As I’ve mentioned before, there are many different kinds of agriculture. Organic, conventional, antibiotic-free, grain farms, livestock farms, small farms, medium-sized farms, and large farms. And the majority (97% nationally) are family farms. It’s really up to the farmer to choose what is best for his or her farm, and the final decision of what to produce and how to produce it is largely based off of their personal values and experience and the marketability of the product(s) in their area.
Part of Panera’s EZChicken campaign
If you’ve been following any social media pertaining to agriculture, you’ve probably heard a lot about Panera’s new marketing of their antibiotic-free chicken. They’ve begun a new Twitter campaign through EZChicken, which depicts a chicken taking the easy route instead of doing the hard work. (Check out an awesome blog post about this by Dairy Carrie at http://dairycarrie.com/2013/07/23/dear-panera-bread-company/.)
Basically, Panera is implying that all farmers are lazy if they take the “EZ” route by giving their animals antibiotics. But they have it totally backwards. Farmers give their animals antibiotics when they are sick, much like you would if you were sick. The animals that are given the antibiotics are more likely to get better, and will eventually go to market when it is time, provided that they are completely healthy. If you’re worried about antibiotics getting into your food, know that the animals that have been given antibiotics are not permitted to go to market until any traces of antibiotic are out of their system. I’ve also heard of people accusing farmers of giving antibiotics to their animals when they are not sick, which is a totally false claim.
I’ve also been hearing quite a lot about Culver’s new campaign. They have pledged to donate $1 to the National FFA Foundation when you visit their website and write a thank you note to our nation’s farmers.
What it comes down to is that Culver’s is promoting a positive image of the American farmer, while Panera is accusing them of being lazy. Well, Culver’s has had a lot of success with their marketing strategy, and Panera’s seems to have, umm…., backfired on them. #PluckEZChicken is a campaign to get Panera to take down the Twitter page for EZChicken and to stop promoting the misconception that antibiotic-free is the easy way out.
Now there is nothing wrong with Panera choosing to offer only antibiotic-free chicken in their restaurants. It’s up to the consumer to choose what is best for themselves. (See my previous post on this, Choices.) Where Panera went wrong was to discredit other farming practices through EZChicken in the hopes of scaring people into buying their antibiotic-free chicken.
Regardless of how you prefer your food to be raised, head over to the Culver’s website at http://www.culvers.com/farmers/from-gratitude-to-support/ to thank our nation’s farmers for raising our food and keeping our nation food-secure. And if you’re a twitter user, check out #PluckEZChicken for more information on how ALL farmers raise our food in a safe, healthy way.
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