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The stronger the opposition to GMOs, the lower the test scores, overall.

The agricultural community has been pushing science on consumers, matching vitriol towards the sector with facts showing that hate or distrust is founded on nothing more than a gut reaction.

This has had little effect. And this goes both ways. Science that calls into question our practices and our belief systems, whether it relates to religion or our soil tillage habits, is easily dismissed as tainted by bias.

What’s left when science is no longer king? What takes the throne?

It should be difficult for anyone to admit that science isn’t what is guiding his or her food choices. It would seem foolish to say out loud or even in private that the foods one chooses to ingest, purchase or support are decided by faith.

Is story and anecdote filling the void left by our lack of confidence in scientific rigour?

It’s decidedly human to want to be entertained. And it appears that is what is happening.

As a farmer wanting to show a side of farming that is honest and accessible, I need to entertain and dazzle and otherwise make cool or en vogue a vocation that is driven by agronomy, i.e., science.

Historically, farmers have not felt the need to share stories of their operations to the public. There hasn’t been a demand from consumers. A generation ago, storytelling or communication in general was not a skill regularly attributed to the greater farming community. That is changing. It has to.