#Strongwomen. "I write about the power of trying, because I want to be okay with failing. I write about generosity because I battle selfishness. I write about joy because I know sorrow. I write about faith because I almost lost mine, and I know what it is to be broken and in need of redemption. I write about gratitude because I am thankful – for all of it." Kristin Armstrong
Category: Health and Wellbeing
Stories about staying well in body and mind, from local health services and support to the everyday things that help our community look after itself and each other.
Sustainable Intensification (SI) is of great interest to me because it is potentially an ideal scenario for high rainfall, highly fertile soil farms in high amenity value land pockets like this one.
The presentations which you can find here provided fascinating insights into what farmers who wanted to travel the path of SI could aspire too.
I was lucky enough at lunch to sit next to the man who first coined the SI phrase Professor Tim Reeves whose presentation you can find here
Professor Reeves uses the Oxford University definition of SI
“The goal of sustainable intensification is to increase food production from existing farmland while minimising pressure on the environment. It is a response to the challenges of increasing demand for food from a growing global population, in a world where land, water, energy and other inputs are in short supply, overexploited and used unsustainably. Any efforts to ‘intensify’ food production must be matched by a concerted focus on making it ‘sustainable.’ Failing to do so will undermine our capacity to continue producing food in the future.
As Nick Rose from Fair Food Farmers United reminded me this week the complex problems of feeding the world will not all be solved by producing more food. Good article here
I caught up with Cathy Phelps from Dairy Australia for coffee the following day. Cathy is Dairy Australia’s Natural Resource Management Program Manager and she has possibly seen every farming system and as diverse array of farmers ( including those of David Lord’s See slide 9 here ) that exists. Cathy shared this great quote from Sir John Beddington, UK Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser with me
‘we should not promote ideologies, like ‘organic’ farming and instead focus on evidence based information to identify sustainable farming practices
“… instead of continuing the ideologically charged ‘organic versus conventional’ debate, we should systematically evaluate the costs and benefits of different management options. In the end, to achieve sustainable food security we will probably need many different techniques—including organic, conventional, and possible ‘hybrid’ systems—to produce more food at affordable prices, ensure livelihoods for farmers, and reduce the environmental costs of agriculture
Again I ask the farming community can we stop focusing on whose system is best and celebrate all the great farmers out there and work with the rest of the world to reduce the horrendous and heartbreaking problem of food waste.
Pictures are from Professor Reeves presentation See here
There was also a lot of discussion about building capacity in farmers and the difficulties of even starting to have discussion with us about this.
It is very often said by many people too many of us over estimate how good our farming practices are and our financial literacy is. I will blog about that shortly if I am game
I recently presented at the Australian Landcare Conference and must admit I walked away quite sad. The conference itself was awesome ( and so wish I hadn’t missed this presentation) but I was so frustrated by the mixed messages that at times came both from the stage and the audience. There was the woman in the audience who was very lucky I wasn’t standing directly behind or beside her when she stood up and said the only ethical farmers are those using organic farming principles. Anyone who reads my blog knows this is rubbish for a number of reasons but in this case once again I reiterate its not the system that determines “ethical’ farming practices its the management of the system.Lets get it right madam its the people not the concept. See Footnote for my definition of “ethical”
People who market their produce by degrading others make me so cranky. Its so wrong and so desperate and its damaging the reputation of agriculture. If your product cant stand on its own feet and have its own compelling value proposition why customers should purchase it over another then you are wasting your time.
The other thing that caught my attention was the growth of the “produce less be paid more” farming philosophy. I have no problem with this philosophy at all and there is a definite market for genuine differentiation from a small but growing group of people who are willing to pay for food produced according to their values.
But lets put the facts on the table and the proof is not there that it is a more sustainable model than the ‘produce more with less’ known in agricultural circles as sustainable intensification ethos that the majority of Australian commercial farmers follow. The proponents of the ‘produce less and and be paid more’ model suggest Australia and other first world countries should produce only enough food to feed their own countries and assist third world countries to be self sufficient.
This is very noble indeed and I too have no problem with the values behind this. But is it realistic?. If you look at the fact there are very few countries who are happy to trade and our little country sits about 4th on the world list that’s a bit scary. Our grains generally go to third world countries and our livestock products supply the growing demand for protein by the upper and middle classes in Asian countries. Bringing developing countries up to a level where they can feed themselves is a very complex problem. Interesting article here. Only small farmers and agroecology can feed the the world.
It is well recognised this will not happen until women in these countries are educated and who is going to pull that one off when women are too often the contribution of women is so undervalued in many of these countries.
It is also well recognised in countries like ours we have had cheap food for so long we think its a birth right. We have to ask ourselves the question. Will we not only be prepared to pay more for food and also pay more taxes to support people in other countries to become self-sufficient?????
On top of this every year the amount of arable land worldwide decreases by 1%. There is a worldwide water crisis. As the per capita use increases due to changes in lifestyle and as population increases, the proportion of water for human use is increasing. Together with the mismanagement of water resources world wide this means that the water to produce food for human consumption, industrial processes and all the other uses is very scarce.
BTW Did you know Australia is the largest consumer of freshwater globally?. See what we (CSIRO) are doing to address this here. Hopefully this research hasn’t been affected by the massive government budget cuts to the CSIRO
This week I am off to the Primary Industries Climate Challenges Centre Think Tank on Sustainable Intensificationwhere I will hear from world experts on this model. Whilst our business followed the sustainable intensification model I would be quite happy to join the group of people farming to ‘produce less to be paid more’ but I wouldn’t be spruiking that its more environmentally or animal friendly until the science tell me it is. I have invited the Fair Food Farmers United to share what drives them, their vision and their mission and I am thrilled they have agreed. I look forward to sharing that blog with you as well as what I learn next week.
UpdateTammi Jonas free range pig and cattle farmer has now written a follow up blog that shares what drives her found here . Tammi is an advocate of the ‘produce less for more’ model and walks the talk. I love the way she has summed up her blog. If you have some thoughts on the question she poses please go to her blog and share them
Don’t produce more for less, produce less for more.
By that I mean we must value the land, animals, and workers and ensure their health is paramount in every agricultural system and then ask eaters to pay a fair price for our efforts.
All of which is easier said from a farmer in a miniscule supply chain selling direct to eaters. The bigger challenge is for the majority who are under pressure from centralised market power and long supply chains…
What do you think? How can we address the serious structural imbalances between farmers, processors, distributors and supermarkets in Australia? How can we support all farmers to make a living growing food in the fairest ways possible?
My last thought on this today “How genuinely committed is the world to getting Saving the Planet right and are we all prepared to walk the talk?
Tomorrow I will blog on the big NGO’s who support the sustainable intensification model. Many farmers will be surprised and may do a big rethink on who they partner with. Maybe not – one of agriculture’s problems is we don’t get out enough. We do a lot of talking and not enough listening. After all if we don’t listen how can we expect to be heard
Footnote Please note I am not anti any type of food production system as long as it fits my “ethical” values – i.e. food produced in a way that respects animals, people and the planet and provides a fair return for the farmers.
Last week it gave me great pleasure to present on the Future of Landcare with a focus on engaging youth at the Australian Landcare Conference in Melbourne.
Thanks to Peter Piggot who snapped this shot of me on the stage
In today’s post I would love to share with what I had to say in words and pictures. I hope it gives you food for thought and I welcome your feedback
I do what I do because I love this country
I care deeply about the farmers who look after 60% of its land mass
I am very proud that those farmers produce 93% of the food that Australians consume.
I am however very concerned that in this country we waste a whopping 4.5 million tonnes of food a year yet 2 million people can go to bed hungry every night. That is almost 10% of the population
Most of us take for granted that Agriculture feeds, it clothes us and it puts a roof over our heads
Yet very few people are aware of how challenging it is to do this when every year you have
1. Declining natural resources – less land and less water and on top of this
2. Increasing consumer expectations about how food and fibre should be produced
As a farmer I am very concerned that so few people recognise the ramifications of this country being the hottest and driest continent
AND the consequences of scarce water resources and poor soils meaning the other statistic that really worries me is less than 6% of this country is suitable for growing crops.
I am also passionate about youth. Some people would say I am almost obsessed about youth, identifying talented youth and engaging them and nurturing them.
There is a pool of great young people keen to play their part in Landcare.
I know this because I have the pleasure of working with a number of these wonderful young people every day
We need these young people and we must value their contribution
We need to work at developing new and exciting opportunities where these young people can make a positive and expanding contribution.
This may mean a rethink of how Landcare operates and what Landcare is and does.
I believe Landcare can have a pivotal role in regenerating communities at the same time as regenerating the land.
To do this we need to support our young people
If they are to continue stepping up to the challenge and putting themselves out there and we do not support them when they have a negative experience then we may lose them.
It we get it right it’s not just the environment that benefits – our people our communities – the health, wealth and happiness of this great country – are the big beneficiaries
To get it right our young people need training, mentors and supportive networks if this is to be a success
Today I want to share with you one such success story
The Young Eco Champions project was funded by Caring for our Country support in 2012
The project saw us saw shining the light on a highly innovative and exciting partnership of young farmers and young people in natural resources management who were working together.
Together they undertook
Self and Professional development
Project development and implementation of on ground works
Community engagement activities
Developed multimedia communications strategies and delivered them to share the story with the community
What did this look like?
We bought together Young Farming Champions and Young Eco Champions and provided them with training including high level media training, leadership and communications skills to deliver their story to community audiences.
They delivered Landscape scale conservation activities through a mentoring partnership between Young Eco Champions and farmers.
They promoted conservation information to wider community through:
· visiting Schools
· holding Field days
· Creating Case studies
· Writing Blogs
· Writing scripts and starring in videos
· And putting masterpieces on the web like this
But wait there is more
The Young Farming Champions and the Young Eco Champions were then able to go into schools as part of the Archibull Prize which uses creativity to teach sustainability
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The aim of the project was to
1. Raise awareness of, and a passion for landcare principles in young farmers, in schools and in the community and equally
2. Raise awareness and understanding amongst young landcarers and the community of the challenges and constraints of modern agricultural systems
What we hoped do achieve was threefold
1. Firstly we wanted to cement the idea that sustainable food & fibre production is reliant on collaboration between farmers and landcarers and the community
2. Secondly we wanted to secure innate/inborn partnerships between NRM professionals & our food and fibre producers.
3. And thirdly we wanted to increase the participation of young people in managing natural resources.
DID WE SUCCEED – OF COURSE WE DID
As Eve Sawyer said ”Never underestimate the power of passionate people”
Now as I said at the beginning – Most of us take for granted that Agriculture feeds us, clothes us and puts a roof over our heads
Yet very few people are aware of how challenging it is to do this
As you have seen the Young Farming Champions and the Young Eco Champions program in partnership with the Archibull Prize is an innovative and fun way to bring together our farmers and school students to work together to
address the challenges of today and
develop a road map for a bright future
Increasingly in the future IF our farmers are going to be able to continue to supply safe, affordable, nutritious food and quality fibre – agriculture has to be a partnership with the community.
We all want to lead a life that matters but we also want to enjoy the process and feel a connection and feel like we belong.
I am a passionate believer that Landcare is a wonderful role model of a community with that essential fabric, heart and soul
If Landcare is to have a solid foundation and to retain its share of budget it too has to have strong community partnerships and broad support.
It’s time to prioritise theses connections. We can’t afford to let them get lost in the crowd.
Like a lot of Agriculture it is time for Landcare to marshal its troops and start telling its story more often and in new and exciting ways.
And the best people to start this conversation are the young people in Landcare who may not be fully engaged in traditional activities.
Each of us needs to ask ourselves the question
If I do nothing different now, what will be the result in a year from now….. And is that okay?
My vision for agriculture
I have a vision for agriculture I hold so strongly and I am totally unwilling to accept defeat.
Would you agree with me that if we are going to attract the best and the brightest young people we have to find innovative and creative ways of doing it?
Would you also agree if we are going to retain these people we have to deliver value for them?
The good news is as you have seen there is a solution
I would invite you all
Everyone in the room
Everyone right across Australia
To join me in investing in the people of the future!!!!!!!.
I enjoyed the following Q&A panel session and being on the stage with some of the wonderful people who have supported Art4Agriculture from the beginning ( PIEF and Landcare Australia)
Thank you to Landcare Australia and the committee for giving me the opportunity to showcase some of agriculture and the natural management community’s wonderful young people. They are definitely out there and its my generation’s role to invest in them
Its Father’s Day again and as usual I am reflecting and beating myself up as I traditionally do on these family days. I always had great aspirations of being the best mother, wife, sister, niece and nowhere near ever met them. These days I am doing my very best to take comfort in the fact that you can’t give what you don’t have.
I am putting it down to the fact that I can’t relax and I am reflecting on this today because it was almost 12 months ago that my father expressed concern to me about my inability to relax last time I went home to visit him (and there had been far too much time between drinks as his next door neighbour kindly reminded me and rightly so). See post here
He is so right (and he is not the first person to say it nor will he be the last) I can’t relax in the day time. I can’t relax at night time. I wake up in the middle of the night with big ideas that I have to write down. I wake up in the middle of the night for too often for bizarre reasons. How much more bizarre is this? I woke up last night worried about Gary Helou and have worried about him all day.
I am worried the happy face is just a front – Photo source The Australian
I am worried about how he was handling being the man of the moment that everyone ‘loves to hate’. Take this latest video for example that has been playing on my mind since I saw it a few days ago
It was the MG modus operandi and culture that instigated my father’s comment last year. My father had taken me out to dinner on Saturday night. We went early as I had (or felt I had) to be home early for a conference call at 8.30pm to rally the troops to come out thumping our chests and shaming anybody who wasn’t beating the door to Joe Hockey’s office playing the Australian cooperative is the best and only model card and imploring him to keep those ‘nasty foreigners’ from buying Warrnambool ( I just love spelling that word thank you spell checker) Cheese and Butter
I remember being very excited when Mr Helou took over the reins at Murray Goulburn. I had heard great things about his time at Sunrice. I said some very positive things in my blog about the MG move into NSW. But I have been disappointed at MG’s tactics It’s not smart to ridicule your competitors especially if you need them to fill contracts you can’t. I had some strong words (excuse the pun) to say about that very unwise add when it first came out and it has been a scaringly popular post
It’s now getting ugly. Its time to focus on the big issues MG and not take pot shots at your competitors. I am starting to feel very uncomfortable about this whole sorry saga. It can’t be fun being the person everyone ‘loves to hate’. Please take the add down. The Australian dairy industry doesn’t need or want to be floodlit in this manner .
Lets foster a healthy culture of working together to get the best outcomes for every-one in the cow to carton process.
This is a story about Catherine Marriott – The Voice of Rural Australia and why I admire her so much and why she is a great role model for me.
Catherine is passionate about building the capacity of people of agriculture and that is a passion we share so I have been watching her journey to success with great interest and lots of cheering in the background.
I first met Catherine when she phoned me suggesting we have a face to face meeting just after she won the 2012 West Australian RIRDC Rural Woman of the Year. This happened pretty quickly, firstly in Canberra, then Catherine visiting Clover Hill, then joining the Art4Agriculture team at the 2012 Cream of the Crop Awards and then a number of the Art4Ag team travelling to Broome for Catherine’s first Influential Women’s Workshop.
It was clear from day 1 that Catherine had a big picture vision and she was determined to meet as many people as she could to help her build a roadmap framework to success. I also had the pleasure of meeting her gorgeous and very wise mother and sister and being confident that Catherine had a great family support network who would be providing that all important emotional support when the energy vampires came calling and dare I say it that agriculture seems to have its fair share of them.
I tend to admire people who have mastered qualities I am yet to and the one that stands out for me with Catherine is I believe she has mastered the ability to FOCUS. She is keeping her eye on the prize and I am confident she has it well within her reach.
I on the other hand get reminded all too often I seem to be on a mission to prove who ever said that you cant successfully multitask is wrong.
Please don’t join me in this quest. Trust me they are NOT wrong. Take yesterday as a shining example. These days I tend to take the train whenever I can.It gives me a chance to reduce my footprint and take in the world around me. Whilst the train service from Kiama to Sydney CBD is extraordinarily time and cost effective it can be nightmare for commuters especially in peak periods. We are lucky in our region to have a very dedicated MP who is more interested in getting outcomes for his constituents than climbing the political ladder so I shot him an email a few months ago raising with him some of the train travel issues I had seen. I have now seen how frustrating it can be for an MP trying to make change and I don’t envy his job.
Back to yesterday I got to Central 30 mins early to catch the train home and as always the train was full with the resultant unpleasantness that goes with people being crammed together with suitcases and walking sticks and grumpy old men who think its just fine to reef a young traveller in the stomach with his elbow just because he felt he was standing too close.
So I decided to take action and started tweeting. Within 5 mins my MP was texting me to contact him when I got home. The end result is together we (with whoever we can muster) have hatched a plan to start a revolution to change the NSW train system to ensure it provides safe and comfortable travel for all.
Now is this part of my carefully mapped out strategic plan to achieve my big picture vision for building capacity in the agriculture sector?. Hell No. Did that stop me saying yes to Gareth. Hell No.
I used to beat myself up about this and now I just laugh as my dear friends keep reinforcing we can all only be the best version of ourselves we can be . Equally this is why it is so critical that people like me surround themselves with people who complement their skills. This came home to roost recently when the Art4Agriculture team needed to brief a new program and event manager (so sad Kirsty you are leaving us). To help make this process as smooth as possible and look after our wonderful new event and program manager (welcome Alex) the committee have created the tongue in cheek the “How to Survive Working with Lynne Strong” manual.
Agriculture DOES needs a whole cohort of wonderful young people like Catherine to be the change that agriculture must have. Watching Catherine ‘along her journey to become an expert corporate speaker, covering leadership, mentoring, adversity, empowerment, communication and change management’ I am constantly reminded just how critical it is for my generation to invest in these emerging leaders and ensure they have ready access to a directory of lifestyle and business coaching professionals who can help them regain perspective, and maintain stamina and mental health. Now that’s a prize worth joining together to fight for wouldn’t you? So the question becomes – How can we best work together to make this happen?
What I was hoping ( and the session’s sponsor was hoping) is the audience would be confident that agriculture is attracting young people and we need to stop asking “How do we attract young people” and start asking “How do we retain the people we attract”
Hannah and I had a bit of time to fill in before our flight home so I took her to Crown Towers to show her how the “other half” live and the ultimate in producer to consumer goods.
Hannah in Louis Vuitton
Hannah in Paspaley Pearls. The necklace that Hannah is wearing is worth $88,000
One question each of the panellists was asked was “Where do you see yourself in agriculture in 5 years time?”.
I would like to think that one day soon some-one like Hannah will say ‘In 5 years time I will have a career pathway in agriculture that provides me with the income to have a suite of Louis Vuitton luggage ( we weren’t game to ask what this little bundle was worth) and Paspaley Pearls in my jewellery box
Its time agriculture moved on to the next set of questions. We can attract young people but keeping them requires another set of tools and one of those is ensuring the sector is profitable. Farmers have just as much right as everyone else to make a fair return on investment. How can we work together to make this happen?
Perhaps I am hypersensitive but once again I am seething as my inbox continues to be flooded with invitations to events promoting food philosophies based on labels
This time I am being invited to an event celebrating “International Year of the family farming”. where I will sample food that is
“Good, Clean and Fair”
and apparently your food is only good, clean or fair if it fits under one of these labels
‘local, organic, indigenous or artisanal’
As an aside quite amusingly in this case the invitation had both indigenous & artisanal spelt incorrectly.
I am really starting to get concerned that seemingly very intelligent people cant see that being labelled ‘local, organic, indigenous or artisanal’ doesn’t mean your farming practices are good for people or animals or the planet.
Just what to we have to do before common sense kicks back in
I take this opportunity to repeat what I said in a previous post here
Our farming systems can not be locked into a religious type paradigm of what we think is best .We must continue to adapt to our changing resource base, the seasons and climate, the economy and our markets. We also know that nature does not always get it right and some times we need to use technology to tip the balance back in favour of the farming system and the ever increasing people we need to feed.
We have rigid and well regulated systems and safety checks in place that make our food some of the safest in the world, irrespective of whether it has been derived by conventional or non-conventional methods. The majority of Australian farmers big and small, boutique or commodity will always aim to produce the best quality and safest food that is grown with the best interest of the environment and animals that it comes from. Its time to stop trying to fit them into idealistic boxes and salute everyone of them.
A lot of farmers I know who grow and produce for the commodity market (i.e. producing food or fibre that is functionally indistinguishable from that of your competitors) live in a self imposed bubble. They farm because they like it, they are good at it and they love the isolation from the rest of the world that it allows them .
Over the last few months I have had this increasingly emotional desire to wrap them all up in cotton wool and protect them even further from the world. There will of course be a lot of them who will say they can look after themselves thank you very much and so they can
I am beginning to think I get out too much or I think/care too much but my gut is telling me its not going to get any easier and more people need to get out of the bubble and have conversations with the people who buy the end products made from what they produce
Let me give you just one of multiples of questions I get asked. Just last week I had a conversation with some-one that I spent 3 days with at a workshop at the Melbourne Business School who was very knowledgeable on a hell of a lot of things except the ins and outs of grain feeding cows. What he wanted to know was why we don’t say on the milk cartoon/bottle labels whether the cows have been grain fed or grass fed..I was bit ( a lot) shocked by this question. Well to start with it would be very difficult because as you can see from this slide we have a huge variation in cow feeding production systems in the Australian dairy industry
This chart describes the range of production systems operating across Australian dairy farms – & how farmers are increasingly becoming more flexible and opportunistic.
The reason being is smart farmers take advantage of what’s best for their farm system and their cows at any given time. The more supplementary grain you feed the more milk you should get remembering this is only cost effective when all the moons align.
When I asked why he thought this was important he said grain was bad for cows and consumers should be able to make ethical choices. Indeed consumers should be able to make ethical choices. The trouble is more and more consumers are making very ill-informed ones. Yes too much grain is bad for cows just like too much sugar is bad for kids. But smart parents like smart farmers are very diet conscious and control the amount of sugar they give to their kids. Grains (or supplementary feeding as farmers call it) is a great option for cows as its higher in sugar aka energy than pasture and if you can buy it cost effectively it provides the opportunity to produce more milk per cow and this helps to keep milk affordable as well as a highly nutritious staple for families in Australia.
As you can see from the graph 50% of dairy farms in Australia supplementary feed their cows grains to generate 52% of milk production. I can assure you that the 2% that feed their cows a diet of all grains really know what they are doing and their cows are healthy and firing on all cylinders. Its also very important to remember that cows are feed grains not suitable for human consumption and this option can mean life or death for cows in a drought and we have a lot of them in Australia..
I am very reliably given to understand that a lot more is now known about cow nutrition than human nutrition and its safe to say dairy cows in this country have a much healthier diet than a lot of humans. Do we need to remind ourselves that over 50% of people in this country are overweight You will also be interested to know that the smart farmers employ nutritionists to advise and monitor cow diet.
.Last week I wrote a very popular post on Art4AgricultureChat because I was very concerned (furious) about some other misconceptions that keep cropping up everywhere I go. See here.
I am glad it resonated because its more and more critical that people make informed food choices not only for them and their families but also for the planetI
We have got to stop this ever growing propensity to demonise certain types of agricultural systems out of hand
The media and websites are full of stories about the perils of conventional, large-scale agriculture, pointing to simpler ways of producing food that appear to be more in harmony with nature.
Large vs. small, family farms vs. corporate, organic vs. mainstream, free range vs. housed, grass fed vs. grain fed.The reality is it’s not the system it is how it is managed that really counts.
When it comes to the best approach to natural resource management and animal well-being we need to focus on measurable results that, in turn, will generate innovation and solutions to some of our most pressing problems on this planet. Not the least of which is to provide affordable, nutritious, ethically produced food that allows a reasonable return on investment for farmers that will allow them to feed a future 9 billion people and maintain life on Earth as we know it.
It is not just the community that is putting pressure on farmers. Some farm businesses and major retailers have taken to denigrating other farm management systems as a marketing tool to promote their own.
Judicious use of scientifically validated technology is one of the great advantages developed food producing nations like Australia has over many other countries. We have rigid and well regulated systems and safety checks in place that make our food some of the safest in the world, irrespective of whether it has been derived by conventional or non-conventional methods. If we read the labels and play by the rules we can be confident that the technologies that we use on farm are safe and the food that we produce is superior and as safe as any in the world.
Our farming systems can not be locked into a religious type paradigm of what we think is best .We must continue to adapt to our changing resource base, the seasons and climate, the economy and our markets. We also know that nature does not always get it right and some times we need to use technology to tip the balance back in favour of the farming system and the ever increasing people we need to feed.
We must acknowledge this if we are going to keep feeding our world from an ever shrinking resource base with a market place that continually wants to pay less for food that costs more to produce we must always use technology and innovation smartly. Equally we must consider the collateral effects of its use ensuring that our management and farming practices are at best practice rather than just reaching for the key to the chemical shed or the drug cabinet.
The majority of Australian farmers big and small, boutique or commodity will always aim to produce the best quality and safest food that is grown with the best interest of the environment and animals that it comes from. Its time to salute everyone of them.
Thank you to the wonderful Deb Brown for sending me this great image to sum up my blog
The article looks at the challenge of changing attitudes towards action (or inaction) on climate change. According to the article findings from recently published PCCCS report aren’t very complimentary to climate change scientists – pushing their arguments and beliefs in the form of charts, data and weighty studies but generally missing the mark and lacking traction.
The PCCCS says the major barrier to influencing change is not about the quality of the scientific data or the compelling no-brainer facts, but that many people denying or resisting their arguments simply have a different world view, and often different political values.
This is not the first time this has been said and to their credit the smart people in the scientific community widely acknowledge they are part of the problem. But (and please correct me if I am wrong) we don’t seem to be getting much traction in moving away from the squiggly diagrams loaded science and moving towards a community based we are all in this together mindset and giving the community ownership of the mantra
What’s good for the planet is good for us.
This is the image that bought it all into perspective for me
This is what Steve has to say
Engage for change
The recent release of a paper by a bunch of British academics into the challenge of changing attitudes towards action (or inaction) on climate change has some interesting and sobering suggestions for communities pushing change agendas in food and agriculture.
The report by the Policy Commission on Communicating Climate Science (PCCCS) was published in May this year by the University College, London. The findings aren’t very complimentary to climate change scientists – pushing their arguments and beliefs in the form of charts, data and weighty studies but generally missing the mark and lacking traction.
The PCCCS says this is because they are often ill prepared to engage with the emotionally, politically and ideologically-charged public debate on the issues, and the use of their science. The major barrier to influencing change is not about the quality of the scientific data or the compelling no-brainer facts, but that many people denying or resisting their arguments simply have a different world view, and often different political values.
The PCCCS recommends the scientific community needs to take a totally fresh approach and equip themselves with a new suite of skills. It should band together through a professional body, get training in effective communication and seek better engagement with the community and policymakers. It also says they should stop resorting to alarmist, world-destructive consequences of inaction.
This is not just about the climate.
The suggestions are highly relevant in a wider context, where researchers try to “push” change through methods they believe are best.
The challenges ahead in sustaining the world in nutritious food will continue to run into many fights that challenge ideology. And they will continue to be tackled by armies of passionate people trying to sway with swathes of facts or sponsored evidence.
When trying to enlist the farmers into the adoption of business improvement programs, don’t drown them in data and glossy paper. Finding out what will engage people. Unlocking an appetite for change should be the highest priority in landing an effective message, rather than investing in better ways to present facts and package more compelling data. Investments in benchmarking for the sake of it run headlong into this risk area.
The same applies to arguments on the either side of debates about food production from the use of GMOs to organic methods, and even through to the evils of certain nutrients and ingredients in food processing.
People hold beliefs because of who they are, what their social value set defines in them – but not what they read or don’t read.
Steve also has some interesting thoughts on the recent PETA ‘expose’ into very isolated shearing practices in the wool industry. See Are we buying the PETA yarn?
I am writing this post because my blog is now widely read and I am seriously hoping that this post will help stimulate conversations and most importantly actions.It will also serve as a reminder to me that I have set a personal goal and my role is to reach it
I am using my personal experiences as examples to share why I am so passionate in this space and highlight that society as a whole ( men and women) equally have a role to play in addressing the issues I raise .
I am a mentor to 25 young women in agriculture and I take that role very seriously. So seriously in fact that this year with the support of the Bob Hawke Medal prize pool I have hired a business coach and with his advice am undertaking a series of personal and professional development courses that will provide me with the knowledge and tools to significantly value add to the support I am able to give these inspiring young women.
Firstly I believe that I have a pretty clear picture of my strengths and weakness. I have assessed the best description of my predominate leadership style is Pacesetter (see this great article by Daniel Coleman Leadership that Gets Results.) In summary this type of leader sets the bar, leads by example and expects everyone to do the same. In the wider world I admire people who set the bar higher than me and lead by example. I admire people who have Affiliative ( the capacity to bring people with you) and Coaching styles even more highly
Pacesetter style of leadership only works if you are working with like minded people and it works very well with the Young Farming Champions because they are all high achievers.
If you are working with people who aren’t comfortable working in this climate then it can lead to a toxic working environment and as this chart from the article shows if you happen to be working with some-one with a coercive style it can be disaster. Sadly been there done that – the outcomes weren’t pretty and I so wish I had identified the problem and walked away from that working environment before it did irreparable damage.
My aim is to balance my Pacesetter style with Affiliative and Coaching styles. I look forward to meeting that objective more than I can describe.
This week my search for enlightenment and self improvement took me to Melbourne for a three day course at the Melbourne Business School. The facilitator was brilliant and very generous with her time and she recommended to me that I read the book Women Don’t Ask by Linda Babcock. There is a great summary of what the book has to say here. I subsequently downloaded the book using my Kindle app and thanks to a speed reading course my parents sent me to when I was in high school I read it in 24 hours and I was mortified by how many traps I had let myself fall into in my lifetime
As the scientific evidence in the book shows there are a number of reasons why women don’t ask and undervaluing their contribution is a serious problem for society and should be addressed urgently
This is just one of them
Undervaluing themselves and being undervalued by society can be bad for women’s health. The close link between a positive “self-perception” and psychological good health is well-known. More recent research now indicates that the opposite is also true. A negative self-evaluation combined with stress can lead to depression, and two-thirds of all depressed adults are women. Depression is not only a problem in itself but can lead to other health problems. As reported in the January 20, 2003, issue of Time magazine, “Each year in the U. S., an estimated 30, 000 people commit suicide, with the vast majority of cases attributable to depression.” Time also points out that depression makes “other serious diseases dramatically worse,” such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, epilepsy, and osteoporosis. Unfortunate for each individual, depression often represents a real cost to society as well
Then there’s the question of lost productivity due to depression, which Time estimates “costs the U. S. economy about $50 billion a year.”
So where do we lay the blame for the inequalities that have led to women undervaluing themselves.
Many studies have shown that as a society we expect women to be more oriented toward the needs of others and men to be more oriented toward their own needs and ambitions. And this is where problems arise, because the ideas we share about gender roles are also normative—they involve qualities and behaviors that we believe men and women should have. So a man who is not especially ambitious risks being called a “wimp” or a “loser.” And an assertive, ambitious woman runs head-on into society’s requirement that she be selfless and communal. Wanting things for oneself and doing whatever may be necessary to get those things—such as asking for them—often clashes with the social expectation that a woman will devote her attention to the needs of others and pay less attention to her own.
Firstly we ( women) have to stop blaming men and glass ceilings and start playing our role
Two major social forces seem to be responsible for the stubborn persistence of gender-linked norms and beliefs. The first involves the socialization and development of children and the second involves the maintenance of gender roles by adults.
This tells girls that they are not the principal “actors” in life’s dramas and that it is boys or men who take center stage in the world and make things happen. This lesson is not likely to encourage girls to step forward and grab what they want for themselves; instead, it teaches them to watch and wait and accept whatever comes their way.
Girls learn from the toys they receive that it is important for them to take care of others—bathing and dressing their doll “babies,” serving “tea” to friends, preparing food and cleaning up after meals. Boys learn from their transportation toys that they can move freely through the world and from their construction toys that they can define the earth around them by constructing buildings, roads, and complicated machinery. The net effect of this “toy-coding” is to teach girls to subordinate their needs to the needs of others and to teach boys to take charge of their environment
Oh my goodness I am sitting shaking my head I have so followed this trend throughout my life This is one place where I have not set the bar and led by example and I am so determined to address that and it is now a life goal and will underpin everything I do going forward.
Let me share some of my experiences and I want to make it very clear I don’t see myself as a victim and I not laying blame. My life experiences follow the pattern that the majority of women find themselves in
I am one of three children who could be 6th generation farmers. It was very clear that my parents loved us equally even though my sister and I were told from an early age my brother would inherit the farm. Both my mother and my father believed it was his birth right and he believes it is too ( why wouldn’t he). Whilst the three of us worked equally on the farm growing up my sister and I weren’t rewarded financially yet my brother was always given a cow and got to bank the proceeds when it was sold. My brother is very clever and built a Lotus from scratch when he left school. Whilst I was flabbergasted that my sister and I were expected by our parents (pretty sure it wasn’t my brother’s idea) to help him purchase the kit to build it with a substantial financial contribution ( which he did pay back) I was furious but I did it anyway . My parents aren’t to blame they are just the product of 5 generations of ‘institutions, child-rearing practices, and unspoken assumptions that have perpetuated these inequalities for centuries’
I remember so clearly when Michael accepted his first share farming role and the owners ( who just happened to be women) of the business where mortified I went out to work and worked 14 hour shifts and wasn’t home to feed and look after Michael when he got up for breakfast and came in from the dairy at night. I must admit they soon came to realise without me working there was no way that Michael could financially stay farming on the income he was receiving and they became highly supportive
But working off farm and being paid for it is where I stopped valuing myself and my time. In my spare time I was very hands on in the farm business but did I ever take a wage ridiculously no. I am absolutely positive that if I had asked Michael who has a very democratic leadership style he would have thought that me taking a wage from the business was most appropriate but I just had this bizarre idea in my head that one day I would be rewarded for all my selfless efforts.
It didn’t stop with the farm. For the last 15 years I have worked pro bono for the dairy industry ( nobody asked me too) and now for many other industries as well ( again nobody asked me too). I have had lots of wonderful mentors along the way who constantly reminded me that if I didn’t value myself no-one else would.
What have I achieved emotionally from all this selfless activity. Well I am bitter and angry and its affected some of my relationships personally and professionally and I am really sad that my self imposed baggage has found me in this position
But I am determined to change and lead by example. It is my time to shine, to do what’s best for me, have an exciting career that doesn’t involve supporting anyone else but me and negotiate a financial package that my skills deserve. I am not saying everybody should do this but it is the best thing for me at this point in my life journey. I admit I do question my capacity everyday but I am determined (please cheer for me in the background I am going to need all the supporters I can gather)
(BTW as an aside you might remember at the beginning of the year I set a Goal with a Deadline and I am thrilled and very proud of myself that I can announce to the world that I have lost almost 20% of my pre goal weight and reached my ideal weight and I am so loving it.)
Every day I get up and tell myself I can do this. Wonderfully I have the Bob Hawke Medal prize money to thank for playing a huge role and kick-starting the process. All my work for agriculture has been valued through this award not just with a trophy and accolades but also a significant financial project dependent package that has allowed me to create 3 projects. One that could help benefit farmers locally. One that could help farmers across the country and the one that I am now most proud of that is also benefiting me personally
I have called this project ‘Feeling the Love’. The background behind the project came from my journey to be a change catalyst in agriculture. I found that agriculture has many farmer champions (men and women) who take time out from their businesses to volunteer for the greater good of industry. These farmer champions often find the workload overwhelming. It is clear that advocacy models relying on volunteer labour are in the main unsustainable. Consequently the champions become worn out and disillusioned. Farmer champions need support – financial, emotional and physical to take on these roles.
The aim of the project is to create an ongoing legacy that reflects the strength of my commitment to capability building in the agricultural sector.
This will be achieved by developing a portfolio of first class, tried and proven professional and self-development courses and building a directory of lifestyle and business coaching professionals who can help people maintain perspective, stamina and mental health.
For me its starts with valuing myself and not being afraid to ask
As Linda Babcock tells
Its time for society to teach all of us how to recognize the ways in which our institutions, child-rearing practices, and unspoken assumptions perpetuate inequalities–inequalities that are not only fundamentally unfair but also inefficient and economically unsound.
Footnote I have many people who have inspired me and to thank for their wonderful support over the years. Today I would like to thank one of them and that is my business coach Professor Shaun Coffey
