R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

The land we live on demands respect from us everyday in a multitude of ways. From a very young age we're taught to respect the dangers that are out there. Yes, as kids we got to be 'free range' and escape our mothers watchful eye, but we already had a healthy respect for dams, machinery, bulls, or rotten branches in the climbing trees. As we grow up and start managing to open gates or chop firewood we learn to respect 'pitching in', the fact that we all do our share so that we can all enjoy this life. We respect 'pitching in' because it means we can go to sleep at night knowing the dogs are fed, the silos are shut, and the chooks are safe from the foxes. As we get older again and begin to understand the business side of farming we learn to respect Mother Nature. We respect the way we have to adapt to whatever is thrown our way, usually in a very quick fashion. So, as people who live on the land, we become self reliant, unselfish and adaptive. Living on the land stands us in good stead for contributing to our family, our farm and our community. 

What is troubling to those of us who live on the land is the way we are respected. When we have been taught from a young age to respect everybody for who they are it is thoroughly disillusioning and disheartening to find that people don't respect us for what we do. What's worse is that it would seem some people are happy to disrespect our profession and the way we care for our land and livestock without ever getting to know what we do and how we do it. I have no qualms with letting people make informed decisions as to whether they support our lifestyle and career. However, if you judge us without respecting us enough to understand precisely why we do what we do then you may begin to find that other professions get prejudged. Respect is paramount to a functioning society. If we begin to decide that all factory owners are polluters or all nurses are more likely to take drugs then the trust and respect in our society begins to break down. All I ask is that if you would like to judge farmers, station owners, agronomists or the agricultural sector in general, then please, come and see it first hand or come and talk to someone who does it firsthand. Nobody gets sentenced without expert witnesses on the stand, please let us have our say before you make up your minds.