The Millennial Generation: Understanding of and Need for

Information on Farm Animal Welfare in Canada

Travis W Jansen

1, Michael Von Massow

2

twjansen@uwaterloo.ca

1 Centre for Knowledge Integration, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue

West, Waterloo, Ontario Canada N2L 3G1

2 Department of Hospitality, Food and Tourism Management, University of Guelph,

50 Stone Road East, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1

I. Introduction

The industrialization of Canadian agriculture

presents ethical challenges to consumers, producers

and governing organizations. This efficient model

of production has created an unquestioning demand

for cheap livestock products; including but not

limited to meat, eggs and milk. Combining this

demand with a population that is increasingly

separated from agriculture develops a strong

disconnect between the consumer and how their

food is produced.

However, recent media publications from outside

of the farming community are introducing the

public to the negative side of some livestock

practices. As a result, there is an increasing need to

ensure interested consumers are receiving and

absorbing accurate information about how their

food is produced. In particular, education should be

directed towards emotionally stimulating facets of

livestock production, such as animal welfare.

One of the challenges in educating such a large

population will be identifying the amount and type

of information that different people want and the

best way to deliver this information to them. The

millennial generation is of particular concern to the

food industry as they reflect the future parents and

primary consumers of livestock products for the

next few decades. Presently, post secondary

students are representative of the millennial

generation and the purpose of this study will be to

develop an understanding of this population and the

needs that they have for information about farm

animal welfare.

Understanding this population will help the food

and agriculture industry modify their education

program to better accommodate this population’s

needs. This will ensure that Canadians understand

the true way that farm animals are raised in their

country.

Abstract – Over the last ten years there has been an increase in the number of exposé videos that target

Canadian livestock producers. With these videos tarnishing the reputation of Canadian farmers, it

becomes increasingly important for the food and agriculture industry to educate the public on

mainstream farming practices. In order to develop effective teaching programs, these industries will

need to identify the needs of their various audiences. This quantitative survey study was done to

identify the millennial generation’s understanding of and need for information about farm animal

welfare. The survey was aimed at answering five key questions about this population: Are they

interested in farm animal welfare? Do they access information on farm animal welfare? If they access

this information, where do they get it from and how do they get it? What do they do with this

information? What is the best way to educate them about farm animal welfare? One hundred

participants filled out the survey over two days at the University of Waterloo Student Life Center. In

general, participants cared about farm animal welfare and had accessed information on the topic. The

most popular way to learn about farm animal welfare was by websites that were published by animal

welfare organizations or news agencies. A surprising number of participants had provided others with

information on farm animal welfare and many were interested in learning more about the subject. Most

participants wanted to learn about farm animal welfare by visiting a farm or through school.

II. Methods

Research was performed using a survey. This

method was chosen for two reasons. The first was

that it allowed for a large sample size. This ensured

that the sample was representative of the population

being studied. The second reason was that surveys

reduce response bias in participants. Had this study

been conducted using interviews, questions about

farm animal welfare may have led to participants

answering questions differently, in order to appear

more “normal” to the researcher. An anonymous

survey design helps to eliminate response bias by

separating the researcher from the participant and

separating the participant from their answers. This

ensured that participants answered the survey in a

way that accurately reflected their feelings.

A convenience sample was collected by having

one hundred participants fill out a thirty four

question survey over a period of two days. A booth

was set up in the University of Waterloo’s Student

Life Center. Anyone who passed by could fill out

the survey in exchange for a three dollar “Tim

Card”. Of the one hundred participants surveyed,

there were forty one males and fifty eight females.

Eighty six of the participants were between the

ages of eighteen and twenty three, eighty nine of

them were students at the University of Waterloo

and eighty four of the participants grew up in

Ontario. The collected sample is representative of

the millennial generation, defined as being those

who are currently between the ages of fifteen and

thirty.

Once the hundred surveys were completed, the

data from the hard copy surveys was transcribed

into an Excel file. Participants were asked to

provide only one answer for each question. For

questions where multiple answers were provided,

the responses were not included in the data

analysis. However, this did not exclude the

participant’s responses to other questions. As such,

analysis was done by comparing percent of

responses and not response frequency.

Initial analysis was performed by controlling for

certain participant responses and comparing results

between sample subgroups. The results provided in

this paper have not been statistically tested. The

final deliverable will use the Wilcoxon Rank Sum

Test to determine statistical significance.

III. Results

3.1 Are they interested in farm animal welfare?

Sixty eight participants answered agree or

strongly agree when asked if farm animal welfare

was something that was important to them. Table 1

indicates that female participants care more about

farm animal welfare than males. The bottom three

rows of table three suggest that having more

firsthand experience on farms increases the

participant’s interest in farm animal welfare.

3.2 Do they access information on farm animal

welfare?

Fifty nine participants had been presented with

information on farm animal welfare. Fifteen

percent of them went looking for the information

while fifty nine percent came across it randomly. A

friend or family member was recognized as the

most frequent way that participants first learned

about farm animal welfare (23%). A face to face

interaction was the most common way for this

information to be presented (33%).

3.3 Where and how do they access this

information?

Animal welfare organizations were identified as

the most popular source for information on farm

animal welfare (21%). Other choices included news

agencies (20%), the government (14%), farmers

(9%) and farming organizations (6%). Forty one

Fig 1. Table 1 summarizes participants who expressed

that farm animal welfare is important to them. Percent

was calculated by dividing sample frequency by

frequency of participants who answered agree or

strongly agree.

percent of participants accessed this information

from websites, followed by face to face interaction

(24%) and social media sites (11%).

3.4 What do they do with this information?

Forty one participants had provided information

to others about farm animal welfare. Of these forty

one participants, only nine of them rated their

knowledge of farm animal welfare as good or very

good. However, on average only eleven percent of

these participants answered the three “knowledge

testing” questions about farm animal welfare

incorrectly. Forty percent answered correctly and

forty nine percent said they were unsure of the

answer.

3.5 How do they want to learn about farm animal

welfare?

Most participants were interested in learning

about farm animal welfare by visiting a farm (73%)

or in an elementary or high school class (72%).

These were the most popular choices for those who

are interested in farm animal welfare, those who

aren’t, and those who have been presented with

information on farm animal welfare. Those who

hadn’t already been presented with information

were indifferent about the way they wanted to learn

about the subject.

IV. Discussion

This study was conducted to develop an

understanding of the millennial generation and their

need for information on farm animal welfare in

Canada. As expected, results indicated that this

population is interested in farm animal welfare, has

learned about farm animal welfare and wants to

learn more. Given this interest, there is a need for

the food and agriculture industry to develop

education programs that teach the public about

what they do.

The results of this study show that participants

prefer to use animal welfare organizations and

news agencies to get information on farm animal

welfare. Only fifteen percent of participants chose

to use farmers or farming organizations. This is not

surprising given that participants prefer to access

this information online where news agencies and

animal welfare organizations have a much stronger

presence.

However, this presents two reasons for the food

and agriculture industry to be concerned. The first

is that the millennial generation doesn’t go to them

to learn about what they do. This suggests that this

population has a difficult time accessing these

people or they do not trust them to provide accurate

information. The second issue is the number of

participants who choose to learn about farm animal

welfare online. Research suggests that despite

Millennials being comfortable with online research,

they have a difficult time evaluating the quality of

the information that they find1,2

. As a result, this

population is more susceptible to misinformation

about farm animal welfare. In particular,

information that comes from animal welfare

organizations and news agencies.

Despite these challenges, providing information

online is a convenient way to teach the millennial

generation about farm animal welfare. At a

minimum, the food and agriculture industry should

work to build a stronger online presence.

Participants also want to learn about farm animal

welfare in school or by visiting farms. This presents

the opportunity for an education program that

increases the number of Millennials who access

farmers for information on farm animal welfare.

One option is to incorporate virtual farm tours into

classrooms. Welcoming the public onto livestock

farms will build their trust in agriculture and reduce

the effects that exposé videos have on Canadian

farmers’ reputations.

In conclusion, the results of this study warrant

concern and the need for further research in this

area. Given the time constraints of this project, the

sample was limited to one hundred participants

who were primarily from Ontario and students at

the University of Waterloo. A more representative

sample will include individuals from across Canada

with different education levels. Future research

should look to answer questions about the type of

information this population is interested in and this

population’s willingness to pay for products from

animals raised under higher welfare standards.

V. References 1. Considine, D., Horton, J., & Moorman, G. (2009). Teaching

and reaching the millennial generation through media

literacy. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 52(6), 471-

481

2. Joint Information Systems Committee. (2008). Information

behaviour of the researcher of the future.

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/programmes

/reppres/gg_final_keynote_11012008.pdf