Farmer Focus: Vision for agriculture must be driven by us

You wouldn’t think setting a vision for the future of the agricultural industry would be so hard. But after 18 months working with the top people in the various agricultural sectors, I’ve come to the conclusion it is nearly impossible.

In the 20 years I have been farming, agriculture has always been a bit of a directionless ship. It is a big ship, too – thousands of individual farmers all with different goals, motives and enterprises.

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But I feel that unless agriculture can create a vision of what we want as a collective we will soon become servants to those that do have a vision and a plan for the future.

One of the most unexpected outcomes of the Nuffield scholarship I did in 2010 was the understanding of the influence government plays in the decisions we make as farmers.

This was most evident in the EU with CAP. The EU parliament has a vision for agriculture but how much of it is driven by farmers?

In France at the time, farmers were spraying pig manure on the doors of parliament to show their dislike of some of the reforms.

While that may be a uniquely French way of communicating disapproval, at least the government knew they where unhappy.

In Australia it seems government looks to the consumer for guidance on agricultural policy. Over the years, helped by social media and the 24-hour news cycle, more and more policy is made on the run.

The question is, how do you stop this cycle, what can agriculture do?

Over the past three years I have had a lot to do with politicians and government ministers and it is plainly clear that they want the industry to tell them what to do.

“Tell us what to do or we will do what we think needs to be done,” is their reaction.

Agriculture needs to articulate a clear vision for the future starting from the ground up with individuals, commodities sectors and then as a whole industry. Unless agriculture is in the driver’s seat we will continue to be passengers.

Rob Warburton

Rob Warburton farms 3,000ha with his wife Jen and two daughters in Kojonup, south of Perth, in Western Australia. Cropping includes wheat, barley and oilseed rape. Wildflower seed is grown for retail. Merino sheep are reared for wool and meat. 

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