US professor Frank Mitloehner says he is concerned that consistent criticism of agriculture is resulting in farmers exiting the industry and has called for society to recognise the important role they play.

The University of California Davis professor has become known for his clear communication of the role of livestock methane emissions and for putting vital context in an often-polarised debate.

Speaking to podcaster Ashley Sweeting about the sustainability of the industry, Prof Mitloehner said relentless criticism of farmers was a concerning trend.

“It is really time for us as a society to understand the incredible importance of our agricultural sector, every bite we put in our mouth every day comes from there. And the level of criticism our farmers face is unprecedented,” he said.

“We need to work with our farmers, not against them, to not just help them produce nutritious and tasty food, but also sustainable food. If these things are important for us as a society, then we have to help our farming sector to adapt just like we did with our health sector during Covid.”

While Prof Mitloehner was specifically talking about US farmers, recent protests have demonstrated concerns about the same trends happening in Australia.

One of the biggest concerns in the United States at the moment is the increasing age of producers. There is even a theory that ageing producers selling up and retiring is contributing to a slower than expected herd rebuild.

Prof Mitloehner said the negative sentiment towards producers was giving them another incentive to move out of the industry.

“Many of those farmers are near retirement age – the average age of our farmers is 59,” he said.

“Considering the level of criticism they get, they say ‘you know what, I don’t need this anymore, I’m selling up retiring and/or I certainly don’t want my kids to exposed to this’.”

Real world experience communicates the best

As the director of the UC Davis Clear Center, Prof Mitloehner runs one of the country’s largest tertiary agricultural programs. It takes animal science students from the lecture theatres to labs and onto working farms.

“90 to 95pc of our students are from cities – such as Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento – they don’t really have much idea about food production coming in,” he said.

Asked for his thoughts on a growing cultural divide between urban and rural populations, Prof Mitloehner said visiting working farms was the best way to communicate the message.

“They love that experience and it is a very important experience because on social media they hear so much fear mongering and just baloney,” he said.

“For them to see the real deal is eye-opening and very telling and they tell me ‘I can not believe that I used to have the perception of farmer that I used to have and thank god I have been able to rectify that’.”

Funding needs to back up policy

In recent years, Prof Mitloehner has come under attack for his funding sources coming from industry. In 2022, the New York Times, in collaboration with Greenpeace, wrote an article trying to discredit him by highlighting funding sources – it did not highlight any issues with his research.

Prof Mitloehner said the article was widely recognised as a hit piece and was ridiculous because 2/3 of research in the US was funded by private sources.

He said if society is expecting research to come from non-industry sources, then Governments needed to fill the void.

“To me it was alarming and it was depicted in ways that the farming sector does not deserve. Because the farming sector is as important to providing food as the health sector is to providing health care,” he said.

“If society is concerned about whether or not you can trust research that is funded by industry, then funding by the public must be organised.”

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