Saturday, March 30, 2024

Diversity and tolerance – now is the time

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Federated Farmers arable sector chairwoman Karen Williams says it is time for bold leadership.
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With the traumatic events in Christchurch front of mind it has been hard to focus on topics worthy of commentary when so many of our daily tribulations seem comparatively insignificant.

This atrocity is beyond belief.

It has severely affected the Christchurch community, stunned and saddened New Zealand and sent shock waves around the globe. 

Is there something we can take out of this that will at least in some small way add value to a grieving country?

I believe there is.

For me, the two key words are tolerance and diversity.

Last month I had the privilege of watching the movie Green Book. Not only was it a rare date night with my arable farmer husband during the harvesting season but it was an emotional reminder of the prejudice that exists in society and how we can overcome that with friendship, tolerance, dignity and compassion for each other and, in particular, each other’s differences.

The big take-home for me was that despite our beginnings, our education, our nationality, our religion, our sexuality, our skin colour or our career choices we can develop friendships that transcend these differences and have ultimately better outcomes for humanity.

The societal intolerance of others and what they do is becoming more prevalent in the agricultural world.

There is nothing new about criticism of all-things farming and maybe we will never convince the critics of our increasing commitment to environmental sustainability but we do need to listen to each other’s perspectives to learn, grow, evolve and make good decisions for the whole community.  

Listening to other views, acceptance of difference and the ability to come up with collective solutions has the potential to enable greater social, economic, environmental and cultural wellbeing.

We should remind ourselves that all of our agri industries have an environmental impact and we stand a much greater chance of mitigating our adverse effects, maintaining our social licence to operate, building strong communities and enduring and resilient businesses by doing it together.

One example of acknowledging our differences but working together is the Wairarapa Pukaha to Palliser Alliance that is bringing together an engaged Wairarapa community to achieve positive community-led outcomes.

The mission statement is “thriving biodiversity and connected communities where land, water and people flourish”.

The group includes mana whenua, farmers, urban care groups, rural catchment groups, lifestylers, Forest and Bird, Beef + Lamb, DairyNZ, the Conservation Department, Federated Farmers and local authorities. 

They are not an exclusive group and are open to other environmental groups being at the table and collectively developing solutions.  

The Alliance is front-footing environmental challenges such as fresh water, soils, native biodiversity and climate change, however, it also recognises the significant contribution of rural communities to a prosperous future.  

If this Alliance can achieve its goals then, to me, this is a blueprint for environmental improvement in our communities, which might reduce the scale of resources being soaked up in expensive planning processes and Environment Court proceedings.

I do wonder, however, if the agricultural community feels so targeted at times why we resist the team-ag approach to dealing with what are complex issues. Why is there a propensity to work alone to solve single ag-industry issues when we could collectively work together to help each other?  

The arable industry and support partners are investing in research into catch crops and environmental benefits of arable feeds that might one day greatly benefit the livestock industry. This type of collaborative investment in science and research is essential for the future sustainability of the whole agri industry.

I have also been contemplating how Pamu can play a greater role in addressing the challenges NZ agriculture faces. Is it possible for it to feed farming insights, resources and lessons back to privately owned farms through field days and other means? Could it act like a series of monitor farms that strive to provide the answers for other farmers to achieve environmental, economic, social and cultural wellbeing?

It is time for bold leadership.

It is time for a change in the way we approach challenges.

It is time to unite team-ag to confront the economic, environmental, social and cultural challenges we face for the future prosperity of all New Zealanders. 

It is time to learn to work together, to be tolerant of diverse views, accept difference and we will generate more effective solutions because, quite simply, we have done it together.

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