Once upon a time just about everyone would have known a farmer, but those days are gone.
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Today, 83 per cent of Australians would describe their connection with farming as “distant” or “non-existent”, according to the National Farmers’ Federation.
So how do you rekindle and celebrate that connection? One way might be to hold a National Agriculture and Related Industries Day – which is exactly what took place on Tuesday.
The City of Greater Bendigo’s strong communities officer Jenny Pendlebury said agribusiness was worth $802 million to the region’s economic output.
”It is (a significant amount of money) and people don’t realise that,” she said.
Ms Pendlebury hoped Agriculture Day would help people understand both farmers and the industry that supported them.
In Hargreaves Mall government departments, rural insurance companies, community groups and education providers joined the council and the Victorian Farmers Federation to showcase the industry.
Councillor James Williams, who grew up on a farm, said events like National Agriculture Day showed what opportunities might be made possible with the right support.
“People too often look at the sector and think ‘farming’s a dying art’, but it underpins a whole raft of industry and export opportunities,” he said.
Demand from Asia was driving up prices. Cr Williams said lambs, for example, were now at record highs.
“I think 49 per cent of products exported out of the Port of Melbourne are actually connected with agribusiness. So to me, agriculture provides opportunities and jobs,” he said.
“And we’ve only touched the tip of the iceberg when it comes to value-adding to the products exported out of Victoria.”
Cr Williams called for governments to back the sector with more government funding for regional Australia.
“New Zealand have done it well. They focused on agriculture and agricultural products,” he said.
Priority needed to be given to money for infrastructure like roads to get products to ports more efficiently, Cr Williams said. He also believed more needed to be done to help value-add to regional products.
“If we want to grow regional Australia, all levels of government need to invest here. It’s a huge opportunity and we need to embrace it,” he said.