When economic rationalism is irrational

Your farm is under attack. 

Attack by federal and state governments who think they can keep on adding regulation and adding population and somehow the food will still keep flowing, and in excess so they can claim they “caused” all the exports to help keep the country’s books in the black.

 Attack by well-funded city-based animal activists and environmental movements who can raid your farm, steal your animals, and have legislation introduced that will inhibit your right to farm and increase your costs, all the while alleging that you are cruel and uncaring, or that you are harming the environment. 

Attack by media who can paint a story any way they like to get ratings because they need the advertising revenue, falling for any gory photo fed to them by well-funded activists. 

Attack by well-funded energy and mining companies who can just walk in your gates and tromp all over your land, destroy your biosecurity, and restrict your right to do agribusiness on all or part of the property that you or your family purchased with hard-earned money, all for their own financial gain. 

Seriously, someone ought to do something. The government ought to do something. 



But governments respond to what they believe are the desires of the largest numbers of voters - the loudest voices. Even with all the will and effort in the world, they can’t canvass the population every time some group mounts a campaign – and in any case, populations can be made to believe all sorts of things. 

‘Oh wait! The Farming Peak Bodies and Federations can stop the attacks. I don’t have to. Some other farmer will fund them so I don’t have to. I can blame them if they don’t do the job that I didn’t pay for. It’s too expensive. I can’t point to a deal that I would get to offset my membership fee. It’s economically rational not to spend the money if someone else is going to spend it.'

Well, it looks like all farmers have become economic rationalists. All over Australia, farmers have walked away from their representative groups, who are struggling along on “smell of an oily rag” budgets, trying to counterbalance all these well-funded forces for the good of all farmers when only some farmers have the guts to pay. 

Wake up, farmers! As the saying goes, “the best place to find a helping hand is at the end of your arm”. You could find 10 reasons not to join your Farmer Peak Body - be it beef cattle, sheep, forestry, grain, horticulture, or chicken. But that’s completely overshadowed by the one reason TO join - without these tiny underfunded groups run by (often) poorly paid and deeply passionate staff, your farm would be being legislated or “activisted” towards closure. Being a “head in the sand” farming ostrich might be good for a while - after all, the sand is warm and dark and you can pretend all this isn’t happening. But eventually you need to come up for air, and face the reality. If you aren’t paying to join, why should you expect other farmers to subsidise you or your farm? 

Big business employs lobbyists directly - they understand that in business you need to have quality relationships with government to minimise attacks on your business. If your farm can’t afford a full time lobbyist, sit still and wait to be swallowed, or join the farming peak body most specific to your business and pay your bit towards their full time lobbyist. If you don’t like what that association is doing, get involved and change the rules. Or start a new Farmer Peak Body, or change the Farmer Group if the old one isn’t listening. Or be your own full time lobbyist - writing letters, having meetings, conferring with other groups, writing submissions, doing consultations, developing plans, finding alternatives. 

You need to fight for your future! 

How much is the actual loss to your farm if all those well-funded groups have their way without any push-back voice for the farmers? So often in business, you have to spend a little money to make more – and if your cashflow is squeezed now, how much worse will it be if all these groups get what they want, unopposed? 

People power matters. Unless and until farmers realise this and begin to act as a group; the activists, companies and regulators will have their way, with only these poorly-funded groups to stop them. Most of the time you won’t even know it’s happening until it happens. 

If you are in the farming business, being informed and supporting lobbying is part of that business. Join the group that best represents your farming business tell them what you need, make yourself aware of the work they do, and make your requirements clear. Stand up and be counted. 

Now is your chance to make a difference to your own future – or have it made for you.