It’s that time of year when awards that celebrate our Australian farmers and the people who support them are opening for nominations.
As a person who has been lucky enough to win some of these awards and benefited greatly from the exposure they bring I have also witnessed the impact on my family of the pressure to “live up” to microscope they feel they are under.
Whilst the naysayers don’t interest me, I do understand when quiet achievers like my husband and son would prefer not to be in the spotlight. My son in particular finds the derogatory comments from some of the local farmers hard to take and I find that very sad.
I remember vividly attending the 2010 National Landcare Awards and being so excited when we won and then turning to my husband who said ‘You collect the award I don’t think what we do is any different to thousands of farmers across Australia’. But I knew differently, it’s not how you farm that counts, its how what you do translates into a community good benefit that counts.
I stood tall and proudly accepted because I knew what we did was something to be proud of.
My speech went something like this
Today most media in Australia generated around food is about cooking and eating, recipes and restaurants, with little attention paid to the origins of the key ingredients.
At Clover Hill Dairies we haven’t been fooled into thinking people don’t care.
We believe meeting or exceeding the community’s expectations to deliver affordable, nutritious and ethically produced food is doing the right thing by our business and our customers
There are plenty of Australian farmers committed to ethical food production… JUST AS WE ARE
But there are some things we are equally passionate about that sets us apart
Beyond best farming practices we are dedicated to
Winning this very prestigious award offers us the very best possible platform to build on this passion – thank you so much for opening this door
In 2013 I would make a very different speech and I would be less nervous because my journey since that night has been so exciting and so fulfilling and I have so much more confidence and met so many wonderful people who are sharing my journey. One thing that hasn’t changed is I would be just as proud.
Most excitingly there was some-one in the audience who heard me speak and believed in my Young Farming Champions concept and invested in it (thank you Ken)
I recently had an email from a young lady inspired by one of these young farming champions to take up a career in agriculture
It is absolutely beyond my wildest dreams to communicate with young farmers (of their nature) and have been so fortunate to be in brief contact with Richie Quigley after being sent his Art4Agriculture video and contacting him and being mentored by him towards the most appropriate university degree for me next year – his input has been invaluable.
We are far from perfect farmers but what our farm has done very well is to open the door to invite the next generation to visit and experience what we do which one of the Art4agriculutre Young Eco Champions Erin shows so beautifully here.
We do need a new way of thinking about agriculture. We need farmers who are prepared to work beyond traditional boundaries and challenge the conventional thinking of primary industries and individuals.
We need a paradigm shift in thinking and a collaborative re-allocation of resources and responsibilities
We must be able to deploy agriculture’s young people like Richie and Erin into schools to build relationships with the next generation of consumers.
So if you know some-one who has a big picture vision for agriculture then nominate them for awards.
As an industry
‘we can inspire and motivate and galvanise our people or we can ridicule and sap energy from them. Its our choice’ Derek Antoncich
Lets celebrate our farmers sharing their stories beyond the farm gate
Nominate some-one you know today
Farmer of the Year Awards http://www.farmingahead.com.au/FarmerOfYear
