Too much stick

As strange as it might sound, one of the reasons I left my former employment, which was split between the slightly unlikely combination of working as a professional hunter and an ecologist, was because I became sick of the compliance and bull dust associated with those professions at the time.

Of course, in the years since it has caught up with us as farmers with a vengeance.

If you read the media or follow social media you will ‘know’ farmers pollute the waterways, destroy the atmosphere, trash the soil, wipe out biodiversity and don’t pay their taxes — and something must be done about it.

When I visit cities I can see why people have a negative opinion of how our planet’s environment is headed. If I was surrounded by concrete, failed stormwater systems and traffic fumes I might think so too. Yet here on the farm, where I drink from the creeks, hear kiwi and bitterns calling from the porch, see the trees I’ve planted grow taller every year in top soil that has gotten deeper, I find it hard to share the sense that it’s all going to hell in a handcart.

Most farmers want to do the right thing, and when they can afford to they can, and have. I would argue the work occurred largely because of those on the ground involved rather than because of anything the government has done.

Personally, I have a limit to what I can be bothered putting up with, and like many younger farmers have another profession to fall back on. While farming still has room for environmental improvements, unfairly applying too much stick can mean the donkey will go and do something else, or plant the farm in pine trees.

You don’t have to look too far to see what that has done to rural communities. Let’s not lose sight of the thousands of farmers who are protecting habitats, carrying out pest control and working hard on becoming more sustainable. I don’t think losing those who are environmentally-focused would be good for anyone — rural or urban.

DAVE WILSON CHAIRMAN, MEAT AND

WOOL FEDERATED FARMERS (NORTHLAND)