Social Justice and Change Archives - Page 38 of 45 - Clover Hill Diaries

Milking the supply chain formula

This post by Marian MacDonald Bring on the Cows demands a New Routine has inspired me to write a post about one of my favourite topics.

How do we deliver affordable, nutritious, ethically produced food to Australian consumers and ensure that EVERYONE in the supply chain chain gets their fair share of the return on investment?

One way we (farmers) can do this is to own the the really big players in the supply chain and farmers have tried that. Lets use farmer group Wesfarmers as an example. Wesfarmers bought Coles and look how well that turned out for farmers Coles admits to threatening suppliers.

If we go back to Marian who is one of the many Australian dairy farmers who own the milk cooperative Murray Goulburn (MG) we have an example of farmers owning the other end of the supply chain – the raw product and its manufacturer.

Is it also a great example of beneficial outcomes for farmers and if not why isn’t it working.?

I think this statement by MG CEO Gary Helou gets to the core of the majority of farmers supply chain challenges.

“We are not farmers; MG is a global dairy food processing and milk company, and we will not be buying farms directly; that is not our business,” Helou says adamantly.

Yes Mr Helou is right when he says ‘MG is a global dairy food processing and milk company,’ but he is is very wrong when he says ‘We are not farmers’. Rubbish Murray Goulburn IS farmers. Farmers who also own a very large ‘global dairy food processing and milk company’ and farms are a BIG part of MG’s business. MG have a co-operative structure partnership with thousands of them – over 3000 in fact.

Mr Helou is not alone in forgetting the importance of a ‘we are all in this together’ communication strategy and mindset when talking to stakeholders, farmers have an equal role to play here.

Sadly this ‘them and us’ mindset has become so entrenched, victim mentality rules and farmers feel disenfranchised

How many farmers do you meet who have regular meetings with their supply chain partners?

How many farmers do you know that proactively engage with processors and supermarkets to develop mutually beneficial relationships ensuring value is delivered at all points along the supply/value chain.?

I can count the number of farmers I know that do that on one hand.

If you are like me and agree the only way forward to achieve a profitable and sustainable agrifood sector future is strong, healthy supply chain relationships in which our farmers are empowered, active participants then we need to change the current culture of ‘talking and doing’.

I believe the first question we need to ask to is WHY the current supply chain culture that greatly disadvantages farmers ( and almost everyone else except the supermarkets) exists and once we have a consensus on the WHY lets figure out HOW we change it and then DO it.

Back to the owning parts or all of the supply chain

Its the old adage “it doesn’t matter how good the concept its the people that make it work’

Everyday the supply chain gets more complex,everyday farmers are losing contact with consumers. everyday supermarkets get bigger and more powerful.

If farmers want to ensure they are not gobbled up by the challenges and have the capacity to grab the opportunities then we must be as active beyond the farmgate as we are on the farm

MacDonald’s is a great example of recognising the need to build, maintain and communicate strong supply chain relationships

Life is a tapestry. We are the warp angels the weft who will be your weaver

I watch the Angel Flights adds and my heart goes out to all those people who live such long distances from the services we take for granted when we live close to capital cities

So this recent post from Bessie at Burragan certainly pulled my heart strings. Bessie is one of the Art4Agriculture AWI Wool Young Farming Champions. Bessie is also a journalist and a farmer (and farmer’s wife), living and working on a sheep property in far-western NSW.

Our place “Burragan” is 110km from the nearest town, 200km from the nearest supermarket, and 330km from the nearest major centre – Broken Hill. When I’m not out in the paddock helping with sheep work, I like to write, keep up with global issues, and uncover the strange secrets of our beautiful bush landscape.

Bessie also does the media releases for Art4Agriculture ( and what a phenomenal job she does) so I am in touch with her pretty regularly so I was aware that

In just the last few months (we have travelled ……more than 15,000 (make no mistake about the number of zeroes in that number) kilometres … to the city, because our “lifestyle” means we live so far away from its necessary services.

Australians have long regarded life in the country as healthier than life in the city. Australian
city-dwellers move to rural areas for health benefits such as clean air and reduced traffic
congestion. However, people living in rural and remote Australia have many health disadvantages compared with their urban counterparts and statistics confirm that Australia’s rural and remote populations have poorer health than their metropolitan counterparts. They have higher mortality rates and consequently lower life expectancy. See full report here

Life-expectancy varies with geographic location. Those living in ‘capital cities’ can expect to live longer than their counterparts living in remote zone, and to a lesser extent, those living in rural areas. This is a reflection of the lower death rates for those living in ‘capital cities’ compared to those living in rural and remote areas. Demographic statistics indicate that:
• rural females can expect to live 80.8 years, only 0.4 years less than females living in ‘capital cities’
• males living in the rural zone can expect to live 74.7 years, compared to those living in ‘capital cities’ who can expect to live 75.6 years
• males living in ‘other remote areas’ can expect to live 71.5 years, 4 years less than their
‘capital cities’ counterparts
• females living in ‘other remote areas’ can expect to live 77.4 years, almost 4 years less than females from ‘capital cities’.

According to the Daily Telegraph.

The National Rural Health Alliance has quantified the cost of the health inequity at $2.4 billion a year.

Rural residents get 12.6 million fewer Medicare services, 11 million fewer prescription medicines and $800 million a year less dental and allied health care.

As a result they are 30 per cent more likely to end up in hospital as a result of an avoidable cause than city dwellers.

This inequity in spending and services has a calamitous human impact that is cutting short the lives of those who life outside our capital cities.

It is clear there is an inequity in spending and service and this should be addressed sooner rather than later. I certainly don’t have all the answers but you must all agree that people like Bessie deserve the very best and it is imperative we lobby our politicians to keep searching for them and ensure when the solutions are found that they make every effort to rectify the problems

Here is an example of a very positive step in the right direction Rural Placements improve medical students attitudes in country practice

Don’t cross oceans for people who wont jump puddles for you

My family have been farming in this country for over 180 years ( and who knows how long in Ireland and Scotland before that)

My childhood experience of life on the farm left me with the impression that farming was the most undervalued profession in the world ( 50 years on I am wiser and sadly there are lots of professions as undervalued as farmers ).

This childhood experience encouraged me to choose a profession where I and the people I worked with were truly valued. And I did just that. In my day working in pharmacy was extraordinarily rewarding and people acknowledged that. I can remember one Christmas where we couldn’t find enough room for all the Christmas cards from the pharmacy’s customers in our lounge room and I put on 2kgs from the boxes of chocolates of thanks that came my way at Christmas,

For the last fifteen years I have been using my 25 years of experience in a truly rewarding profession to endeavour through as many innovative ways as I can to generate the same acknowledgement for farmers and its been a long haul . There have been many successes ( salute to the Young Farming Champions ) and a number of ongoing disappointments.

From my significant experience I give you this advice

Always remember there will be people who get it and people who never will.

First and foremost – Value yourself

Don’t cross oceans for people who wont jump puddles for you

But I can assure you I will never let this happen

Kermit isn’t the only one proud to be Green. Farmers are too

Wearing my “I am very proud Australian farmer hat” and I am in a room of farmers and the question is asked “Who of you considers yourself a bit of an environmentalist?”… I would like to be confident, that like mine, every single hand in the room would go up without a moments thought ( or checking out what everyone else is doing). I fear however that this may not be the case

According to Wikipedia

Environmentalists advocate the sustainable management of resources and stewardship of the environment through changes in public policy and individual behaviour. In its recognition of humanity as a participant in (not enemy of) ecosystems, the movement is centred on ecology, health, and human rights.

Is there any more noble cause than ecology, health and human rights? With over 60% of Australia’s landscape being looked after by farmers its goes without saying ( or it should) all Australian farmers are environmentalists

Yet environmentalist seems to be one of those words that farmers shy away from using in case they get labelled “greenies’ or ‘tree huggers’ or heaven forbid ‘friends of Green Peace or WWF’

Stand tall stand proud fellow farmers we aren’t just talking about it we are walking the walk .Shout it from the rooftops “ I am a proud Australian farmer and I am an environmentalist” After all have you ever met a farmer who aims to leave their land worse off then when they arrived?.

For those of you who would like to see what some of our proud Australian farmers who are self declared environmentalists are up to there are some great blogs and websites for you to visit

Gus Whyte and family http://wyndhamstation.com.au/

Seven Aussie Farmers I am very proud to be sharing my story with here 1Million Women

Marian MacDonald as selection from the wonderful Milk Maid Marian blog

http://milkmaidmarian.com/2013/12/01/for-our-children/

http://milkmaidmarian.com/2014/05/05/why-landcare-matters/

http://milkmaidmarian.com/2012/07/20/finding-pleasure-in-the-small-stuff/

http://milkmaidmarian.com/2012/05/10/caring-for-our-country-requires-a-team-effort/

http://milkmaidmarian.com/2011/12/28/our-green-investment-already-begins-to-grow/

http://milkmaidmarian.com/2011/11/26/a-beautiful-set-of-numbers/

http://milkmaidmarian.com/2011/10/05/intensified-farming-good-for-the-environment-sometimes/

Check out the work of the Montrose Dairy team of Gillian Hayman and Graeme Nicol http://montrosedairy.com/category/environment/

Clover Hill Dairies Diary http://cloverhilldiaries.com/category/environment/

Young Eco Champions http://archibullprize.com.au/teachers/yec/yec2013.html

and lots of great stories at the Target 100 site about our Cattle and Sheep Farmers including the Young Farming Champions team

Thank you proud and loud environmentalist Bessie for inspiring this post

The gate is open, Michelle

Today’s post comes from the heart and is a reprint of this article in The Land

Tom Tourle is one of a group of young farmers extending an invitation to Michelle Bridges:

Tom Tourle is one of a group of young farmers extending an invitation to Michelle Bridges: “Come and see my farm“.

A FURORE erupted in farming circles last week when fitness trainer Michelle Bridges reignited the inflammatory debate on ‘ag-gag’ laws with a column in the Sun Herald.

Now a group of young Aussie farmers wants to “open the gate”, inviting Ms Bridges on a journey to see how they farm.

Ms Bridges’ opinion piece called for Australian consumers to resist the introduction of US-style ag-gag legislation which would restrict filming of animal production by activists. In response, the Australian Farm Institute (AFI) published an open letter asking Ms Bridges if she would mind having cameras set up in her own home.

Ms Bridges defended her column, posting this on Facebook days later:

“Aussie farmers – I have huge respect for what you do and realise the majority of the industry do the right thing. But I do believe that those who don’t should be held accountable.

“My article takes a stance against proposed new laws that I believe are unjust. It does not condone, encourage or endorse illegal activity.”

Regardless, the AFI open letter went viral, spawning countless tweets and Facebook posts and generating unprecedented online traffic. Amongst the understandable outrage, a clear trend emerged: farmers were keen not to defend the industry but to educate people disconnected from the reality of agricultural production.

Art4Agriculture Young Farming Champion Hannah Barber is one of many producers who’ve extended an invitation to Ms Bridges to share their stories.

An open invitation

Dear Ms Bridges,

My name is Hannah Barber and I am lucky enough to have been brought up on the family farm. We have now been proudly producing sheep, beef cattle and crops to feed and clothe Australian families for over 100 years.

After being thrown into the melting pot of people from different backgrounds at school and in the wider community I realised that I had taken for granted people’s connection to agriculture. I realised that not all people had the opportunities to have a connection to the land and farming and my childhood was unique and special.

I have now been lucky enough to be selected to represent the cattle and sheep industry with 40 other young people from the grains, wool, cotton and dairy industries in the Art4Agriculture Young Farming Champion’s program. These 40 young people are either proud to farm or have careers in the exciting, innovative and dynamic sector that is Australian agriculture.

Part of the reason I applied for the program was that it gave me multiple opportunities to provide others with the connection I have with farms and farmers, families and communities who grow the clothes they wear and food they eat.

When I read your article in the Sydney Morning Herald Lifestyle Section – “It’s time to take a stand over proposed “ag-gag” laws” – (by the way, I am confident you didn’t mean to infer that you supported the rights of people to break into farms) I saw a wonderful opportunity to literally take you on a journey to share my farming experiences.

I would like to extend an invitation for you to join me on a road trip to visit my family farm and those of some of my fellow Young Farming Champions to see how our animals are raised and how we get them ethically from paddock to plate (and everywhere else in between). After all, the fresh, healthy food you promote for fitness, health and weight management is grown by Australian farming families, like ours.

From my cattle in Parkes, you could maybe then visit Tom Tourle’s sheep farm in Dubbo, Georgia Clark’s chooks at Lake Macquarie and Prue Capp’s horses in the Hunter Valley.

The farmers who help put the cheese on your crackers Tom Pearce and Andrew D’Arcy could show us around their dairies in the home of cheese itself, Bega, and we’d better also drop in on Richie Quigley and Ben Egan growing the cotton for our socks out in the beautiful Macquarie Valley.

After who wouldn’t want to meet pin up boy Ben Egan

As young farming champions we are also scientists studying in various fields for our PhDs, we are agronomists, nutritionists, vets and rural entrepreneurs to name but a few. We are nurturers and environmentalists. In fact there is a career and a role for you in agriculture from A to Z.

My Mum also makes some mean scones too, so I suggest you plan to stay for smoko.

On behalf of the Art4Agriculture Young Farming Champions I look forward to hearing from you.

Hannah Barber

– Cattle and Sheep Industry Young Farming Champion

Lets appreciate what we have before it becomes what we had

I live in a very special place. When I wake up early in the morning and watch the sunrise its shear beauty often moves me to tears.

Every three weeks the view from my front verandah looks even more nutritious and delicious when the real cows come to visit.

I just don’t know how I could cope if I woke up every morning to watch it slowly bleaching and dying in front of me which is what is currently happening to our World Heritage listed Great Barrier Reef

Can you believe that despite the Great Barrier Reef being one of the healthiest coral reef ecosystems there has been a 50% decline in coral cover since 1985.

Last weekend at the invitation of the Camp Earth Hour Retreat my front verandah on Heron Island looked like this.

As you can imagine it was hard to leave but then not everyone is like me and gets to live some-where just as special.

I am a great believer in the adage

Appreciate what you have before it becomes what you had.

This brings me to the question “why is the reef dying?” Well lots of reasons and most of them are man made areas including catchment run-off, degradation of coastal ecosystems and direct-use activities such as shipping and fishing. Why has it become a burning bed issue and crucial we act now. Dare I say it CLIMATE CHANGE

And boy am I sick of the energy wasted on the climate change debate “is it or isn’t happening?”. In reality you don’t need people’s opinions on a fact.

You know what I dislike most about the people who say it isn’t, they are the type of people who don’t take responsibility for anything. Thank goodness they are just a small minority albeit a noisy one. I care very much that it even might be a possibility.

Professor Lesley Hughes ( who I was lucky enough to meet this weekend) sums up why we should all care beautifully in this slide

To borrow this quote from Time magazine

Science is hard—which is why not everyone gets to do it.

More than 97% of the people doing the hard yards say the science is in. Lets get with the times, lets care and act now

Tony Abbott – Nature has a longer memory and a sterner set of justice than we all do

Whether people like my style or not – I am confident one thing they will all say about me is I am action oriented.

I love doers. I admire people who can connect other like minded thinkers and take them with them on their journey for the greater good. And I have never met and worked with a movement that does this more effectively than Landcare.

For me 25 years on Landcare is an internationally recognised social and environmental movement

I have worked with Landcare in urban spaces and in peri urban environments. I have worked with Landcare on lifestyle farms and on commercial farms, with youth and in schools.

Landcare transcends traditional boundaries to do what nobody else in Australian agriculture has ever been able to successfully achieve in great numbers. That is getting farmers to partner and work together and with the community

Landcare is the perfect model and a shining example for agriculture of what a connected cohesive group of people can achieve together

And thanks to the efforts of Landcare we are reminded that we (as farmers) operate in a broader landscape than just our farms

Farmers who work with Landcare think about their properties as part of the broader catchment which has led to incredible environmental achievements.

I also admire the very bright mind that is Andrew Campbell whose knowledge of all things land and water and his ability to express his thoughts and opinions verbally and on paper is quite possibly unparalleled in this country

This recent paper he wrote ( with Ian Rutherfurd) for the Conversation on the government’s recent budget decisions on Landcare is a great example

Some of the text that resonated with me on the budget

It also repeats a pattern of reduced funding and weakened delivery started under former Prime Minister John Howard, and confuses improved agricultural productivity with improved environmental management.

Bait-and-switch is a retail trick where you advertise a product at a good price, pull the customers in, and then switch the product at the last moment for an inferior and/or more expensive version. Under the budget, the bait is Landcare, and the switch is the Green Army.

Funding that would have been gone to seasoned community volunteers, multiplying local efforts, will now go to projects done by inexperienced young people on less than the minimum wage.

No doubt many Landcare warriors would appreciate a hand from some willing young workers, but will the soldiers of the Green Army continue to maintain these projects into the future like the Landcarers would? Unlikely. They will bus in, do the project and leave.

Governments need to be careful about white-anting the business models of existing private sector environmental contractors, and disenfranchising passionate volunteers.

Landcare is about building social capital in rural communities and helping communities to promote sustainable land and water management and more effectively tackle common problems that cross farm boundaries.

I filtered all the content I had put in the category under The Environment on my blog and I am honoured that I have had the opportunity to work closely with the Landcare movement on my farm and beyond and introduce its ethos and philosophies and goals to so many others.

You have been very short sighted Tony Abbott – our landscape is such an integral part of the health,wealth and happiness of every Australian how can you not value it and the people who nurture it so much more than this budget shows

Inspired by Dr Seuss today

Today begins with a little bit of self reflection. Part of the journey is never forgetting that who you are is far more important than what you have.

Is there an Archie coming to a town near you? We might need your help

The Archibull Prize is a program that operates on love. Its is run by a very small dedicated team who have day jobs that hopefully (I try not to think about it) feed their families

Our major funding sponsor is Paul’s Milk who are a joy to work with and we will be doing some great things with them this year

Our industry supporters ( MLA, AWI, Cotton Australia and GRDC) have grown over the years and together through the Young Farming Champions (YFC) program we are developing the next generation of agriculture’s leaders with a whole of supply chain focus mentality.

It was particularly rewarding to form an ongoing Young Farming Champions program partnership with NSW Farmers last year to help develop the next generation of skilled and knowledgeable policy formulators and drivers. We hope to be able to do this in other states but I must admit I am a little saddened that this is moving a lot slower than I envisioned

The 2014 YFC team all had the opportunity last week to spend a day behind the scenes with their industry sponsors. All of these wonderful young people are just itching to take every opportunity to talk to anyone and everyone about their industry and their career. We had some great fun sharing stories last weekend of conversations with taxi drivers who always ask “what do you do?” and “Why are you in town”? As the wise Geoff Birchnell reminded us taxi drivers are the eyes and ears of the world and they are your captive audience don’t let the opportunity pass you by .

2014 Young Farming Champions doing agriculture proud

The truly rewarding thing for me about our industry partnerships is the clever ways industry is now wholeheartedly supporting the YFC to get out there and be loud and proud about their industries at every available opportunity. Sydney Royal Easter Show and the Ekka watch out the YFC are coming to town in a big way on behalf of industry next year and it wont be stopping there.

This year by request from rural and regional Australia we are taking the Archibull Prize program to schools in their area. We did this for social reasons because our rural communities have been doing tough at the hands of mother nature and the heartfelt requests we were getting showed us this program had the potential to lift the community spirit well beyond the school playground.

When we said yes we knew the major limiting factor cost wise was cartage. Just as an example it cost us $10,000 plus to get the finalists to and from the Sydney Royal Easter Show so you can imagine what it might cost to get 4 fibreglass cows to the Atherton Tablelands let alone to all these schools

Is their an Archie in a town near you

When we started to develop the partnerships that could possibly allay some of the costs and even more importantly give our farmers and their community members an opportunity to have ownership of the program in their region, the journey as you might have noticed from previous posts this week has been fraught with frustration. But it has also delivered some great joy and new partnerships that are going to add so much value to the students experience .

One of the reasons we were bombarded by rural schools this year was the wonderful promotion ( unbeknown to me at the time) of the program by Landcare Australia and wow those Landcare groups will move heaven and earth to bring people together in the spirit of community. Huge hugs and kisses to Mary Bonet and Christie Elemam. Barnaby should be doubling the budget for Landcare not halving it.

The wonderful James Walker called in some favours from to GD Partners to have Mt Isa School of the Air’s Archie freighted to Longreach to some very happy kids last week

The adorable Katrina Nixon will be working with Fife’s Stockfeeds in Goulburn and her trusty horse float to get the cows delivered to schools in her region

Skinners Premium Meats in Cowra will be hosting the Archies in their main street frontage window prior to Landcare rallying the troops to pick them up to go to schools in Forbes and Eugowra as well as local schools. Special thanks to former Cowra girl and now Cotton OZ staffer Sophie Davidson for pulling that one off.

Speaking of Cotton Australia, breathed a big sigh of relief when we had schools in cotton country participating. I was confident there would be many hands on deck to make light work and I wasn’t disappointed. Kudos to Nigel Corish and his cotton growers team who will be helping get the Archies to St George and Goondiwindi this week.

Thanks to the Gateway Schools team in Far North Queensland we are now talking to a potential freight partner for the Atherton Tablelands and James has put his thinking cap on again for Cloncurry and Charter Towers

We could however do with some help for Wagga and Tumut. Please feel free to send me an email lynnestrong@art4agriculture.com.au if you have any ideas

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Archies on display at the 2014 Royal Easter Show

Travelling the highway of plenty to raise $10000 for Aussie Farmers

A lot of people do pro bono work on behalf of agriculture. I am just one of the many.

I however am also highly intolerant of people in paid positions in agriculture with a CANT DO attitude. This week I had too many conversations with some of those people and by Friday morning I was ropeable and I let it show. On top of this Tony Abbott has now declared Paradise a mobile phone black spot and half these people I am having these frustrating conservations with cant hear me clearly ( or say they cant) and yesterday I even did that thing you should NEVER EVER do and hung up on one of those CANT DO people.

I was punished. Whilst I was having this conversation ( or trying too ) my lunch burnt

What I can assure you is it pays to have good quality saucepans. This is recoverable albeit with a lot of elbow grease

Voila – BTW Esteele you can send my commission to the Lynne Strong Professional Development Fund

I am furious with myself and my lack of control is filling my headspace and now I cant sleep. On top of this I have used my last drop of milk to make a large latte which isn’t going to help the get to sleep cause one little bit but it is delish.

Enough about me I am writing this post to put my life into perspective and showcase a wonderful young man who names the cotton industry as his first true love who I first met last year when he joined the Young Farming Champions team

Meet Martin Murray

Martin (right) and Macca

Martin and his friend James Macca Mackenzie are planning to raise money for Aussie Helpers and rural families by riding their Postie Bikes from Moree in Northern NSW to Broome on the stunning Western Australian Coast.

Wow just looking at the route exhausts me

Twenty-year-old Martin says he and James hope to complete the trip in just seven days. “We’ll be travelling via the Plenty Highway and Tanami track, covering a total of 4279km… and a lot of that’s dirt,” he says.
“We wanted to raise money for a good cause and take our ‘Posties’ on an adventure – they add to the challenge. It wouldn’t be so much of a challenge if we took James’ Patrol,” Martin jokes.
Aussie Helpers, a volunteer group started in 2002 to help support rural families in the outback, was the obvious choice of charity for Martin and James. “We’ve always been fans of their work,” Martin says. “Raising $10,000 seems like an ambitious starting point but I believe we can make it.”

Macca’s bike is starting to look pretty impressive

Martin and Macca plan to leave on the 16th of June and aim to raise $10 000 for Aussie Helpers. You can read all about it and follow their journey here

You can cheer them

On twitter here @PostieRide

On Facebook here https://www.facebook.com/EastToWestPostieRide

Please feel free to donate to the East West Postie Ride for Farmers cause via their Everyday Hero page.

Thanks Martin and Macca you have inspired me to keep fighting the good fight. I salute you

Shout out to fellow Young Farming Champion the gorgeous Bessie at Burragan who is also supporting the boys with great press releases