A few weeks ago I was camping with my kids in rural northern NSW. We’d gone there for a long weekend to sail on the glorious Clarence river… yes that is literally what floats our boat! Anyway, thanks to a public holiday we all planned to stay on for the Monday, still sailing, lolling about on grass under gorgeous trees etc.  Not observing the sacred public holiday thing completely though I started my Monday with a run.  I noticed how quiet everything was, the siren for the boatyard had sounded but of course none of the workers were there to respond to the call… this small town had become a bit ghost-like.  Further on I ran past several huge farms and I noticed that of course they were ‘business as usual’, full of workers going about their usual work and a very simple realisation hit me…‘Oh yes of course… no public holidays for farmers!’ Soil and crops and weather and growth cycles and harvesting schedules and, and, and… don’t observe public holidays or even weekends.

The nature of nature dictates that they simply have to keep working.

I get quite impassioned about farming.  Heck no I never want to be one – and anyone who knows me well & has seen my garden will vouch for this but I feel that overwhelmingly most of us march mindlessly on with our lives really unaware of how incredibly dependent we are upon farmers & how blessed we are in Australia generally with the quality of our produce… splashed with Organic and Biodynamic options but even our conventional produce is of a high standard… don’t believe me? Ever visited rural farming areas in Asia and other regions, or read the reports on major agricultural issues overseas? Anyway, without getting too much more on my soapbox about the selling of farming land for urban development or about the terrible duopoly of Australian supermarkets virtually obliterating the profit margin for farmers and then choosing cheaper imported produce instead, let me just suggest that we all make an effort to raise awareness around this topic amongst our clients. In pursuit of this here are some tidbits you might find helpful:

Australian farmers produce almost 93% of Australia’s domestic food supply according to National Farmers Federation. However, increasingly Australian farmers are faced with an open market that forces them to sell their produce below cost or throw out their crops!

Here is a list of of 4 actions that we can all take (courtesy of Aussie Farmers), you can read the whole article here.

  1. Buy Direct. Reconnect with Aussie farmers by buying direct through farm gates, local farmers’s markets etc
  2. Support Local. Understand how and where your food is produced.  Ask questions of all of your retailers, read the sign that identifies the origin and think twice
  3. Buy Australian Made and Grown. So it is truly 100% local and our farmers get the benefit.
  4. Reject $1 Milk Campaigns. Enough said!
  5. Consider Donating To Aussie Farmers Foundation. To directly support rural regional communities.

Enough said! 🙂

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