How does agriculture rebuild its fan base?
- By: "Farm Tender" News
- Feb 10, 2019
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By Lynne Strong - Founder and National Program Director Picture You In Agriculture
As a 6th generation farmer who has worked beyond the agriculture sector, conversed with the bright minds in Getup and the World Wild Life Fund, designed and delivered 21st century learning agricultural and environmental awareness programs for schools I am very grateful for all the community insights meeting people in those sectors has given me.
I know Australians love farmers, I know its actually very easy to attract young people to consider careers in agriculture. After all everyone wants to work in an industry that has all these attributes:
* Modern industry that is evolving
* Massive opportunities for graduate roles compared with other industries which have much greater competition
* Salaries that are highly competitive with other industries
* Diverse career pathways that provide a sense of achievement
* Multiple opportunities to make a positive impact on the world
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I am going to put my armour on and list what I think are the two biggest barriers to agriculture moving forward:
* Silo mentality – we all know that for our individual farming industries to thrive, agriculture as a whole has to thrive. I look forward to us putting the concept into action
* Farmers who sit on boards that value outputs above outcomes. Sadly it took a lot of dying fish to give us the crowds its time to build up our fan base again
We are all in this together Australia. Farmers do care. What we have to learn to do better is listen.
So how do we rebuild our fan base ?
Like a lot of farmers I am inspired by Jacinda Ardern’s concept of reporting on a Well-Being Budget .
“This year, for the first time, we will be undertaking a well-being budget, where we’re embedding that notion of making decisions that aren’t just about growth for growth’s sake, but how are our people faring? How is their overall well-being and their mental health … how is our environment doing? These are the measures that will give us a true measure of our success.” Jacinda Ardern
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Ad - Macarthur Stockfeed and Rural Supplies covering all the Southern Sydney area - Ad
Lets show everyone how Australian farmers underpin the health, wealth and happiness of Australian families
Well done Nicole McDonald who penned this little ditty – She has captured the feelings of our wonderful farmers beautifully with this HT to Dorethea McKellar
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