Last week the Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) held its annual general meeting, focusing on the theme of building trust, farm to table.

CFA president Ron Bonnett says this theme covered every part of the supply chain, from producers and processors to the retail level. He says they want to create a better dialogue with consumers to dispel misinformation in advertising and social media.

"Even some of the advertising, so you see 'no antibiotics,' well frankly, there are no antibiotics in the food consumers (eat)," Bonnett says. "I think it's [about] trying to get people to ask those tough questions about, okay, what does this rhetoric mean? Is it something real or something imagined? And I think we have a way to go in letting people know what is actually going on."

Bonnett adds modern farms are more sustainable in environmental and food safety practices than farms of the past that didn't have today's technology and science. But, he says consumers aren't getting that message.

"We're looking at seeing how we can get consistent messaging going out to consumers, answering some of the questions they have about production practices and how food makes it from the farm to the table. We want to sort of build an ongoing dialogue with consumers to really reinforce some of the things farmers are doing to improve everything from the environmental side, to the animal care side, to ensuring the product [consumers] are getting is the highest quality and safety," Bonnett says.