Knack for education changes farmer
Producer keen to see change in agriculture
IF GREG Dennis had his way, along with television shows featuring celebrity chefs and celebrity renovators, there would be shows featuring celebrity farmers.
Mr Dennis, more commonly known as Farmer Gregie, runs Scenic Rim Robotic Dairy, which produces the popular, unhomogenised 4 Real Milk.
He said whether it was a strapping young bloke or lady of the land from out west or even himself, it was time to get the message out there about what farmers really do.
It’s all part of his passion for education, which led to him taking a bit more of a back seat on the farm and stepping forward to run tours and talks.
He said the time was ripe, with more people than ever interested in where their food came from and how it was produced.
It was also a time of massive upheaval across many sectors of the agricultural industry, not least in the dairy sector.
Along with his knack for education, Mr Dennis was also a passionately vocal advocate for new approaches in agriculture, starting with removing the emphasis on farms getting bigger in order to survive.
He said currently the dairy industry and its biggest bugbear, $1 per litre milk, was a prime example of large corporations squeezing producers to the last drop without any concern for the future.
“We need to allow farmers to get smaller instead of bigger,” he said.
“We’ve been forced to get bigger or get out and all of that comes from corporate greed.
“It’s not just about consumers spending extra, but about controlling the dollars through the mid-section.
“If you can figure out how to get the flow of money right, then you see the positive impact on sales, animal welfare, farmer health and wellbeing and more.”
He said these same corporations were also making the huge mistake of putting Australian produce on global markets to compete with inferior, but far cheaper, products from other countries.
“We’re seeing more and more opportunities for export into south-east Asia and I do think there will be a lot of growth there,” he said.
“But we’re renowned for being able to grow some of the world’s best produce and we’re allowing companies to do all the deals on our behalf.
“They’re not selling into the high end of the market. We’ve got to stop selling premium products on the commodities market with produce from these other countries.
“When you look at the cost of production in these countries and you know the cost of labour in Australia and you know the cost of land and infrastructure, it’s terrible what they’re doing by trying to compete in price point.”
The jack-of-all-trades recently finished producing his first book, Holy Cow, and said it was all part of his push to bring the big issues in the industry to the forefront, along with his farm tours and social media presence.