Youth in agriculture, do we even have a problem? Id say we do, but from a classic agribusiness and perhaps bureaucratic perspective perhaps we dont. In Sams mind Farmer numbers have declined, but the farms have become larger, there’s been much amalgamation and along with technology, we need fewer to run the land we have. Is this a delusion of a good thing? The get big or get out paradigm has been shifting. The health of our food systems rely on more than just mass production of nutrient deficient produce. A result of chemical intensive and carbon dependent practices. Under our more rational and sustainable understandings of the dynamic ecology of our food systems and the protection and preservation of our soils and farmlands we should surely know that there is a gross error in this judgement. Small scale farms are on the whole more productive, more effective, deliver greater benefits to their local communities, offer greater security to climatic changes, are more adaptable to market fluctuations, provide more employment and the list goes on. We need to really be thinking about how to support and provide opportunities to nourish a strategic transition to what is fundamentally essential to our food security and the evolution of farming. The average Australian farmer is now pushing past 55yo and taking their wealth of knowledge and skills with them into retirement. Sure we can work our food producers into the grave but then what? The next generation of farmers might have bright visions and shiny new degrees under their belts but without access to land and time spent with dirt under their nails, these text book farmers will just end up in the same system that is failing us now.
Posted on: Thu, 01 Jan 2015 04:32:24 +0000