Friday, March 29, 2024

Farmers: Don’t abuse privilege

Avatar photo
Farmers are fortunate to be allowed to work and must realise that’s a huge privilege, Mid Canterbury Federated Farmers president David Clark says. “We are able to operate our farms to produce food but if we take exemptions for granted and flout them and the disease escalates, we will lose them. 
Reading Time: 2 minutes

“As farmers, while we are an essential service, we are not superheroes that wear red capes and we are not immune to this bug so we need to be very careful.

“We are living in unpredictable and unprecedented times.

“Three months back to most of us corona was an imported beer or a Toyota from the 80s. Now it’s the reason for lock-downs of millions globally, the cause of travel and tourism chaos, financial carnage and seemingly a run on bog rolls.

“Seriously, I doubt we have ever seen worldwide panic like this, contrived or real.

“This is not over-reaction. It is something we need to be really concerned about and something that as farmers we play a very important role in.”

Self-isolating in his combine harvester cab, Clark spent day one of the lock-down harvesting a hemp crop.

With a significant amount of crop yet to harvest he’s grateful he’s classified an essential service so he can get on with his job of feeding people, not just this year but next and many more to come.

“We’ve got this hemp to do, carrots and they are destined for seed to Europe for next year’s food production. There’s also potatoes to be harvested off here.

“We are mindful, too, that we have to replant crops for next year’s food so wheat crops need to go in the ground for next year.

We have winter stock coming onto the farm and the rams are about to go out in the breeding ewe flock.

“It’s a very, very busy time in the farming calendar.

“We are very mindful of the protocols of our exemption to operate our business and we are being very cautious as we go about all this.”

Clark’s lock-down bubble is his family and his staff and their families, who live on the farm.

All precautions are being taken to ensure nobody’s health is compromised with all work being done with utmost safety.

“We all have plenty of space to keep our distance.”

Amid it all Clark is mindful of the distraction.

“Somehow we have to shut out the noise and chaos and focus on getting stuff done.

“Its very easy to get consumed but we are all tasked with looking after each other and carefully getting on with it.”

Total
0
Shares
People are also reading