As part of a Nuffield Scholarship, I studied the preservation of rural landscapes in 2010 and 2011, travelling extensively through Europe and North America, China and the Philippines as well as looking in my own Australian backyard. I was looking for a model, which enabled farmers to farm unencumbered, within a landscape which preserved and integrated remnant vegetation.
I perceived the biggest threat to the preservation and enhancement of farming lands in Australia was urban expansion, particularly hobby farms. While I found many useful models of right to farm legislation and farming conservation zones – along with many which didn’t work – it soon became apparent none of these stayed the distance without community support.
The most critical thing with both was for farmers to be positive about their industries. I was pleased most stories for National Agriculture Day were positive. Thanking a farmer for toiling endlessly to produce your daily bread is wrong. It is far better to portray that wheat farmer as sophisticated, educated, tech savvy, caring deeply for the land he or she is custodian over.
Let the consumer gain an appreciation for how much effort and money is required to grow that wheat and the fact that very few non wheat farmers would be capable of it. It is a quality product deserving of a decent price. The flip side is that this is also the way to encourage young people into rural industries. I think this is already happening. Young people are returning to farming in a way they were not when my husband and I were in our early 20s. Statistically, farmers might still be aging, but that is because farm ownership models need to change. The new generation is there – they just don’t own the land.
Shortly after my Nuffield studies, I attended an ABARES conference during which one session was led by Ag College leaders bemoaning the lack of students. Their take was that there was no future for agriculture while commodity prices were so low, so how could they expect to attract students.
Why would any intelligent person enter the industry? It floored me that they couldn’t see their own attitude may have been partly to blame. Thankfully, there was a change of heart – and advertising – shortly afterwards and now students are returning to agriculture. As farmers, we must also be worthy of respect. Explain what we do and why, but never complain we are misunderstood. If we are, it is our fault. We must educate the listener – positively.
- Helen Thomas is a sheep and grain farmer from the mid north of South Australia and was a 2010 Nuffield Scholar. Every fortnight The Land will feature articles written by Nuffield Scholars.
