FARMERS need to develop links with consumers to ensure farming has a future, writes LYNNE STRONG

There is no denying food is a hot topic.

But all too often, food is viewed by consumers as an end-product, independent of the land that produces it, and the hands that grow it.

Most media items about food are about cooking and eating, recipes and restaurants, with little attention paid to the origins of the key ingredients. That's us - Aussie farmers.

However, modern consumers have high expectations that the food they buy will be produced on farms with high standards of animal welfare and environmental stewardship.

Many are well informed - often by the negative images portrayed in the media.

Images portray farmers as being country hicks, living perpetually in drought and requiring constant hand-outs.

Consumers all want farms to look nice, that is, out of a car window at 100km/h.

But they don't understand how that relates to the steak on the table or the milk on their cereal.

It is these urban communities that will shape the future for primary producers - as consumers, governments, and as competitors for Australia's natural resources and future workforce.

We cannot expect the Australian public to trust farmers if they have no relationship with them. The farming community has to do something fast.

The cause of this disconnect between city and country is food's current value-chain model. If you look at the model, farmers are at one end and consumers are all the way down at the other.

In between is a vast array of packers, wholesalers, manufacturers and distributors.

Generally, these latter groups have their heart in the right place but the result has been that our urban communities have become disconnected from the consumer base.

There is a pivotal link that's missing in the value-chain model - the link that directly connects consumers with the farmers who know and love and work the land.

My team and I are rolling out programs to remodel the chain to add the missing link and create, if you like, a value bracelet.

I believe this is the key to locking consumers into lifelong relationships with the producers of their food and fibre.

So can we reconnect the city with the country and bridge the rural-urban divide? Can we use the community's interest in food and natural resource management to achieve our goals?

From my experience the answer to these questions is yes, yes, yes we can.

I am fortunate to lead an enthusiastic and creative group of young farming people called Dairy Youth Australia.

Together, we deliver self-managed events and activities that focus on youth, career opportunities, the community and the arts - all linked to agriculture

Our programs provide a means to invite urban and rural communities to visit and get to know each other - to share stories, improve their understanding and work through potential issues.

We put real faces to products for our consumers and our farmers get to learn first-hand about their end-customers.

So we now have some tools that can really make a difference.

Working with school children is a long-term strategy  but I think we owe it to our children and the next generation of Aussie farmers to build the importance and reputation of primary production.
 
My Dairy Youth Australia team is working on a national project to bridge the rural-urban divide.

We aim to recruit "farming champions" to be the face of agriculture in their local region.

Our champions will help us to deliver our education programs to their local primary and secondary schools.

To change perceptions, we need "grass roots" action: farming men and women who can get out there and sell the message that agriculture is alive and well.
 
Farmers today have to be out in their communities, committed to "walking the talk" - from paddock to plate, from cow to consumer, building trust between rural and urban communities.

Just imagine what we could achieve with an Australia-wide network of trained, passionate farmers talking directly with the communities they supply.

We must engage with the urban communities now so they feel connected with the bush and understand the efforts taken by farmers to protect the natural resource base.

They must see responsible agricultural production as a legitimate use of land, water and other resources. We need to show them that agriculture has a future and is a great career for their children.

A profitable, sustainable healthy future for the farming sector is achievable: the health and welfare of all Australians and many people around the world depends on it

  • Lynne Strong, of Clover Hill Dairies , was the Woolworths national Landcare primary producer of the year