If you want to bring joy to some-one you sit with them on the front verandah at my house
Ten years have gone by since I had a phone call from the office of the federal Minister for Agriculture asking if the Minister could come to our farm and meet with me and would I organise for him to have a breakfast meeting with a group of dairy farmers from the region
The questions that the minister asked me as we sat on my front verandah that stayed front of mind are:
How do we create an effective model for agriculture’s research and development corporations.
How do we get the people running them to have collaborative, cooperative mindsets?
How do we get them focused on the big picture.?
How do we get them to focus on connecting farmers with consumers and their role in helping farmers get safe affordable, nutritious food to Australians and families around the world?
These are questions I haven’t stopped thinking about and its clear all the ministers who followed him haven’t stopped thinking about them either as their first gig seems to be the never ending review of the RDC model
I have watched the RDC model with great interest in the past ten years looking for change. I have seen glimmers of hope that quickly fade. I so want the model to work
When I see press releases like this, I wonder if its all about egos. I have seen this press release twice. Each time it quotes a different head of an RDC
You can’t help but wonder why the opinions of the two most important voices in the food and fibre supply chain werent sourced for the press release. How much more effective would the story be if we heard from a farmer about how their farming business was focused on meeting or exceeding consumer expectations.
I don’t think its about egos. I think it’s the outdated RDC paternalistic model aka top down approach the RDCs favour.
If I am close to the mark what are the opportunities and barriers for farmers and consumers to be active and involved voices together in how our food is produced and distributed to everyone who needs it?
Kudos to Corteva – for asking those questions.
This is a survey that gave me hope
#zerohunger #zerowaste #StrongerTogether