Sustainability is a ‘hard to sell’

Here is a great article by Steve Spencer from Fresh Agenda that I am unashamedly reblogging

Getting the pitch right

Sustainability is a hard to sell – in spite of being important to consumers.

Socially and environmentally conscious attitudes are gaining ground – thanks to media campaigns for years around environmental sustainability. But corresponding purchases and behaviours are stagnating or even heading south.

The National Geographic’s Greendex 2014 survey on Consumer Choice and the Environment across 18 countries found that though the number of global consumers who say they are very concerned about the environment (61%) has increased since 2012, sustainable purchasing behaviour has actually decreased in key markets such as US, Germany, Japan, Canada, and China.

But why aren’t consumers putting their money where their sustainable aspirations are?

The answer lies somewhere in the gap between what consumers say they want and what they actually buy.

The Sustainable Lifestyles Frontier Group – established to confront this “value-action” gap – says the problem isn’t with consumer values but with the value offered by brands. Over the years, consumers have been cajoled, coerced, and guilt-tripped by marketers into doing the “right” thing for the higher purpose of sustainability, for planetary or collective benefits.

However for most sustainable products and behaviours, the hard question of “what’s in it for me?” is still largely unanswered – with the most important personal value proposition still missing. On a day to day basis, purchasing decisions are centred on an individual’s own priorities and the immediate needs of their family.

While values, ethics and beliefs are hugely important when making major life decisions but how decisive a role do they play when choosing shampoo.

Shoppers are most likely to be motivated to buy a sustainable product if they also see a personal benefit.

That benefit could be functional with the promise of value for money, performance, quality, and safety; demonstrating emotional, such as delivering an intangible hit of emotion; or social which helps make a statement about the shopper to the world.

Even tiny direct benefits could close the gap and lead to behaviour change – such as sustainable eating (with less pesticides or unhealthy food additives) can lead to weight loss, or natural body care products will smell nicer and are gentle for sensitive skin.

It may seem at odds with the sustainability mantra – surely doing the right thing by the planet and future generations should be enough to persuade people to change their purchases and other behaviours. However, the more pragmatic approach is to recognise that sustainable brands also need to deliver personal and immediate benefits – even if they’re small – to cut through.

Agriculture – an endangered species

Just like this little cutie agriculture in this country is under threat and this can potentially have huge ramifications for access to safe, affordable, nutritious food for Australian families

If we are going to ensure food security in this country agriculture has to be a partnership between farmers and the community

So lets investigate the Australian communities relationship with food ( please assume when I write the word food, I am referring to the two f’s- food and fibre)

Nobody likes to be put into a box and labelled. However sometimes it’s very useful to help you make a point so please forgive me for putting Australian consumers of food into 4 boxes.

In one box you have the million people in Australia who are labelled Food Insecure and that means 1 million people in Australia go to bed hungry every night. Yes you read that right. 5% of the people in our wonderful country go to bed hungry every night. Please take the time to read about it here

Then there is the extremely larger box that holds the people who buy their food in the main based on Cost, Convenience and Quality (CC&Q) with a huge focus on cost and convenience

Then there is a small but growing box that I am going to label the people who ‘care’. I am going to call them this because they are the group that will potentially make purchases and are prepared to pay a premium for food grown in a way that meets their values. This group of consumers are interested in the ‘how and why’ of growing food and fibre, and also environmental values, sustainability, appropriate animal care, safety, nutrition, affordability and so on.

Values are an emotion. They in the main are not measurable and everyone of us has different values and how they prioritise them so the descriptors of the word “care’ can be very diverse.

At the other end there is a little group I am going to label “Extreme” for the want of a better word. What I mean here is that this group of people have very very strong views about what the word “care’ means and these people sometimes join organisations to lobby policy and decision makers to regulate and legislate industries to align with their values

For the people who sell food direct to consumers in this country like “Colesworth” for the ‘Food Insecure’ there are initiatives like Foodbank and Second Bite they can donate food to. Food for example that is going out of date or does not meet the quality expectations of the C,C&Q group

The C,C&Q are easy to satisfy. Sell food at rock bottom prices and build beautiful mega stores in areas that are within easy reach. The C,C&Q group scare the living daylights out of ‘Colesworth” and their ability to meet shareholder expectations. Selling food at rock bottom prices from stores that cost you a motza is a no-win race to the bottom for profit margins.

So the group that “Colesworth’ is extremely interested in is the people who “care’. The group that may pay more if you can meet or exceed their values expectations and help them feel good about their food choices. Colesworth want to grow this group. What is extremely disappointing is Coles in particular have chosen fear based marketing campaigns to grow their market share. I say to you Coles – disgraceful conduct.

Our good farmers also want to grow this group and I believe for all the right reasons. We want to grow this group by having courageous and open and transparent conversations with them.

To do this we have to be prepared to ‘open the door’ to our farms and bring consumers on our journey with us and that means not only showing them the ‘how’ – paddock to plate or field to fibre process but also the ‘why’ of growing food and fibre,

We want to show them they can trust us to farm without feeling the need to ask policy and decision makers to impose overly budensome regualations on our food and fibre industries. Unlike “Colesworth’ farmers had want to allay consumer fears and reduce stress levels

Today our good farmers are now reconnecting with the people who buy their food and fibre. Listening to them and waking up every morning committed to meeting or exceeding their customers’ expectations

It is imperative that we take consumers on our journey with us or we run the risk of consumers have increasingly unrealistic expectations. Unrealistic expectations like expecting farmers to wake up every day to produce food at rock bottom prices for nothing. Our farmers have families too and just like everybody else their first priority is to feed and clothe their families.

So the key for farmers is to work with the community to get that very necessary balance. Today more than ever agriculture is a partnership between farmers and the community.

This year the theme for the Archibull Prize will be “Agriculture* – an endangered species” (ht SK) and students and teachers will investigate the many challenges that farmers face and how we build community partnerships to ensure Agriculture can make the most of many opportunities that are on offer and gets off the endangered species list permanently.

Earth Hour 2015 will celebrate Australian farmers and the challenges they face under increasing conditions of extreme climate variability

That the Food Insecure group gets smaller and smaller and that the people who care group gets larger and larger not because they worry about how food and fibre is produced but because they trust farmers and have the time to put their energies into causes like making sure all Australians have full stomachs every night, have clothes to wear and have a roof over their heads

I want to live in an Australia where we all care about people first. I look forward to that day and I am very proud that the Archibull Prize is helping to grow and support that vision.

In 2014 the Reserve Grand Champion Archibull Prize award winner from Kildare Catholic College exemplified their community – Wagga Wagga

Footnotes

* Agriculture – the industry that provides us with our most basic of needs. The industry that feeds us, clothes us and puts a roof over our heads
Please note this post is a work in progress. It has been updated following excellent feedback from a number of people since it was first posted it.
Rider – I admit the only thing I look at when I buy eggs is how crushproof I believe the box they come in is.
HT – Hat tip to SK – a lovely lady I met at the NSW Department of Secondary Education yesterday. I shared my vision with her for what I wanted to the Archibull Prize to investigate this year and we work-shopped the theme and I loved her idea

Planet to Plate with Love

I am lucky enough to be the ‘sunrise’ in the wonderful cookbook that can be purchased here that celebrates Australia’s fresh produce and the people who produce it – our farmers

Doing some promo for the book recently with Masterchef 2014 runner up Lynton Tapp

For me the whole thing has been one amazing experience after another and part of that experience is that it’s allowed me to give back to some of the special people in my life. Like local photographer and all round beautiful person Linda Faiers who worked with me in the beginning to record the journey of all my projects in pictures. Linda is such a talent and this cookbook showcases that

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A sample of the genius that is Linda Faiers – we had such fun capturing the Sunrise

As the ‘Sunrise’ or forward to the Cookbook I am finding myself doing multiple interviews to promote it – which I must admit is giving me great pleasure – it is just so fantastic that we now have such a beautiful resource that showcases so many of our wonderful farmers, their practices and their values

These days there is plenty of material on the internet that tells people who I am and I always ensure that the journalist interviewing me has seen the ones that I believe best portray what I do, what I stand for, and why I do it

This means that the journalist interviewing me can focus on what they believe will interest the readers of the publication they write for

No matter who interviews me I get that question “why farming – there are so many other careers out there that don’t require you to work 24/7 for such a small return on investment?”

Now anyone who reads my blog on a regular basis knows farming was definitely not on my list of career choices when I was growing up

If I am going to be honest there was no career I wanted to do less than farm (that probably is a little extreme)

As a child I grew up in house that had a mother who thought she had married a man with the bank account the size of Robert Sangster and all she had to do was look beautiful and attend garden parties (bit harsh – I loved you mum and must admit I always fantasized about what that lifestyle would be like myself ) She soon found out that wasn’t true and farming in Australia is a tough gig and not too many people manage to support their farms without one person working off farm

When I was eighteen and had found out I had lots of options to do whatever I wanted at Uni I grabbed the opportunity and got off the farm as fast as I could

Now Rebecca Ferguson sings this beautiful song where she assures us

Nothing’s real but love

No money, no house, no car,

Can beat love

So when just before I went to Uni I met my future husband Michael I thought Rebecca Ferguson had totally nailed it. I loved uni. I loved spending every spare minute I had with Michael.

When I finished Uni we got married. I had a degree and an assured secure income and I didn’t care what Michael did as long as he had a career where people valued him and it wasn’t dangerous

I should have twigged that these two priorities did not sit at the top of his list when he told me he wanted to be a policeman. Is there a career more dangerous and less valued than a policeman? Well yes there is (in fact there is a very long list of them) and one of those is being a farmer. I used to joke with Michael saying when you become a policeman I am going to become a nun and that certainly reduced his interest in being a policeman. But six months into our marriage some-one came along and offered him a share farming opportunity and I was horrified. But as fifth generation dairy farmer himself some-one had opened a door he never even dreamt would open and nothing no matter how against the idea I was, was going to stop him accepting

I always say hate is not an emotion it is a disease and for me it was. I hated the idea of going back to the nightmares of my childhood, no money, lots of resentment and parents wanting to give their children everything they didn’t have themselves as children and couldn’t and when Michael said yes a little piece of me died and it ate away at me for over 25 years

Like most women on farms one of my roles was to open the bills and write the cheques and find the money when it wasn’t there. For me with a degree in pharmacy the answer was fairly simple just work longer hours in the pharmacy.

I was working in the new era of Night and Day Pharmacies. These pharmacies were open 7 days a week, 14 hours a day. There weren’t a lot of people who wanted to work those hours and the people who did could earn quite a bit of money and I became one of those people.

No matter how hard I tried by the time the stress of the deregulation of the dairy industry came around I hated farming, I hated my job and the disease had eaten me away to the point where I felt dead inside.

By that time I had found out that whilst pharmacists are highly valued by the community it can be a very dangerous profession.

In 2000, the year of deregulation, which also happened to be the year our son decided he wanted to farm I was managing a very large pharmacy with a staff of 20 people that was being held up by the same two people wearing pig masks and wielding knives on such a regular basis I can’t recall how many times it was until they were caught.

It’s the most horrible thing – the hold-ups themselves are horrendous- but watching the long term detrimental effects on the people you work with and have come to love just broke my heart.

So without going into the ugly details I found myself on farm 24/7 and it was then that I understood why farmers are so passionate about what they do. I understood the emotional attachment, the love of their livestock and the landscape and now I too share that passion

I understand why they make the sacrifices they do. I understand why they continue to do what they do when there is no future for their farm

This is why I do what I do and that is fight for a fairer future for our farmers where everyone not just Coles and Woolworths gets a fair return for their efforts

Now our son owns the farm and his father works for him. Our son comes from what many call the Entitled Generation. I prefer to call it the Privileged Generation.

All I hope is that he appreciates the sacrifices his father has made for him because Rebecca Ferguson has missed something very important and Pharrell Wiillams is right You can’t have real love without happiness and you can’t make other people happy by funding their dreams and scarificing your own

Because I’m happy

Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof

Because I’m happy

Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth

Because I’m happy

Clap along if you know what happiness is to you

Because I’m happy

Clap along if you feel like that’s what you wanna do

Keep your eye out for the cook book its called Planet to Plate

Its a fabulous celebration of our farmers, our great Australian chefs and the many people who help our farmers supply the wonderful safe, nutritious, affordable food and fibre that Australia and its beautiful natural resources allow us to

The Art in Agriculture

I spent part of this weekend staying with my special friend Bev and her husband Don and their gorgeous grandson Julian who is just about to turn 16 happened to be staying too

Now the dairy industry owes a great deal to Julian who doesn’t farm but does drink a lot of milk. Julian’s claim to fame in this instance for dairy is he put the Australian dairy industry on the map literally

In 2004 when I started advocating for dairy the dairy industry had NO pictures ( believe it or not agriculture had no pictures) and I engaged Bev’s equally gorgeous daughter Jo to take a series of photos for me which she did pro bono

Bev’s daughter Jo and her husband Matt in 2005

I sent them to the current communications manager at Dairy Australia – Vicki Surwillo who at that time was working as a marketing consultant for Dairy Australia. She lobbied her then boss Richard Lange and Richard came up with a campaign called Impressions of Dairy. Dairy Australia then hired a series of well-known photographers to go out to farms all over Australia and take beautiful photos of our farmers and their families and their farms

The premise was so beautiful and so simple and so customer focused

Our dairy farmers are just like you. They have families. They have hope and dreams.

I then lobbied Dairy Australia to take over half the cattle pavilion at the Sydney Royal Easter Show and we had an Impressions of Dairy Art Exhibition and did lots of other great stuff.

Julian aged 3yrs seen here in this photo kissing the calf was the star of the exhibition

The exhibition

All the big wigs (John McKew DA, Ian Langdon (Chair Dairy Farmers Milk CO-OP board, Pat Rowley Chair of Board of DA, Janet Moxey, Richard Lange Marketing and Comms DA) of the dairy industry were there

and so were the cows

We had lots of great food

and these fantastic little milk cocktails

The farmers took time off from their precious show cattle (they had plenty to eat too) and

popped in to see what their levy $ where being spent on

The Hon. Duncan John GAY, MLC was at that time the shadow minister for agriculture in NSW

I had frizzy red hair – those curls are natural when my hair is short

The Dairy Australia team had lots of fun

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There were lots of speeches

and industry displays

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we had lots of fantastic activities for kids at the show

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Some many reminders of all the wonderful people who supported me over the last ten years. Love you Chris, Neil, Tom, Vicki and Philip xox

and Julian even learnt to show cattle – what a little cutie he was. The judge didn’t give him the blue ribbon on that day. Then he didn’t have much of an eye for cattle – that little calf -whose nickname was Joster – went on to do very well at International Dairy Week when she grew up

Thank you Julian for putting the Australian dairy industry on the map in pictures

Random Acts of Kindness

As a follow on to my post yesterday which I probably could have called Deliberate Acts of Meanness I came across this video today and it so moved me to tears I thought I wouldn’t stop

Watch it – its worth every second

I have never stood behind some-one in a queue that didn’t have enough money to pay for something so I started to think of any acts of kindness that I have performed this year.

None came instantly to mind and I started to think about the random acts of kindness people had performed for me this year and I was overwhelmed with names and reflected on just how lucky I am to know these people

There is even ( goes without saying) a website encouraging simple acts of kindness

I was going to say thank you to all the people who were so kind to me this year by listing them and then I thought I will forget some-one and so what I will say instead is

A Simple Act of Caring Creates and Endless Ripple

I hope it comes back to you

Coles and Woolworths – will we vote with our wallets

I have been thinking about the brave people who have stood up to Coles and were counted on behalf of farmers and suppliers everywhere.

Coles CEO John Durkan at the $80m Devondale Dairy facility opening in Laverton Photo The Australian See story here

The whistleblowers who have gone to the ACCC and achieved these outcomes ‘Humbled Coles admits it did wrong’

FOOD and liquor giant Coles faces penalties of $10 million and may have to pay as much as $16m in refunds after admitting that it engaged in unconscionable conduct with small grocery suppliers.

In an embarrassing mea culpa, Wesfarmers group managing director Richard Goyder and Coles managing director John Durkan apologised unconditionally for the retailer’s dealings with suppliers after reaching a historic settlement with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

“I believe that in these dealings with suppliers, Coles crossed the line and regrettably treated these suppliers in a manner inconsistent with acceptable business practice,” Mr Durkan said.

“Coles sincerely regrets and apologises for its conduct in these dealings.”

I was talking to some-one just a few weeks ago who participated in a series of supplier roundtables Coles CEO John Durkan played an active role in. This person said Mr Durkan was laughing and joking like he didn’t have a care in the world

Looks like he knew he had Wesfarmers support no matter how the case turned out

Mr Goyder said both Wesfarmers and Coles “sincerely regretted” the unacceptable conduct, but voiced his support for Mr Durkan, dousing concerns he would be forced out for playing a major role in one of the cases brought by the ACCC.

Now its Woolworths turn to provide answers to the ACCC, See story here Woolworths accused of bullying Suppliers

WOOLWORTHS has been accused of bullying suppliers into paying millions of dollars to fund a discount war, prompting the competition watchdog to examine whether the supermarket giant is in breach of competition and consumer laws.

How brave do these supermarket suppliers whistle-blowers have to be. Its not as if they alternate channels of distribution the size of Coles and Woolworths in this country. They are the courageous people who are prepared to stand up for what is right first and foremost

I have appeared before the Senate Inquiry on Milk Price. It wasn’t much fun. I have even supported a fellow farmer who went to the ACCC about what he ( and I ) believed was unconscionable conduct towards a number of dairy farmers. He had been fighting this cause for quite a while and he told me all he needed was one or two more farmers to to back him up. . No matter how much proof we got it was obvious we were wasting our time. Those were the days before Rod Sims headed up the ACCC.

I have even been threatened. I remember the day well. The phone call came through the morning after I won the Bob Hawke Medal. I remember smiling to my self when I saw who the caller was and actually said I cant believe XXX would be the first person to ring and congratulate me . Well he wasn’t, he was threatening to sue me for something I said at the senate inquiry. That was a very traumatic day spent on the phone to my lawyer to see if he had a case which of course he didn’t. But it left a nasty taste in my mouth and I am in awe of the whistleblowers who start the process and remain in it for the long haul

And sadly do consumers really care?. Do we stop shopping in Coles and Woolworths.? Will this effect their bottom lines?. Will they just find more and less obvious ways of putting pressure on their suppliers?

You know what I think. I think many of these whistleblowers are Woolies and Coles staff. It must be very tough being asked to do things you know in your heart are wrong. I will guarantee not too many of them are laughing and joking when they reflect on the consequences on the actions of their employer,

This Christmas as I have a glass of wine and share Christmas with my friends I will toast the brave whistle-blowers and the ACCC and hope that we as consumers will find some way of making their efforts worthwhile

Hope lives here – a year in reflection

Hope starts here with the most amazing group of young people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting and working with . Young people who are proud and loud to be part of the next generation of amazing group of people who feed, clothe and put a roof over our heads – our farmers and their support networks. Young people who so believe in a bright future for agriculture in this country and want to take everyone on that journey with them

Young people who nominated me for Australian of the Year who so inspire me to one day be worthy of that title

The students and teachers I meet as part of my Archibull Prize journey with the art judge Wendy Taylor who channel artists I have never even heard of

Books I read with heroes who listen to music and read classics and watch movies I also have never even heard of

I had parents who owned a record player they never used and my first LP was the Bee Gees and I bizarrely came first in music in Year 8 and had never heard of Bach let alone Tchaikovsky

I collect the names of the great novels and movies classics I will watch one day instead of the sitcoms that currently I escape to at night to lighten my load

But I am forever grateful I am wise enough to surround myself with people I can learn and grow from

I salute those people who recognised my heart is in the right place and I can make a difference with the right support networks

I cringe at stories that allow the freedom to the press to incite racial hatred in this country

I cringe at stories of the power supermarket duopolies like this and this

I cringe about a world that is more interested in stories and give oxygen to airheads like this than stories about people who are starving or being forced into the sex trade or genital mutilation

I cringe when I read stories about people who deny climate change is a reality when 99.9% of our scientist tell us it’s a reality which will destroy the future of our planet and our young people who will inhabit it unless we stand up and be counted now

This year I lost 20 kgs eating great Australian produce that was high in protein, low in processed carbs and contained good fats. I was proud that my family supplies 50,000 Australians with this healthy diet combination.

I was proud so many Australian farmers t look after more than 60% of Australia’s precious landscape and care and are committed to animal wellbeing no matter what the extremist groups would have the general public have us believe

I sit here and read the latest Louise Penny novel and listen to my ancient IPod collection of romantic ballads that range from Bruce Springsteen to Van Morrison, and of course the Bee Gees to Sarah McLachlan and think what an enigma I am

I am heartbroken that our Australian Christmas has been precluded by a siege that saw 3 lives lost in Martin Place and 8 lives taken in Cairns and sad that people I love and admire have lost people so dear to them

I am so lucky to have wonderful friends who support me equally at my worst and at my best

I am so lucky to wake up in paradise every day and I look forward to the exciting challenges, opportunities and new beginnings 2015 will bring

I wish everyone I hold so dearly the best life has to offer and look forward to helping creating with them the world every one deserves to live in

You don’t have to win to feel like a winner

“Speed eliminates all doubt. Am I smart enough? Will people like me? Is my bum too big in this plastic jumpsuit?” ― David Sedaris (with a slight tweak)

Agriculture can be a pretty tough operating environment when you are part of a small dedicated team trying to drive change and map out a bright future

There has been plenty of self doubt and self reflection on my behalf over the last 18 months. Many times I have questioned myself and my methods and my personality style and taken the next step and sought the advice of a business coach and done a number of courses to give me the strength I needed to stay on track

So to that wonderful group of people who nominated me for Australian of the Year I say a huge thank you – best Christmas present ever. Your faith in me will help ensure the doubters are just an insignificant noise and give me the inner strength I so needed to stay focused

To agriculture in general please take a little time to pat some-one on the back who is trying to get the best outcomes for everybody. Too often we wear out out our champions and they just walk away

Some more of my favourite self doubt quotes that ensure I don’t take myself too seriously

It doesn’t matter if I’m off the beat. It doesn’t matter if I’m snapping to the rhythm. It doesn’t matter if I look like a complete goon when I dance. It is my dance. It is my moment. It is mine. And dance I will. Try and stop me. You’ll probably get kicked in the face.”
― Dan Pearce, Single Dad Laughing

“Self-doubt is a persuasive mistress; careful not to shag her or you’ll never get your balls back.” – Simon Hunt”
― Dannika Dark, Twist

Show me a farmer who doesn’t care

When the term ‘social licence to operate’ first came on the radar for agriculture in this country about six or seven year ago everyone looked wise and then rushed to the nearest bathroom to ask Dr Google what it meant

It’s one of those terms like sustainability that has a mind blowing number of definitions. 90% of them in a lingo nobody understands and far too many people used that excuse to put it in the too hard basket

For me as a farmer having a social licence means the community trusts that I care as much as they do about the environment, producing safe food, my employees and my animals that they don’t feel that it is necessary to ask the government to create an ad infinitum list of red and green tape regulations to make sure I do the right thing

The NSW Government has pulled social licence well and truly out of the too hard basket and put it very visibly on the table as part of their AGRICULTURE INDUSTRY ACTION PLAN DISCUSSION See here

I was very honoured and excited to be part of the discussion on the four social licence policy items proposed in the Industry Action Plan at the SOCIAL LICENCE TO OPERATE – CONNECTING WITH COMMUNITY workshop yesterday

I was also so proud to have one of the Art4Agriculture Young Farming Champions as a speaker at the event. Josh Gibert’s topic was ‘Social Licence the Narrative’ and wow did Josh do a fantastic job. I will blog Josh’s presentation on Art4Agriculture Chat

Pip Courtney facilitated the event brilliantly and a number of actions were put forward at the end of the day.

I personally have no concept of why many of our farmers are tip toeing around social licence. After we all want the same thing as the community and our consumers.

Safe, affordable, nutritious food and quality fibre produced by people who care

Find me a farmer who doesn’t care because if you can that person doesn’t belong in agriculture and they need to be told that. I am confident that will be a very short list.

Agriculture has not told its story well and as a result we are often seen as a sunset industry in this state, Minister Katrina Hodgkinson MP, Director General Scott Hansen and their team are determined to shine the light on agriculture again.

Our farmers have a very important role to help them do that. Let’s start by making our journey a partnership with the community

After all we do want the same thing

Safe, affordable, nutritious food and quality fibre produced by people who care

Lets tell our story, take community on the journey with us and the narrative must be underpinned by why we do it.

Why am I feeding our calves?. Marian MacDonald tells you why here

You can find the AGRICULTURE INDUSTRY ACTION PLAN here

Farming land versus housing land. Does it need to be a competition?

Its been a big week and I have learnt a great deal.

On Tuesday I presented an overview of the local dairy industry and its threats and potential at a local community forum of residents who were keen to get an understanding of what the Draft Illawarra Regional Growth and Infrastructure Plan meant for them and our community

I was overwhelmed. More than 10% of the community filled the local bowling club to hear the speakers, express their views and hear how they can have a voice and have their voice heard where it can make a difference and value add to the decision and policy making process

My presentation started with this slide which of course is the view from my front verandah

However I too as a householder am not immune to urban expansion.

This is the current view from my kitchen window. Note the newly cleared area under the gum trees. This time next year I will be looking a very big house.

This block of land has been sold more than 4 times in the last 15 years . The last time for over $1 million (and believe it or not there is less then half an acre of land to build on).

Life as I know it like my community is constantly changing. Its not easy to get your head around

Any way what did I have to say about our local dairy industry and its place in the world and how do we keep it profitable and sustainable and value adding to the community

I look forward to seeing our community harness the energy in the room and get the best outcomes for our little piece of paradise