#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
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
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
Last night the RAS of NSW held an agriculture teacher professional development workshop at which I got the opportunity to showcase the work of Art4Agriculture.
It was great fun and I learnt a lot. I met a crocodile farmer in the US and one in the Northern Territory via video conference technology, sampled crocodile meat for the first time and met a crocodile
I have also had a very inspiring week travelling north with the 2014 Archibull Prize art judge Wendy Taylor to Queensland to see the students’ bovine masterpieces. And what masterpieces they are. You can see them on Facebook here
The students’ artworks this year reflect on their interpretation of how sustainability and agriculture and the community can partner to help feed the world and reduce food waste
Wendy and her husband Craig are both architects and their firm red blue architecture + designhas a particular passion for site specific, environmentally sustainable solutions for new houses
As my regular blog readers are aware I am particularly frustrated by how confused the world is about what the word sustainability actually means and what it takes to achieve it. See previous post here
So I asked Wendy the question ‘Do people in general actually understand what the concept of sustainable housing is?’
Wendy said to me ‘well I can honestly say no-one has ever come to me and asked me to design the smallest house I could to meet their needs’
Let’s be honest with each other – we don’t get it.
To be sustainable we all have to be committed to reducing our footprint on the world and we all have to be committed to doing it together
Which brings me to “What’s making me cranky at this point in time?”
This week its Marie Claire and Sustainable Table et al. See Page 279-280 November 2014 Marie Claire
Those well-meaning but naive almost evangelistic people who believe and promote that you can put farming practices into boxes like artisan, boutique or organic = good for you. Whilst conventional farming = factory farming = not good for animals and the planet and people
If you just happen to be like the majority of family farmers in this country who grow food and fibre for the commodity market so that Australians from all economic backgrounds have the opportunity to afford it you are then perceived by label association to automatically fall into the ‘unsustainable, unhealthy, or unethical’ category.
If we are going to meet the challenges of feeding the world and reducing the abomination that is food waste then this rural idyll mentality has to stop.
The story should be about farmers engaging with consumers and the importance of eating real food, rather than highly processed food. Not about promoting one farming practice over another
Australian farming families are mums, dads, sons and daughters, sisters and brothers, husbands and wives. They’re just as interested in the environment and what they feed their families and animal welfare, as people in cities. They just happen to be farmers, growing some of the world’s best real food and fibre and they are feeding 20 million people here and another 40 million people overseas.
Let them get on with it. Enough I say. Lets not pitch farmer against farmer. Let’s work together to help all farmers be the best possible farmers they can be.
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
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
I have been meaning to write a blog post about the proliferation of the ongoing growth of what I call little golden booking farming mentality. This week I was spurned into action when a colleague emailed me this link. As you can see the dairy industry isn’t the only one on their radar. They also comment on the beef, fish industries et al under the Hungry for Info tab.
Its a beautiful website, obviously started by some very passionate people doing some great things. This initiative also has some very credible people backing it as do a number of people who promote similar farming enterprises. I have no problem at all with people who want to farm using philosophies od producing less and being paid more but I want to use this post to debunk some of the often very naive thinking that underpins this ethos and makes me really cranky by promoting it by deriding large scale farming practices
Sustainable intensification is having a farming system committed to producing more food on the same amount of land ( or less land) using natural resources wisely,creating as little waste as possible and reusing or recycling that waste when you can. Essentially it is having the most efficient farm system you possibly can in your circumstances Like it or not sustainable intensification (producing more with less resources) IS the best farming practice for reducing farming’s carbon footprint on the planet.
Ensuring that it is a good outcome for animals relies not on the concept but the people in the business. To get the best outcomes for animals everyone in the system from management to staff have to be totally committed to best practice animal husbandry and care. And yes having been there done that you have to be very dedicated indeed to closing the loop to get the best outcomes for the environment. BTW I am confident from what I have seen the majority of farmers are
‘Clover Hill’s message… intensified farming and the environment can happily coexist .. leaving an impression of farming as consumers would like it to be: productive, environmentally sustainable and picturesque’. Matt Cawood The Land
The reasons sustainable farming delivers the best outcomes for the planet are explained very well by Jude Capper in my post on Little Golden Book farming.
Explaining it is not always easy and I recently gave a presentation to the Young Farming Champions to start the conversation and workshop sustainable farming concepts with the help of one of Australia’s leading marketing gurus to enable the team to clearly and simply share what it takes to farm as efficiently as possible in the 21st century with school students
Here it is my presentation
Sustainability definition from the heart
Triple bottom line
My favourite triple bottom line definition
This slide is from the marketing guru’s presentation – suggesting we replace responsive with proactive
Australian farmers are sustainable farming trailblazers. They are very successfully doing what every person on the planet should be doing ie ‘ doing more with less’
For farmers MORE means producing more food and fibre. Less means using less natural resources
Why is this so important
Because we only have one planet and our natural resources are shrinking. Scaringly on the opposite end of the spectrum 158 more mouths to feed are born every minute. 154 of them in developing countries
In 2010 globally we are consuming enough resources for one and a half planets. In Australia we are chewing up the equivalent of resources for two planets.
It is obvious this NOT sustainable and as this excellent slide (courtesy of Rabobank) clearly show we need to rapidly reduce out use of natural resources
Why are Aussie farmers leading the way – FYI these stats are via NFF see here
In 1950 when cars looked like this and farmers drove tractors like this I Australian farmer fed 20 people
In 1970 when cars looked like this and farmers drove tractors like this 1 Australian farmer fed 200 people
In 2014 when cars look like this and farmers have technology that drives tractors 1 Australian farmer feeds 600 people (Note 1 American farmer feeds 170 people)
Yet there are a growing number of people like Sustainable Table that truly believe ( sadly ) that we can feed the world by farming like we did in the 50’s. As I said earlier I have no problem at all with people choosing to farm in this way ( would love to give it a go myself) and there is definitely a demographic of people who can afford to pay top dollar ( and so they should ) for produce grown this way
But we cannot feed the world by everyone farming this way. We just don’t have enough land, water and energy and I implore the people backing little golden book initiatives and farming practices to STOP telling people you can. Its wrong and its dangerous
People have every right to ask questions about the technology and science that allows our farmers to feed 600 people. All I ask is that you make sure you are fully informed and not basing your decisions on emotion alone
Technology and science mean large scale farmers can
Grow more crop on less land
Get more crop per drop of water
More Kg of beef per beast
More kg of wool per sheep
More pasture per hectare
Graze more cows per hectare
Produce more milk per cow
Use less fertilizer per crop
Use less pesticide per crop
Less water per litre of milk
All of these outcomes are good for the planet.
The majority of farmers producing more with less is the only road to sustainability. Note I say majority. There a lots of boutique farmers doing a great job under the ‘produce less and be paid’ more model for people who are prepared to pay more for food produced in a way that meets their values and I salute them.
However there are a lot of misconceptions out there about large scale commercial agriculture. But it is the hero and it should be celebrated. The majority of family farmers in this country grow food and fibre for the commodity market so that Australians from all economic backgrounds have the opportunity to afford it
I readily admit large scale agriculture has a lot of work to do to ensure the community is informed and comfortable with modern farming practices. May we always refrain from promoting what we do by deriding other farming practices,
Lets start by throwing our support behind all the wonderful Australian farmers using diverse farming systems, small and big who wake up every day looking for ways to do it better
Recently I gave a presentation on Sustainability and very proudly used the dairy industry’s definition as the benchmark
“Our vision for sustainability is to enhance livelihoods, improve wellbeing and reduce our environmental impact so that Australia’s dairy industry is recognised worldwide as a responsible, responsive and prosperous producer of healthy food” Australian Dairy Industry Sustainability Framework
My presentation was followed by a presentation from one of Australia’s leading marketing gurus and when she put up this slide she challenged the dairy industry to review their definition quoting Seth Godin
The light when on and I thought how right is she. I am reminded everyday how too often the dairy industry and agriculture for that matter fails to be on the front foot. We are at least less reactive and more responsive but how many times do we take the lead.
And there is no better example than the way we market our milk.
These days thanks to twitter I don’t need to read the papers from front to back as I have a number of very astute Twitter followers who can read my mind and share with me newspaper articles they think will be of interest.
Yesterday this story from well known dairy journalist Andrew Marshall lobbed into my twitter feed Milk’s Local Brand Push. It wasn’t until I got to Mike Logan’s comments and thought at least somebody gets it
Deja Vu. It was at least twelve years ago that I sat around the table with the marketing team at Dairy Farmers head office workshopping the latest ideas in milk packaging and labelling. At the table was also the bright mind that was Ed Geldard who was sadly killed in a plane crash in 2007. Dairy Farmers was in the middle of a logo change and a total makeover of their packaging and they were keen for my input. Their research had shown that it might be a great idea to put farmers on the packaging. I remember sitting there thinking that sounds pretty logical cant believe somebody hasn’t done it before. My feedback was I suggested they go one step further and also include farmer stories and market some regional milk.
I was subsequently mortified when I saw what they had in mind. Yes they were going to put a farmer on the pack but not his face his back. After a while they took the plunge and introduced the world to their farmer Martin Hodge but no way in the world would they even think about regionally branded milk.
There were plenty of farmers at that time who had the same idea about putting farmers on the label and marketing and selling regionally branded milk. After talking to Dairy Farmers for a few years trying in vain to get them to launch a NSW south coast brand of milk a group of their gusty farmers started their own processing plant and did it themselves . Wow did Dairy Farmers come down hard on them. South Coast Milk also had the hide to put a farmer on their pack and Dairy Farmers threatened to sue them. Twelve years later its now the ‘in thing’ to put farmers on the pack, put their stories on the back and do regionally branded milk and in the main what a giant waste of time and effort it is
Due to a new role from time to time I find myself in Woolies gazing at milk fridges. Its always the same the shelves are half empty, plenty of Woolies brand everywhere and ten minutes required to find the brand I am looking for.
As you can see because of the way the shelves are tilted (see picture below) to encourage the bottle to move forward it is extremely hard to see the label.
The company as you can see below who have done it the best are very obviously A2.
Dairy companies today have to be very astute indeed with their labelling especially with the 3 litre pack size aimed at families and in a lot of cases the 2 litre pack.
You may think my post harsh but if you were a dairy company and the shelves you were selling your best selling brands from look like this.
Where would you put your brand?. I myself would definitely leave the home brand label where it is
Fascinated by this story about the background behind what has to be one of the most poorly timed bizarre advertising campaign ever from Murray Goulburn (MG)
Devondale rivals presented as fools in suits in new fresh milk push
Devondale takes aim at its corporate competitors as it makes its first foray into the fresh milk sector, with its latest campaign depicting its rivals as fools in suits.
The campaign ‘Takeover’, created by DDB Melbourne, highlights Devondale as a farmer-owned business through a portrayal of how ‘corporate’ types operate a dairy. The ads show men in suits struggle to herd cattle with a mercedes and then milk them. It ends with the tagline “Some businesses have no business making your milk”.
Firstly lets look at poor timing. Never before has it been so imperative that MG be on good terms with their fellow processors as according to the Australian Financial Review (AFR) MG’s Sydney factory that will process NSW dairy farmers milk to fill their contract for Coles stores is
at least a month late and $30 million over budget
And even more catastrophic (according to AFR )
is that MG’s inability to supply milk is leaving Coles scrambling to find milk.
Can you imagine the penalties in the Coles/MG contract for MG failing to meet the milk supply deadline. Scary enough to ensure that MG would have moved heaven and earth to find another milk processor to supply Coles with the shortfall and get them out of that highly embarrassing money gobbling disaster
Secondly lets look at bizarre. Surely bizarre doesn’t get any stranger than this? You need some-one to rescue you from a potential disaster whilst at the same time publicly and at great expense you are suggesting they are fools
Lets not forget just last week MG’s Managing Director Gary Helou ( see my previous post here ) was quoted in the Australian as saying
We (MG) are not farmers……..
According to the advertising agency
The campaign marks the brand entering the fresh milk sector after largely operating in the long-life milk sector for a number of years.
Well MG’s foray into the fresh milk market has certainly arrived with a whimper or should that be a snigger rather than a bang as far as ability to meet supply targets and deliver product to store. Would it be too cheeky of me to suggest it may just be the MG management team who are starring in their own adds. Yes far too cheeky but whatever way you look at it these adds are just poor taste whatever the background. No wonder the comments option has been disabled on Youtube???
Here is the portfolio for you to make up your own mind
This is what Charlotte from the UK says and I couldn’t agree more
Poorly thought out all round. This advert could be seen by those who do not know the history and its intention to mock its competitors as just a dig at the city people who buy their products. When everyone in the industry acknowledges the need to promote a positive images of agriculture and help to ease the apparent disconnect between consumers and how their food is produced, this appears to be doing the complete opposite with the farmer effectively shutting the gate on anyone that wears a suit to make a living.
What do you think?
Post Script: September 2014 Update. Here is what the Advertising Standards Watchdog thinks. Visit here
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
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: “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.
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
Tom Tourle is one of a group of young farmers extending an invitation to Michelle Bridges: “Come and see my farm“.