THIRD-generation grain farmer John Gladigau is fed-up with farmers being considered uneducated and ignorant on issues such as climate change, animal welfare, genetically modified organisms and glyphosate by the broader community.

The Loxton farmer and former Nuffield scholar has written what he describes as a “vulnerable” open letter on social media asking for “understanding, empathy and stronger communities”.

He details the importance of having respectful conversations between the agricultural and non-agricultural community about what have become controversial topics.

“It’s been brewing for a while,” he told The Weekly Times.

“It’s recognition of the fact there’s a lot of issues running around in agriculture and we talk about them among ourselves and sometimes respond (to others) by throwing grenades.

“It struck me it’s all very well to tell your story but only telling it in the agriculture bubble isn’t that effective.”

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Mr Gladigau explained the farming community was frustrated with the circulation of misinformation and there was the question of whether we “should bother even having the conversation?”.

But Mr Gladigau said: “We’ve just got to keep trying”.

He said the backlash towards the farming community had “really built in the last five years” with the rise of social media.

“It’s little bites of information (people) take as fact,” he said.

“The amount of comments I had was saying (the letter) was too long … and ‘John you don’t understand social media, no one will read it’, that’s part of our problem.

“A conversation is longer than a sound bite and I make no apology for that.”

The letter has been shared more than 3400 times on Facebook alone.

JOHN GLADIGAU’S LETTER

WE NEED to talk.

Firstly, apologies to you, because we are not always that good at doing this. We all too easily get defensive, up in arms and occasionally confrontations when we are challenged, accused or criticised.

The thing is, we get a little sick of being called uneducated and ignorant when we have a lifetime of experience and many of us have qualifications which are similar to (or even exceed) our city cousins. It hurts us when people tell us we are cruel to animals, don’t care for the future of the planet and are blasé about food safety, whereas for the majority of us the opposite is true.

It frustrates us when people with little agricultural knowledge or experience lecture us on social media about the dangers of chemicals, our contribution to a changing climate, soil health, genetic modification and more when we have spent a lifetime working in, studying, experiencing and developing strategies to not only benefit our businesses, families and communities, but also those we produce for that we don’t even know.

But we don’t always react well to being criticised and challenged. And when we do, we usually find solace in “preaching to the converted” and sticking to our own rather than seeking to engage in meaningful conversation with those who may either not agree with us, or have a limited understanding of what we do and say. For this, we can only apologise.

There are many topics we should discuss, and these are but a few:

CLIMATE CHANGE

THERE are few in rural areas who would argue against the suggestion that the climate is changing. The conjecture is not around this, it is really around whether this change is man-made or not — and if reductions to use of fossil fuels, livestock emissions or taxing industries will have any impact on this. What is generally missed in the debate is that agriculture has made huge strides in the past 20-30 years as it has looked to preserve the quality of our soil, minimise emissions and produce high-quality food and fibre in an increasingly challenging climate. Ironically, to some at least, glyphosate and GMOs are two of the tools which allow us to reduce our overall chemical use, preserve our fragile environment and reduce our fossil-fuel use while farming in a sustainable manner. Unfortunately we have not always done a good job of explaining this.

ROUNDUP

THE active ingredient glyphosate is one of the most important tools we have in agriculture. Glyphosate is the reason the country is no longer a dust bowl. It allows us to retain our cropping residues and soil structure, and farm in an environmentally sustainable manner in a changing climate. There are many chemicals which we as farmers dislike, mainly because of chemical safety issues, and soil and crop residues, but glyphosate is not one of them. Let us be very clear — if we did not believe it was safe we would not use it. And we do not douse our crops with glyphosate — why would we? Sadly this is a lie perpetuated by social media. It is used in a limited and strategic manner, and as per the label. We are repeatedly told to trust the science on climate change, so people also believe the science which categorically has deemed this product safe. While we are not all fans of Monsanto/Bayer, wanting to punish them — as per the US court cases — for greed and other sins helps no one and will ultimately only hurt agriculture and the environment if it is banned.

GMOs

The mere mention of the acronym seems to terrify many and it is unjustified. Firstly, despite what many think, there is no GMO wheat and barley in the world grown commercially. That means GMOs are not the cause of perceived higher incidences of gluten intolerance and other supposed grain-caused diseases. They are not related. The only commercially grown genetically modified crops in Australia are GM canola and GM cotton, though other countries grow large areas of other GM crops including corn and soybeans. Yes if we are to increase our use of this technology, it needs considerable community consultation and acceptance. It does however open the door to less use of potentially harmful chemicals, better nutrition and health benefits bred into crops, and much more environmentally and sustainable farming practices. However, we fully understand your concerns, many which are due to us not properly explaining what GMOs are, how they work and their benefits. We also have not always gone out of our way to listen to your concerns, fully educate ourselves on potential issues or properly articulate how they could benefit us as a planet as a whole. And if in the future they are scientifically proven to cause harm — then let’s definitely steer away from them and find alternatives.

ANIMAL WELFARE

AS A general rule, farmers do everything they can to maintain the highest level of animal welfare on their properties, and are pained themselves when they see animals suffer. Yes, there are cases where farmers have caused acts of animal cruelty — and for that they should be made an example of and dealt with in accordance with the law and social standards. Most livestock producers focus heavily on ensuring their animals are happy and healthy. Why would they not? Yes, they are legitimately killed and used for human consumption as food or fibre. We know some of you struggle with this, and we respect your right to not eat meat or use animal products. I’m sorry some of us occasionally fly off the handle if we find this difficult to understand, just as you may find our position unacceptable. Let’s try and respect each others’ position on this, even if we don’t agree.

I’d also love to talk to you about farm technology, droughts, careers in agriculture, live export and many other subjects, but we would be here all day. The main point of this letter is to say that agriculture is a professional, thriving industry but we are not very good about talking about it.

We tend to live in our own little farming bubble and talk and whinge among ourselves.

We get frustrated when we see something on Sunrise or The Project which affects us, and we go off half-cocked on Facebook or Twitter — mainly to people within our own industry. And when we do get to talk to you we are usually being reactive or do a poor job of articulating our argument. We are sorry about that.

From our perspective, we also need to do a far better job of listening. You rightly have questions and concerns about what we do, as the results of our efforts end up feeding and clothing your families. How can you not be rattled by what you see on social media about GMOs and Roundup, especially if we don’t have meaningful conversations with you about what we do and why. Of course those of you who love animals will be furious — as we are — when you see examples of animal cruelty. And yes, the whole idea of climate change is scary for us all.

Make no mistake, farmers are some of the most intelligent, educated, climatically aware, hardworking people on the planet — and focused on developing new, innovative and environmentally sustainable ways to continue to feed, clothe and fuel us all.

It is only by listening to each other that we create understanding, empathy and stronger communities.

• John Gladigau is farmer from Loxton in the South Australian Mallee, a former Nuffield scholar and a The Weekly Times Coles Farmer of the Year finalist