In October 2012, Mary Nenke of Cambinata Yabbies in Kukerin, WA – launched a campaign for ‘all Australians to Champion Farming’. She created a Facebook group called ‘Alarming Farming’, and published a paper titled ‘Why We Need All Australians to Champion Farming’, the result of research she carried for a presentation she made at an ‘Alarming Farming’ day in Varley, in WA’s South-Eastern wheat-belt.
In her words, this initiative is about:
- Creating awareness of the importance of agriculture to all Australians
- Redefining farming as an ‘ESSENTIAL SERVICE’ -’without food we die!’
- Raising awareness of the huge challenges farmers are facing and why many are exiting the industry
- Asking why Australian farms are being sold to China, India, the Middle East and other countries
- Putting agriculture on the top of the ‘POLITICAL MENU’
As Mary puts it, “we believe that it is not just about ‘poor farmers’, rather [it’s] about ‘poor Australians’ losing management and control of agriculture.”
She is calling on as many Australians as possible to become “Farming Champions” so as to put ‘agriculture high on the political menu’. AFSA welcomes and supports this initiative. Click on the link below to read Mary’s paper in full:
