness is what makes all the difference.

For more information please visit www.watchusgrow.org online, @illinoisfarmfamilies on Instagram and Facebook, and @ilfarmfam on Twitter.