Delivering the keynote speech at the 2016 Agricultural Science Association (ASA) conference in Kilkenny last Friday, Jack A Bobo said the role of farming, food and science has never been discussed as much but it can be difficult to back up conversations with scientific fact.

“Food and agriculture has never been sexier, but if people don’t trust you, the science doesn’t matter,” Bobo said.

Bobo, who is a former adviser to Hillary Clinton in the US Department of State, said that agriculture and science can, at times, enjoy an uneasy relationship. He added that as the global population grows, farmers and those in charge of food policy must learn how to communicate effectively the role and the importance of food production.

“We’re at seven billion people right now; we’re growing to nine billion by 2050, but there are 800m people going to bed hungry every night. There are nine million people dying of hunger every year. That’s 25,000 people every day, 1,000 every hour and one person every four seconds.

“Whether you’re a scientist, a farmer or a policy maker, we need to get better at story telling,” Bobo said.

His views were echoed by Aidan Connolly from Alltech who introduced the idea of the prosumer.

“These are consumers that are making very proactive choices in everything that they buy and specifically with respect to food they’re actually putting in their ethical values, their expectations and their aspirations on to their purchase,” the chief innovation officer and vice-president of corporate accounts at Alltech said.

“When on your side, they can be extremely powerful; when against you, they can cause you a lot of problems.”

This is why he believes farmers need to actively engage with people on social media, something that will become more important as we enter the last ten years of the big box supermarkets.

“It looks as though the large box supermarket system that we’ve seen is going to disappear,” said Connolly. “It is very clear that going to the supermarket to buy food will be more of a social activity, more something people do as a choice and not as a necessity.”

Mary Delaney took over from Neil Keane as president of the ASA at the association’s AGM, while interim Macra CEO Derrie Dillon became vice-president.

Delaney is planning to build on recent professional development initiatives, run a grass technical workshop, a beef masterclass and an equine tour during her reign as president.

“The sector is facing a challenging environment at this time, with commodity prices in many instances at an all-time low and Brexit now a reality, so it is more important than ever for professionals in our field to streamline resources and work together to tackle these challenges head on,” the head of equine in Glanbia Agribusiness said.

“Economic and environmental sustainability are now everyday language in the agri-food sector in Ireland and I intend to make them themes of this presidency.”