The Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation is launching a comprehensive public relations campaign complete with TV, radio, print and Internet ads to counteract Hawaii's anti-GMO movement.
The Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation is planning a $400,000 public relations campaign to generate support for farmers and persuade voters to support genetic engineering in agriculture.
The initiative ranges from running TV ads during football games and popular crime dramas to handing out temporary tattoos to schoolchildren and sponsoring face-painting at community gatherings.
The effort is “intended to win the hearts and minds of voters and shore up support for ALL agricultural producers,” the organization’s president, Chris Manfredi, wrote in an Aug. 21 letter.
He warned about potential economic impacts of recent Hawaii legislation that seeks to ban or regulate biotechnology in agriculture, such as a ballot initiative in Maui County that would impose a moratorium on genetically modified crops.
“Agriculture in Hawaii and across the nation is under attack,” Manfredi wrote. “Across the nation, farmers and ranchers have been caught off guard by extremist activists that will stop at nothing to realize their utopian, misinformed and unsustainable vision of how you should farm.”
via Pro-GMO Hawaii Farm Group Aims to Spend $400,000 – Civil Beat.