Farmers still trust the ag media
The topic of journalism ethics is near and dear to my heart. From my early days in the trenches as a community newspaper reporter, I often experienced attempts to influence my work and learned quickly how important it was to have guidelines to help me respond to those attempts.
I recently had the chance to highlight the American Agricultural Editor’s Association’s progress in the area of ethics during the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists’ Congress in Belgium. I was invited to participate in a panel discussion about the pressures on journalists.
Few countries’ ag communicator organizations have been as proactive as American ag journalists on the topic of ethics. Thanks to increased emphasis in the past five years, we have adopted a code of ethics for both our active and affiliate members. Case studies are in the process of being developed as a companion to the affiliate code.
We’ve come a long way. But as I prepared for the panel discussion in Belgium, I wondered how our audience perceives our efforts. We’re still looking for funding for a nationwide survey of farmers to gather more statistically valid information on this topic, but in the meantime I conducted an informal survey of 12 Iowa farmers.
The good news: All 12 say they rely on farm magazines for unbiased information. For the most part, the farmers trust the information they read, but most commented that the trust is related to the journalist who wrote the story and the sources used to provide information. If farmers don’t know the writer or the source, they are more skeptical of the information.
The need to know who is writing the story and the sources cited is new since my research for my master’s thesis in 2006. Until we’re able to conduct a much more extensive survey, I can only speculate, but my sense is that knowing the writers and sources helps farmers weed through the barrage of information they receive.
All the farmers I surveyed say they stop reading publications that provide information that is incorrect or seems too influenced by advertisers.
Overall, the farmers believe agricultural journalists want to get the story right and present information in an unbiased manner.
So, while farmers still trust the information they read in farm publications, there are caveats. They notice when they’re being influenced or misled inappropriately, and they will simply stop reading a publication if this happens. Therefore, we must continue our work to safeguard the integrity of our agricultural publications if we want to preserve farmers’ trust.

