Farmers need to speak up about their success stories to “turn the tide against the anti-farming agenda”.
That’s according to Nuffield Scholar and former BBC journalist Claire Taylor.
Hailing from a beef farm in south-west Scotland, Ms Taylor left her job as a political editor at the national farming newspaper, the Scottish Farmer, to travel the world as a Nuffield Scholar after feeling like “she stopped learning” about agriculture.
With her passion for storytelling still remaining, in ten months, she travelled to 16 countries and found that agriculture was being increasingly scrutinised, and that farmers needed to control the narrative.
At the annual JBS Farm Assurance Program Producer of the Year event in Melbourne, Ms Taylor said farmers “cannot afford to be grounded” and “in the shadows” anymore.
She said farmers were at risk of rising scrutiny amid changing political landscapes, increasingly extreme weather events, and environmental impacts.
“Agriculture is in the pressure cooker, because we’re having to think about feeding the growing population while minimising the use of our natural resources and greenhouse gas emissions,” she said.
“We also have consumers who now want to know the chemicals you’re using and the welfare of your animals and how you treat your people.”
At the event, Ms Taylor highlighted the importance of “agvocacy” to amplify farmers’ voices in the media amid rising scrutiny in order to build trust with the broader public.
“If we don’t start collectively raising our voices and tackling some of the misconceptions out there, that disconnect between country and city is going to increase,” she said.
While producing election coverage at the BBC, she said the broadcaster lacked coverage of agricultural issues at the time.
“It wasn’t really at the front of mind because most people working at the BBC came from the cities,” she said.
“And I was always trying to get stories into the newsrooms, but I didn’t really get any cut-through.
“The farmers back home in the UK kept saying ‘we’re under attack, our livelihoods are being vilified, the government is turning against us, and the media is out to get us’.”
Via the prestigious Nuffield scholarship, Ms Taylor spent the last year learning about agriculture across six continents and how much of a voice the industry has in each country she has been to.
She said scrutiny is rising in agriculture and is not going away, so farmers need to use opportunities to engage and build trust with the general public.
“You’re getting asked questions about the way you’re farming, the way you’re protecting the environment, and the way you’re treating people and engaging with your community,” she said.
“The questions being asked of you are often by those who have not worked the land or set foot on a farm, and they’re making decisions without understanding the realities of the pressures you’re facing.
“But the questions will not subside, so the best tool we have to build trust is storytelling.”
She included attending and speaking at non-agricultural events, and opening your farm to visitors as small actions to help build visibility and trust in the community.
As a journalist and a Nuffield Scholar, Ms Taylor has seen many farmers take to the streets to protest government policies.
She said farmers need to change the way they communicate issues affecting them.
“Building trust is a slow process that can be lost quickly and easily,” she said.
“Farmers are taking to the streets and rising up, but what is often happening is they’re actually breaking trust and creating roadblocks to communication and advocacy.
“I saw French farmers dropping manure on the streets of parliament, and it made great headlines.
“But when I asked people on the street what they thought, they had no idea what the farmers were protesting about because they were so transfixed by the mess they left behind.
“And the news cycle is fast-paced, so people forget what we’re protesting for, and in the process, trust is being lost.”
Ms Taylor advised farmers to speak proactively to journalists and keep farming in the news cycle year-round.
“We often hear from farmers when things are going badly,” she said.
“While it’s great to see journalists going to farms to cover the drought, I really struggle to see farmers being presented as victims.
“Farmers are resilient, but we’re presented as victims because we come forward when times are bad.
“We’ve got to make sure people know farming is present year-round, and we have to start speaking to journalists in all areas, not just farming journalists.
“We’ve lost the ability to speak in layman’s terms, and we’ve got to think about what our messages mean to someone who has no idea how it’s relevant to their life.”
Ms Taylor said farmers were often reluctant to speak to the media in Scotland, which further hurt their cause.
“If you don’t tell your own story, someone else will sneak in there and do it for you,” she said.
“When my colleagues at the BBC would want a comment from a farmer on a negative story on agriculture, the farmers would not want to speak to the BBC.
“But I can tell you that it was much easier for them to find someone against farming, so the story would run without a farmer’s comment and nobody would know the farmers’ side.”
Ms Taylor said her time in Australia has opened her eyes to how much “tall poppy syndrome” impacts Australian farmers coming forward with good news stories.
“This needs to end in agriculture because we’re in need of champions,” she said.
