This month Farming Secrets members are finding out more about community leader Charles Massy OAM. Listen as Charles discusses the many ways in which Australian farmers are adapting and changing practices – from the use of land to changing the amount of chemicals used.
Charles is most concerned about the future of farming in Australia and as part of his PhD 4 year study has interviewed 80 farmers to discover what it takes to lead change.
This video accompanies a feature in the Spring 2012 edition of ANU Reporter, the quarterly magazine of The Australian National University.
3 Responses
Hello Charles
The Call of the Reed Warbler is a revelation for an old cocky like me, notwithstanding I haven’t farmed for many years.
Congratulations.
I would love to share your optimism, but I’m having difficulty.
My inability stems from the massive current land clearing in Qld., the Government’s attitude to climate change which leads to its coal policies and the threat of Ardini and other mines, the Tasmanian Government’s trashing by stealth in the Tarkine, the mindless fight over water in the MD Basin, and a multitude of other acts of destruction. It seems to me that these callous and deliberate acts of destruction far outweigh the growing, constructive, creative and productive educational programmes you have articulated.
I want to believe you are winning the race, but the evidence suggests otherwise.
I fear Martin Luther King’s “too late” is the order of the day if the status quo prevails.
It’s not time to throw in the towel, but it’s surly time for a rethink.
As Don Chipp would say we need to keep the bastards honest.
Now I think your ploy of getting farmer engagement by abandoning the top down approach is admirable. But I can’t see it working with politicians beholden to big business who are in turn masters at entrenching a Mechanical mind set with propaganda.
Direct public engagement seems unavoidable.
As a starting point a shortened version of CotRW highlighting the pionts necessary to open the eyes and minds of politicians is required because sadly they are not going to read your completed work.
I hope this is constructive. What do you think?
Kind regards Bill Handbury.
Hi Bill – great comments. I guess I am an optimist but our government has a lot to answer for as they know the options but are not acting on them to save our soils.
I will send this to Charlie and I do think your idea of a short version would help spread the word a lot further. Good thinking 🙂
As a result of reading your latest wonderful book, I have been exploring all aspects of regenerative agriculture. I’m thrilled to see the respect in which Percy Yeomans is now held worldwide. Interested in how Louis Bromfield seems to have disappeared from view. In the 1940s and 50s, he was an important voice in agricultural practice.