At a time when Australian farmers are feeling vilified by the general public, it’s worth stopping and actually putting this into context.
Our farmers ranked in the top 10 most trusted professionals in Australia.
Studies by Coxinall and others consistently show farmers are the most trustworthy profession that doesn’t hold a life in their hands, such as doctors, nurses and paramedics.
It’s easy to feel the weight of negative public perception when we see the recent attacks on some of our industries but let’s also put this against the large groundswell of support that occurred for branded milk brands during May 2016 when the television news program, The Project, ran a single story on the Australian dairy industry.
Fundamentally, our consumers believe the producers who supply them their daily food are doing so in a clean, green and sustainable way.
In fact, this confidence is so ingrained in our way of life that Australia ranks well below other developed nations for sales of organic and ‘natural’ branded foods.
There is a market confidence that our agricultural industries are doing the right thing without the need for different certifications.
While we, as an entire industry, can step back from the small groups of protesters and have confidence that the mainstream markets are supportive of us, we can not take this for granted.
Across our industries we are completing amazing pockets of research and innovation, however the fragmented nature of our different agricultural sectors can lead to these gains only benefiting the one sector.
I believe the greatest opportunity for growth in productivity, social acceptance and sustainability across agriculture will come from learning and sharing of best practice across sectors.
As an entire agricultural industry we need to support bodies such as QFF, NFF and AgForce who speak on all our behalf, and hold them accountable to regularly engaging media and decision makers around the great work our farmers are doing, across all sectors.
Let’s continue to celebrate, and build on, the fantastic position of strength our industry is in.
We are world leaders in what we do, and whilst we’ll have our naysayers – let’s not have them distract us from the bigger picture and success we are achieving.
- Bruce McConnel, general manager, TSBE, Food Leaders Australia
