The Packer’s Tom Karst spoke Oct. 12 with Teresa Thorne, the executive director of the Alliance for Food and Farming.
Thorne talked about her background growing up on a citrus farm, some of the biggest accomplishments of the Alliance for Food and Farming and a review of the recent media tour hosted by the alliance.
Educating consumers
Education of consumers is the cornerstone of what the alliance is all about, she said.
“We want consumers to know, whether they choose organic or conventional, that both are safe, and both can be eaten with confidence,” Thorne said. “And we don’t want any group or individual to discourage them from that.”
Thorne talked about the success of the alliance in combatting the negative messaging about fresh produce from the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen list.
Thorne said a key to the group’s success is support from all corners of the industry.
“We are an organization that is supported by commodity boards, by the United Fresh Produce Association, by the Produce Marketing Association, Western Growers, the Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association, regional trade associations,” she said. “By all of us coming together through the Alliance for Food and Farming, it really allows us to speak with one voice, and that’s been a really important key to our success.”
The AFF hosted its fourth “Facts, Not Fear” Produce Safety Media Tour for registered dietitians, health and nutrition writers and bloggers Sept. 13-15 featuring crops in the Pacific Northwest.
The tour was a big success, Thorne said.
“It energizes me when I see the interactions and the excitement, and the passion of the farmers come through so strongly, and how our tour guests react to that passion with their own excitement,” Thorne said.
Find all the resources of the Alliance for Food and Farming on the group’s website.
