AGRICULTURAL commentator and Scottish Nuffield Farming scholar Claire Taylor knows what makes a good farmer protest.
She has travelled to 15 countries as part of her scholarship researching global narratives around food and farming, and last week was a speaker at the LambEx 2024 conference in Adelaide.
And apart from her 30 minutes on ‘Turning the tide on the anti-farming agenda,’ she had some advice for the Keep the Sheep campaign, that is marshalling support nationally for the Western Australian sheep and live export sector.
Claire said a good farmer protest has to have clear and effective leadership at the helm with a very clear vision.
“It has got to be about setting a direction for where you are going, that’s really really important.
“The problems I am seeing with so many protests at the moment is that they are losing meaning and they are getting carried away.
“A lot of protests leave so much space for misfits to jump onto.”
She saw this with the Groundswell NZ movement in New Zealand.
Groundswell NZ describes itself as a grassroots volunteer-driven advocacy group seeking a halt to, and rewrite of, unworkable regulations which unfairly impact farmers and rural communities.
“I think initially they had quite a lot of success with their protest movement, but then it became a place for radicals and anti-Maori sentiment and Trump supporters.”
She said the concerns of the Groundswell movement were understandable and many farmers felt that the lobbying bodies in the country were not making traction.
Claire said one of the Groundswell founders told her 60 percent of the group’s 100,000-strong membership were not farmers.
“So there is a huge groundswell of support coming through.”
Claire said he has spoken to the Keep the Sheep organisers at LambEx and said she loved that the campaign has been able to keep people together and unite all of Australian agriculture.
“But a few people I have spoken to have said we’re going to go and really pound government.
“And I think some of the language being used you’ve got to be very careful with because it could shut down opportunities for engagement,” she said.
“I think, at their core, what they are trying to do is honourable, but they have just got to be very aware at every step they take, every decision, every engagement can have a knock-on effect.
“I can’t remember who said it earlier, but you can take a decade to build a reputation and lose it in minutes,” Claire said.
“And my fear is that they go too heavy and not set the tone for a productive relationship longer term.”
Claire said she had spoken people in France about protesting farmers who have spread manure in towns.”
“A lot of people find excitement in it because it’s creating noise and everybody feels empowered, somethings happening,” she said.
“But what it does; it’s just putting up barriers.
“I’ve spoken to civil servants who say ‘we’re just not going to engage, we are going to drop you to the bottom of our pile’ because this is the attitude,” she said.
“And I think especially for members of the public, seeing the mess has just ruined the message and left it out there, but then I understand it because farmers are feeling threatened and they are feeling backed into a corner.
“I don’t blame the farmers, sometimes I blame the leadership,” Claire said.
“I think leadership has got to call it out and make sure that when farmers are joining in the protest that they know what they are doing and they know what impact it could have.”
Claire, having met an Australian in Bullseye Ag founder Mitch Highett, said she is in the process of moving to Australia.
“It wasn’t part of the plan.
“I met him in February and we’re both in the ag space and he was winner of the (2022) Zanda McDonald award,” she said.
“They thought he would be a good person for me to get an insight into Australian agriculture, which I did.”
Claire said she had spent the last six months in 15 countries and not really had a place to return to and until meeting Mitch rated Zimbabwe as her favourite country.
“So I was open to the idea of moving because for me, agriculture is global.
“I’ve been covering UK stuff for so long, I’ve been wanting to broaden my perspective anyway.”
“I think I will love it.”
The former journalist said she is moving out to Australia permanently in December and is considering her work options.
“I quite like to work with organisations about how they can actually engage and build social license, I love to do that.
“I love working with those big players that have the power to change.”
- Claire is in the schedule to appear as a guest on Beef Central’s Weekly Grill podcast in the coming weeks
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