Pride must be restored in farmers

• Published date: 18 January 2023
• Publication title: Central Rural Life

Probably not an animal Kiwi farming folk particularly want to celebrate given the damage caused by the prolific producing pest

So perhaps New Zealand should adopt its own astrology calendar and make it the Year of the Farmer, a year-long — and beyond — celebration of the country’s food-producing champions.

Cast your mind over what is being served up to families in breakfast bowls and on dinner plates around the country this summer.

Cereal and fruit produced by a farmer or grower? Check. Leftover Christmas lamb sandwich? Check. Barbecue at the lake washed down with a craft beer? Check. Cream and kiwifruit-topped pavlova (if you were able to secure eggs)? Check.

And not forgetting the vegetarian and vegan diners; where do their plant-based choices come from?

Even that oat milk latte originated down on the farm.

As an aside, much plant-based ‘‘meat’’ is derived largely from imported pea protein, which comes with far more food miles than popping down to the local butchery, but I digress.

Let us not forget what side our bread is buttered on and how it was farming — not our previously greatly-lauded tourism sector — which kept the economy ticking through the global uncertainty and disruption of COVID.

For me, the New Year’s Honours list was a disappointment.

Not taking anything away from those fine individuals whose contribution to the betterment of society was recognised, my dismay was at the lack of acknowledgement for those in the primary sector — the engine room of the economy.

Where were the plaudits for those who spend their days doing their best to create an environmentally and economically sustainable future for the industry?

Traditionally, the lists of most unpopular professions have been the domain of second-hand car dealers, lawyers and journalists.

Farmers, in latter times, could well be forgiven for thinking they had also joined those lowly ranks.

As well as a celebration of our food producers, may 2023 bring more co-operation, collaboration, communication and common bloody sense when it comes to the relationship between the Government and our rural sector.

2022 was another year of angst and frustration for farming folk, with more protests organised by...