Are You Prepared to Handle the California Drought?

14-Main_Post-AD-california-drought-1For fresh produce growers throughout the State of California, the current buzz surrounding the drought is not a new topic. In fact, many of you have likely been aware and actively working toward solutions to reduce and better your water usage for decades. Depending on where you are located, you may feel confident that you have a handle on the situation – and many fresh produce growers most certainly have a secure infrastructure in place to allow for sustainable water use. But what many fresh produce companies have not secured are internal and external communications strategies that will empower and educate not only their employees, but the public, too. This is where public relations (PR) comes into play.

As the media puts agriculture under a microscope with its focus on the California drought, seemingly the fresh produce industry has remained remarkably silent. I believe growers could be missing an opportunity to utilize Public Relations and structured communications strategies to educate the public and our own employees about our water story and what we’re doing to conserve our resources.

After having several discussions with marketers and communications professionals close to the fresh produce industry, two key revelations surfaced for me. If you take anything away from this post today, consider the following two strategies relative to your communications:

  • Start internally to generate success.
  • Place a greater emphasis on how far we’ve come.

Success Starts Internally

Recently we have been working with Brona Cosgrave, a PR professional and marketing communicator in the food industry. I asked Brona about how fresh produce companies could handle the drought from a PR perspective, and her biggest piece of advice was to be prepared internally. If the San Francisco Chronicle or CNN were to call your company today and ask for a quote, would you have the processes in place to know how to handle this?

Brona explained to us that if you aren’t already having the internal conversations to outline how a situation like the drought would be handled, you’re already unprepared. She recommends that produce companies create a one to two page internal document that outlines each of the following:

  • The infrastructure your company currently has in place to use water sustainably
  • Steps you’ve taken in the past to conserve water and prepare for the drought
  • Steps you are planning to take in the coming months to further improve water infrastructure

This document should be shared with everyone in the company so that they feel informed and empowered, but it should be made clear that any media inquiries be directed toward The Director of Marketing and/or Communications. If your company doesn’t already have a media trained spokesperson available – we would be more than happy to guide you and make some recommendations. [LINK] You can never be too prepared when it comes to this type of media messaging. Finally, one of Brona’s biggest tips for fresh produce companies communicating about the drought is not to deny or downplay anything. Recognize the severity of the situation and communicate how important water as a resource is to your company.

Emphasize How Far We’ve Come

Your local Grower-Shipper Association or Commodity Board are great resources for growers looking for help to craft messaging about what’s being done to address the drought. We spoke with Abby Taylor-Silva, Vice President of Policy and Communications and Marissa Ritter, Director of Marketing & Communications, for the Grower-Shipper Association of Central California to glean insights.

Abby explained that when it comes to securing sustainable water infrastructure, one size doesn’t fit all. Some growers have had great success using drip irrigation, while others have found other practices that work better for their company. No matter what works for you, she emphasized that it’s important for growers and landowners in Salinas (and other growing regions, too) to share what they’ve tried, what the results were, and what is working well for them now.

Abby recommends that growers prepare a fact sheet for their company, including stats that show the progress local growers have made well before the drought became a national news story. (For example: “In 1993, drip irrigation was used on 25,080 of 173,610 acres of Monterey County. In 2014, drip irrigation was used on 124,285 of 182,150 acres in Monterey County.”) To assist their members, The Grower-Shipper Association of Central California has prepared a detailed overview for their members that they can share internally and even with their customers.

As this topic continues to be the source of much attention and discussion across the US, it’s certainly not going away. Also, keep in mind the drought is not the only active conversation involving agriculture. Food waste, for instance, is an important conversation that is happening on an ongoing basis, and has drawn much consumer interest. Has your company donated food to a food bank recently? Then you have a food waste story to share. Now is the time to prepare, and it starts internally.

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