2 days ago
Opinion: Irish agriculture should take a lesson out of Schwarzenegger's book
Did you hear Arnold Schwarzenegger recently tell the world to stop whining and encouraging everyone to get on with their lives in the most effective way possible?
Ostensibly, he was highlighting the key role that individuals can play in tackling the challenge of climate change – saying that it is not all about big government.
Schwarzenegger is totally correct in making this fundamental point.
But it was the 'stop whining' line that really struck with me, particularly its resonance for Irish agriculture and many of the organisations working within it.
All too often, our farm bodies spend their time highlighting the challenges and problems facing farmers.
And, yes, there is a need for this. But there is another – and more relevant – story to be told about Irish farming and our rural areas.
And it is this – our farmers are best in class, and the Irish countryside is our most precious resource.
And these fundamental facts must be celebrated every day of every year.
The reality is that, just like the rest of the world, Ireland has become an extremely urbanised society. Most families living in our cities and towns have lost touch with the rural way of life.
Arnold Schwarzenegger. Source:
Yet these same urban-based consumers are fascinated with the food they eat and how it is produced.
They need to hear this narrative about the quality of Irish agriculture. And the people best placed and qualified to tell this story are Irish farmers themselves.
And it is not all bad news on this front. The local agricultural shows are now in full swing across the country. They play a fundamental role in highlighting the role played at the very heart of the Irish economy by the rural way of life.
The upcoming Agri Aware Open Farm initiative is playing a similar role. It is providing members of the public with the opportunity to see the implementation of top management practices within commercial farm settings.
And we need so much more of this.
Thankfully, the mood within production agriculture is extremely upbeat at the present time.
Tillage apart, most farm gate returns are currently at historically high levels. And long may this continue to be the case.
Given these circumstances, it might behove our farming organisations to publicly confirm this reality while at the same time thanking Irish consumers for their continuing support.
If the public are receiving messages of this nature on a regular enough basis, then they will be more likely to be on the farmers' side at those times in the future when production agriculture needs all the support it can get.
And, as we all know, crises within Irish farming are a very regular occurrence.
