“I’ve figured it out. Farming is the art of losing money while working 400 hrs a month feeding people that think you’re trying to kill them.”
If you are active on Twitter, you might have come across this remarkable tweet from a Canadian farmer. It has been haunting me for the past weeks because it is so emotionally loaded, yet summarizes many of the controversies going on in dairy farming today. But what is the key issue here?
In a globalized market, milk prices are expected to be volatile. The prices remain now longer on a low level than expected, driving many farmers to the end of their financial reserves. Yet, current supply of milk does not meet the global market needs, so one day the prices are bound to go up again.
So, where is the root of this farmer’s pain? I can’t believe it is the working hours. Farming is a way of life rather than a job and the emotional tweet itself is a symptom of this farmer’s passion for his work. But farmers are humans and when our work is not appreciated, we all tend to lose our motivation.
And that is why this tweet is so touching. This farmer is disappointed in the strong disconnect between the general public and the reality of daily farming business. While I do feel the pain of that farmer. I think it is wrong and at the same time ineffective to point the finger at the general public, pretending they are too ‘ignorant’ to tell us how food should be grown.
We should listen to the issues of our consumers. We should look critically about our antibiotic usage, questioning whether we really need to cure a common mastitis with a highly critical antibiotic for human use. We need to look at where we can increase management procedures to provide more ‘natural behaviors’ and avoid suffering, as this is a concern that consumers currently don’t see addressed.
It is important to continue to conduct research on topics such as udder health and animal welfare. That is why Boehringer Ingelheim supports a science-driven magazine like the one you are reading now. We need to find practical solutions that are acceptable for the general audience and at the same time help our Canadian farmer to earn a decent living for him and his family. Because in the end the gap between the general public and farmer’s is smaller than it seems. Our tweet indicates that farmers strongly believe that they produce a wholesome, nutritional product while caring for their animals. Research shows that the majority of farmers are against animal cruelty. At the same time, research shows that urban citizens agree that farms should be profitable, productive and efficient because only then can they assure food safety and animal welfare in the long term.
