A national survey shows Americans favor farmers and food during times of drought.
The survey, conducted by the Associated Press and GfK research group shows 70 percent of Americans believe the government should restrict how much residents and businesses use water when there is a drought.
Respondents were asked to rate the importance of competing needs and 74 percent said agriculture should be a top or high priority.
Cannon Michael farms in California’s Central Valley and says he was surprised at the results.
“I have to say as a California producer who has been sort of vilified and dragged through the media like all of California agriculture–I about fell out of the chair when I saw that result."
He feels like the connection has been lost with urban consumers, and it has making it more difficult for them to understand agricultural practices.
“I’m certainly hoping we’re bringing things back together where people can understand the importance of agriculture even though we’re 2 percent of the population,” he says. “We’re doing massive amounts of good for folks in a daily basis and we really don’t want to be importing a lot food from other places that don’t have the food safety requirements and track record that we have.”
Michael says in a time where the drought has made it more difficult to be a farmer in California the poll results are encouraging.
Source: www.brownfieldagnews.com