FARMERS need to do more than just care for their animals, they need to become activists who tell the world how much they care.
That was a key message to the 148 attendees of the Ag-Formation Conference in Bendigo last week, organised by the Victorian Farmers Federation’s (VFF) Young Agribusiness Professionals (YAPs).
“We the farmers are the real activists, working to care for our animals,” Australian Pork Limited and VFF Pig Group member Dr Pat Mitchell said.
“I’d call the people who raid out farms agro-terrorists not activists.”
Deakin University public relations expert Ross Monaghan said farmers and others in agribusiness could use social media to prove they were open, honest and transparent.
He said arguing with activists was a losing battle, but what mattered was getting your message out to the general public.
VFF media manager Tom Whitty said the game had changed when it comes to responding to activists.
“We learnt this when we openly tackled the animal extremist group People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA),” Mr Whitty said.
“We will always condemn acts of animal cruelty, but will never allow activists to fabricate lies about our farmers.
“Farmers are proud of their industry and take every step to the right thing. But extreme animal rights groups need to be called out for what they are – extreme. We exist to fight for our members and that is exactly what the VFF will do.”
The VFF lodged an official complaint to the Advertising Standards Bureau against the PETA's online advertisement encouraging consumers not to buy woollen products due to concerns over animal welfare.
The advertisement has Australian musician Jona Weinhofen holding a fake lamb covered in blood and cuts.
VFF's submission said the foam lamb was grossly misleading and offensive.
Click on image for gallery of Ag-Formation gala dinner, where a sell out crowd of 95 young agribusiness professionals were treated to food and drink from leading Victorian suppliers.
YAPs chair Amy Fay said the strong attendance (about 150 compared to the about 90 people at the last stand-alone YAPs event held at Lorne two years ago) reflected the organisation's growing profile and the committee's work to ensure the conference agenda was relevant and useful to people from all agriculture-related industries and throughout their supply chains.
Ms Fay said throughout the presentations, there was was a theme of individuals' power to develop themselves and their careers in agriculture.
"We had a session on modern farm business management which had a focus on running profitable operations and how your relationships and communication style can affect that. And in the session on the 'protein war' we talked about the sophisticated understanding and skills needed to access the huge opportunities in domestic and export protein supply."
Reflecting on one's responsibilities and communication style was also a key theme of the succession planning session, in which speakers Compass Agribusiness Management's Brian Hinneberg, and Kyneton farmer Josie Rutledge urged conference participants to start talking about succession planning early and respectfully, by keeping in mind that the farm is (usually) owned by the parents and that any assets, money or other materials that people got through the process should be considered a gift, not an entitlement.
"It was a very practical session," Ms Fay said.
"We're attracting the kinds of people I'm excited to be working with, who are optimistic about agriculture and are excited about where their careers and businesses can go.
"I think that was reflected in the constructive questions the delegates put to the speakers," she said.
The Ag-Formation gala dinner was a sell out, and the 95 people lucky enough to secure a ticket were treated to incredible food and drinks showcasing Victorian produce.