I have been a very lucky girl and met lots of wonderful selfless people on my life’s journey and none more special than Alan Eagle
I am going to miss you Alan- you truly enriched the world we live in
Category: Uncategorized
Farmers and the culture of being busy status symbol
I must admit when I read Milk Maid Marian’s post yesterday I had this feeling of déjà vu. I couldn’t help feeling sad and smiling at the same time. Seriously does Dairy Australia have a death wish, masochistic tendencies or are they just ignorant
Well they are none of those things. I have found in the main they are very smart, well-meaning people who sadly are not alone in the world of farming industry research and development corporations in copping a lot of flak from their employers/stakeholders/levy payers aka farmers
I work with a number of industry bodies and the ones that have good stakeholder relationships you can count on two fingers
When I first decided I was going to get more hands on in agriculture, one of the first things I did was make the effort to meet as many of the people in my employ as I could
That started with meeting with the management teams at Dairy Farmers which at that time was farmer owned and Dairy Australia
I must admit I was blown away by the generosity of their time
When I went to Dairy Farmers I had meetings with the CEO, head of communications and head of marketing
At Dairy Australia I met with the CEO and head of marketing and a number of consultants they had engaged
I think in the main most of these of people thought I was a bit scary but they recognised my passion and that I was eager to learn
I also discovered a few scary things myself. Dairy Farmers had all these wonderful brochures titled “who we are” that gave the impression that their farmers milked black Hereford beef cross cattle and Dairy Australia had material that had Australian farmers milking breeds of cows I had never heard of and to their credit when they were informed they were mis-informed they made changes fast
Dairy Australia will be breathing a sigh of relief I chose this image -but then lets not forget 95% of the board of Dairy Farmers were dairy farmers – what were they too busy doing when this brochure got the tick of approval ?
Now we as farmers can sit back and say we are too busy and the people we employ should have crystal balls or we can spend just a little bit of time and make time.
It’s our choice.
Farmers focused on being part of the solution
Food is an extremely hot topic but its a long time since farmers have had a seat at the discussion table when its discussed beyond the farm gate. Today farmers are less that one per cent of the population. Whilst it’s time for people with firsthand experience to leverage social media leadership to influence public opinion, rather than react to rhetoric, we cant expect the wider community to understand the origins of food, today’s practices or what’s really happening if we’re not using new media to communicate?
A number of like minded farmers have come together and formed very powerful partnerships that are now giving farmers a voice on Climate Change. Its interesting when you join forces with organisations that have 160,000 followers on Facebook and another 24K on Twitter just how big a voice farmers can have in the wider community and in this case its interesting what the community has to say
One of those farmers using her off farm skill sets to give farmers a voice is Marian McDonald who blogs as Milk Maid Marian who was invited by The Guardian to turn her latest blog into an Op-Ed which I have reprinted below
Climate change has not been answered for farmers: we need more information, not less
Cuts to the CSIRO’s climate and land and water research will make finding solutions – and making milk Australian families can afford – ever more difficult
Deb Poole – #hot like a ????
Last night I had a little blast from the past watching Molly and it started with the opening scene
Yes believe or not both Molly and I had a yellow Celica – OMG how embarrassing was the colour of that car but then I wanted a Celica and the yellow one was the cheapest ( Can’t think why)
But the best thing for me about Molly was the adds. I just loved the dairy industry’s Legendairy version of Rhonda
For me Deb Poole you truly rock my socks – now all she needs is her own version of #hotlikeasunrise. Looking forward to the legendairy #hashtag. Here is my 5 cents worth
Deb Poole UR #nutritious #delicious
How you use your heart is your choice
If this isn’t one of the most heart moving things, you have ever seen then it’s time to have your heart checked
You can read the backstory here. How you use your heart is up to you
Not happy scammers and not happy bank
Anyone who has been the victim of credit card fraud will feel my pain today and I must admit I am a bit unhappy with my bank.
It does have an amusing side – in the main my scammer/s chose to spend their ill gotten gains in Coles and Kmart and Liquorland in all of above suburbs in a little over 24 hours. They did 6 balance enquiries, spent the same amount of money 10 times and even managed to overdraw the account without the bank being concerned. The bank even charged overdrawn fees and then reversed them for some reason and still the scammers went unnoticed
Why is this amusing – well as a protest on behalf of dairy farmers everywhere I can count on 1 hand the amount times I have shopped at Coles since the Milk Price Wars began.
Please don’t mention this to my fellow agricultural advocates either – the card was cloned whilst i was doing a dairy industry related advocacy TV interview – as you can imagine at the present moment I am seriously questioning whether its all worth it
What the scammers don’t know is what I use this card for and it has been very easy to identify who and where the card was cloned. Its not your lucky day scammers
You might have fooled the Falcon but I know who you are
Speaking of dairy farmers don’t you love this cheeky little add
Pretty confident the bow has been photoshopped – I now have official confirmation that no testicles where harmed in the making of this commercial and even better news another cheeky version is about to be launched. Watch this space ht SJS
War has been declared – who will wear the responsibility for the collateral damage
Feeling the pain on behalf of Mike Baird and the NSW Govt today having to cop the flak for the folly of others – it’s started
This is just the beginning I am told
My question at this point in time is will NSWFA be prepared to accept the moral responsibility for any damage to Brand Australia for agriculture from potential fall out from these campaigns?
Is it doing the right thing to propose a legislation that instigates campaigns that potentially will put the spotlight on farming in a negative way when you have been warned that it hasn’t got a chance in hell of being passed by the NSW Legislative Council
So there is a real risk all this pain will be for nothing – if this isnt a folly nothing is
Backstory
Australian farmers a crisis is looming
Australian Agri-Politics another brave soul bites the dust
Politics
Rule No 1. Ask for something that is possible
Feeding a hungry nation – what the thought leaders are saying
Today’s blog is a reprint of Richard McLellan* piece for the Centre for Policy Development 4 December, 2015. I have referred to Richard’s vision previously and in light of current events I thought it timely to revisit what some of this country’s recognized thought leaders are saying
Richard McLellan: Gifting a sustainable food future requires a radical rethink
Twelve years doesn’t sound very long, but my Dad could tell you how much productivity changed on our farm in the West Australian Wheatbelt in the 12 years immediately after he changed from teams of horses to mechanised tractors. Or after the introduction of superphosphate. Or how many more grey hairs he grew as the winter rains and run-off in Southwest Australia markedly diminished within 10 to 12 years in the 1970s.
Fortunately, he and many other farmers across the WA Wheatbelt adapted to that change. Aussie farmers like my Dad have always been good at dealing with changing circumstances, and have been among the most innovative and adaptive in the world.
But I’m not so convinced they’ll be able to keep-up with the speed, scale and intensity of the climate change impacts that are predicted to affect agriculture across Australia in the years ahead. As clearly spelled out in the recent Australian National Outlook report by CSIRO: “the types of adaptation that have previously served Australian farmers well may simply not be enough in the future.”
Incremental change probably won’t be enough to address the immense challenges of a changing climate, or provide sufficient guarantees for the future sustainability of farms and rural communities. The authors of Feeding a Hungry Nation instead called for “Transformational Adaptation” (see chart below), which would require new farming products such as ecosystem services and wholesale translocation of farming sectors, and developing new skills for farmers; new markets and supply chains; and new infrastructure.
I’m also convinced that only transformational change will be enough to ensure our agricultural sector survives, and indeed thrives — as we all want it to. To meet current and projected challenges of rising temperatures, increasing drought frequency, and water insecurity, paradigm shift is essential. Changes to stubble management will not be enough.
The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) believes we need to go even further. It calls for “radical adaptation” involving comprehensive preparation for possible future scenarios and a “fundamental sector-wide re-think of policy.”
Whatever you choose to call it, that’s pretty much the conclusion I’ve arrived at. Edging ahead with incremental change simply won’t guarantee a sustainable farming future. It’s time for a radical re-think.
“Business as usual” and small-scale testing the waters are not solutions. Solutions need to be big and bold, and bloody quick.
Farming has changed a lot in the past few decades, but this is nothing compared to the ‘radical’ changes needed to ensure our farming regions are still profitable and sustainable at the end of the century. Now is the time for a huge increase in investment in funds and ambitious policy change to prepare the country for a very different future.
By all means, let’s keep up the incremental changes: new crops and varieties, rotations, minimum/no tillage, soil optimisation, and the like. But this won’t get us far unless we really start thinking, planning and acting longer-term to catalyse “new generation” diversified and sustainable farm income opportunities.
This must start with ambitious policy and economic incentives.
Let’s provide the policy arena to drive a “clean and green” future.
Let’s seriously invest in innovation, and in integrated research and development, policy and practice that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across the agricultural sector. Let’s radically rethink our energy system — not only in terms of production but also in delivery and consumption.
Let’s start paying farmers for investing in and protecting biodiversity, for foregoing land clearing, for providing ecosystem services, for sequestering carbon, for changing land uses and food production systems to what will be truly sustainable.
Let’s stop simply reacting to drought, and instead incentivise real, long-term, climate-smart systems that can cope with our challenging environments and climates.
Let’s provide sufficient government-supported funds and schemes — such as a climate-smart, “future fund”, paid for by a carbon tax or the diversion of current fossil fuel subsidies to help facilitate this outcome.
Let’s invest in producers, supply chains and markets that are prepared to demand and trade in truly sustainable agricultural produce.
Ultimately, let’s provide the policies and economic drivers that will ensure the Australian countryside is still filled with profitable, productive and sustainable farmers in a century’s time.
We need farmers in the bush. They are potentially our “best-bet” resident bush conservation rangers and land stewards, and best-placed to manage our country’s natural assets while providing essential ecosystem services that benefit everyone.
Richard McLellan is Chief Executive of the Northern Agricultural Catchments Council.
This is the fourth piece in CPD’s ‘Secret Santas for Australia’ series. Each day we will reveal one ‘gift’ of good ideas from a prominent Australian on a policy issue close to their heart. You can see the full set here.
Australian farmers – a crisis is looming how will we rise to the challenge
Image Source
As my readers know I have been nonstop blogging since the beginning of 2016. The reason for this is I so admire the wonderful farmers I find myself surrounded by and I was so torn
What do you do when you know something that could destroy overnight the credibility of the people you know and love and value and you want to warn them of impending disaster and you want to rally them?
You could do a number of things. In my case I saw my blog as the best vehicle I had to reach as many people as possible in as short a period of time as I could using social media
Like a number of farmers, I do my very best to keep up with the tide of public opinion both positive and negative about modern farming practices and talk to as many groups as I can, to see where their concerns lie
It was these relationships that forewarned me that a mass media campaign was about to be launched that could potentially destroy all the amazing gains our best practice natural resource management Landcare ethos focused farmers have achieved over the last 30 years and potentially destroy our credibility as people who can be trusted to do the right thing
My blogs copped plenty of well-meaning friendly fire. Farmers who were horrified that I would put the mistakes of the past front and centre and subtlety invite my readers to visit websites that share the good news stories. Some didnt realise this was just a taster of what they would shortly see in the media and there would be no subtle links to the good news stories
Whether we like it or note it’s time for change. The power of public opinion environment farmers operate in is changing. We need to change with it. Yes we provide a very essential service but so do lots of other people in other essential service professions and they find themselves operating in a highly regulated world and they understand and respect why
Farmers just can’t afford to ignore the world we live in. The world that loves controversy. Cute, cuddly and cancer stories now sell newspapers and attract main stream media and ensure huge donations to charities that appeal to the three C’s
Josh Gilbert Chair of the NSWFA Young Farmer Council has been working non-stop to bring all the aggrieved parties together to no avail and sadly he has found himself in a position where he felt the only way he could save our wonderful farmers from a name and shame media campaign was to resign his position with the NSW Farmers Young Farmer Council
Josh Gilbert has made a very brave stand. All farmers who have learnt from the mistakes of our fathers and those well-meaning people who came before us are also making a stand as Josh’s supporters are showing
Farmers are people, our sector has a lot of wonderful people doing the right thing and a few cowboys we wish hadn’t chosen farming as a career pathway. A self-regulation policy just isn’t an option when we are talking about something – our precious landscape -so close to the heart of so many Australians.
What farmers deserve is a ground breaking watershed co-regulation policy model that protects the people doing the right thing from the people who may not be doing the right thing
When you talk about the Australian landscape which regularly polls as front of mind for Australians it is very naive to think Australian voters will accept a model that suggests the people who look after 60-80% of it should self-regulate without identified clear codes of practice and accountability measures
Josh Gilbert is exactly the person we need to bring all the parties together. Lets not shoot the messenger. We can sit in the stands or we can get on the train with him. Its our choice, which one will you make ?
Australian Agri-politics – another brave soul bites the dust
I was very saddened as were many others to read this announcement this morning
It just belies belief that a fellow farmer/s would think that mafia like tactics are acceptable in agriculture politics.
HT to Lachlan Patterson
Its clear from the support and comments that Josh is receiving on his Facebook page he has plenty of supporters, an ever increasing Circle of Niceness and I am confident he will not give up the good fight and will rise like a phoenix out of the ashes
You can read more about this story in The Land here
Now lets look at some great things our 24/7 365 day farmers are doing – how good is this – Courtesy of The Guardian
Backstory –
A South Australian farmer has transformed his land into a gigantic geometric patchwork in a bid to fight soil erosion. Brian Fischer created the patterns at Ashmore White Suffolk Stud, north of Adelaide, following recent bushfires. In the absence of any vegetation, he says the furrows prevent gusting winds from causing further damage. “The fires cooked everything,” he told 3AW radio, “but whichever way the wind blows it’s always at 90 degrees [to the furrows] so it can’t get started”. The idea dates back to 1944 – if not earlier – when more than one million hectares of land were destroyed by a raging bushfire in Victoria. Fischer says the pattern took several days to plough but is saving him 15cm of topsoil
“… in the last decade we’ve definitively answered the question that the world’s climate is changing. What keeps me up and night and I think what keeps most of the country up at night is what are we going to do about it? How are we going to mitigate it?” – CSIRO chief executive Larry Marshall, ABC’s 7.30, February 4
Perversely, I’m pleased CSIRO chief Larry Marshall is lying in bed worrying about how to mitigate the effects of climate change. I’m only glad he’s not a farmer like me, because I doubt he’d cope.
Standing in the paddocks of my Gippsland dairy farm, I guess I have an advantage over Marshall because it’s here that the rubber of climate change adaptation hits the road.
This is one of the worst seasons on record around here and the only thing that has made it survivable has been good, early planning.
We sold 10% of our cows and planted turnips for summer feed almost two months earlier than usual to eke out moisture deep in the soil. We pushed bloody hard to get an irrigator up and running so we could offer the cows a lush oasis of millet with water from our farm dam.
Most importantly, we were quick to speak with our bank manager and buy hundreds of tonnes of extra hay and silage. It was not a pretty plan. It was a survival plan in the teeth of a failed season and a milk price that is below our break-even point.
We are still a long way from next Spring but the survival plan is getting us through. I can’t imagine how we would have managed without it.
Central to our planning were the CSIRO’s soil moisture maps and Pastures from Space. Combining the two tools, we could see that not only were our pastures notgrowing in the peak of Spring, there was little chance they could. The soil was powder dry all the way down to a couple of metres. That can only be fixed by weeks and weeks of rain.
In other words, we knew we were stuffed early enough to do something about it, thanks to the CSIRO. It’s survivable if we plan early, plan well and it doesn’t happen too regularly.
Still raw with the discomfort of this experience, I was gobsmacked to hear Larry Marshall say the climate change question has been answered; I realised he’d never make a farmer.
The big question for me looms large: how common will this type of season be in the future?
The climate modelling is neither detailed or accurate. All we know is that, since I was a little girl in the 70s, it’s been getting steadily drier around here and the scientists say it will continue to become drier, warmer and increasingly unpredictable. That’s nowhere near enough information to make good decisions.
To be frank, we don’t even have a worthwhile forecast for the next fortnight or the three months ahead. The Bureau of Meteorology’s oft-reported seasonal outlook is so unreliable here, it is literally as credible as tossing a coin.
I guess farmers are used to running blind into the next season and getting through when things don’t pan out well, but a long term climate shift is not something you can manage by buying in extra hay.
If this type of season begins to roll around every five to 10 years rather than every 20 to 50, it’s no longer going to be viable to keep doing what we’re doing. And it takes years to reshape a farm. I need to know whether we should be working towards farming cows, canola or cacti sooner rather than later.
Farmers are innovators by nature. Rather than simply howling to the wind when it’s all too late, I will do something about it. What, for sure, I don’t know. Cuts to the CSIRO’s climate and land and water divisions will make finding the answers – and making milk Australian families can afford – ever more difficult.