By Tom Collins
Most Canadians have a positive impression of farmers, but they also know almost nothing about farming, says a survey from the newly-formed Canadian Centre for Food Integrity.
Called the 2016 Canadian Public Trust Research, the 2016 web-based survey recorded responses from 2,510 respondents in February and March from across Canada. Sixty-one per cent said they have a positive impression of Canadian agriculture.
But 93 per cent say they know a little, very little or nothing about Canadian farming practices in general.
Other results from the survey include:
• 43 % were concerned about the humane treatment of farm animals;
• 48 % were concerned about the use of hormones in farm animals;
• 46 % were concerned about the use of pesticides in crop production;
• 45 % were concerned about the drug residues in meat, milk and eggs;
• 41 % were concerned about eating food that comes from genetically-engineered crops;
• 27 % say videos of farm animals being treated poorly are not representative of normal livestock farming (16 % say the videos are representative, with 57 %falling in the middle);
•25 % say animals should have the same rights as humans.
