North East
Lorna Paterson
Communicating better with our consumers could be one of the most important and advantageous achievements we may ever make. We are excellent at hosting meetings and repeatedly preaching to the converted: ourselves! The smart thing however, is to also ensure other non-farming folk are made aware of the challenges of our industry. Along with the really great work farmers do and farming achieves.
Climate change is definitely on everyone’s minds, but we have to find ways to prove we are not the perpetrators we are perceived to be. We must alter this image and showcase ourselves and our industry in a factual manner. The need to communicate with the urban population has never been greater. We all must improve and increase our activity on this front.
Our councillors, civil servants and politicians need to hear about our challenges, but also need to be made aware of all the great work and equally great folk associated with our industry. These messages are best delivered by the real people on the ground and on the land: the farmers. It is them who feel the pain when things go wrong, those who have the proper and accurate knowledge about nature, biodiversity and the environment.
We really need our North-East farmers and members to share knowledge more robustly to a wider audience, with the passion and aptitude you all have. None of us are good enough in this department, I am afraid. If we want consumers, those in education and younger children to appreciate the enormous value and provenance of our industry, we must try to do better. Collectively as farming folk, it’s our responsibility to engage and deliver these messages.
Always remember too, the countryside offers everyone incredible mental wellbeing benefits. We have a lot of positive stuff to share with those who are less informed and a huge amount to be proud about. With our new mental wellbeing FarmTalk organisation now up and running, let’s hope we can all engage to help one another and improve our peer-to-peer support network. We need to speak up, but we also need to listen. The strapline to best describe FarmTalk is: “We Listen”.
Lorna Paterson
Tel 07786 860453
E mail: lorna.paterson@nfus.org.uk