Farmers Telling Their Stories is Important Regardless of Location

Earlier this week, I had the extreme pleasure of meeting with six Nuffield Farmers from Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. Since 1947 the Nuffield Farm Scholarship program -- which began in the UK and has now expanded into eight other countries -- provides an opportunity for its participants to explore and research several countries’ agriculture.
Irish Dairy Farmer Brian Rushe encourages farmers to share their story with consumers. He shares
Rushe: “The gap between where people think their food comes from and where their food comes from is widening all the time. There was a time when consumers were only one generation from the land and now we’re three and four generation. What is starting to happen now is that we are losing social license. Social license —wasn't a word that I was aware of two or three years ago but it is becoming a word.
When he began his dairy three years ago, there were some who didn’t want a dairy in their area - based on incorrect assumptions and misinformation. He continues
Rushe: ”Farmers need to own their own story. They can’t stand back and let other people speak for them. They need to be proactive in how to speak about it — they can’t just arrive during a crisis. Farmers are believed and they are believable. Big corporations and companies are not. So why aren’t we speaking enough? That was a big take home for me. Another take home for me is that the best farmers, the best business people are people who interested in people. They have an interest in developing their staff and as a result they are actually growing a business. That has been.”