A lot of what you read in the media right now, both social and mainstream, says that farmers are “stuck in their ways,” that they don’t care about the environment, that they don’t believe in climate change, and that they have a sense of entitlement that makes them resistant to change.
Farmers aren’t the only people who won’t change quickly, but I can tell you for sure that they aren’t the majority. In the short term, milk futures were up and cash dairy prices were mixed, but butter took another big loss on Tuesday on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
At $20.59 for November, Class III milk went up $0.12. December’s price rose by $0.10 to $19.10. January’s price rose by $0.01 to $18.82. February’s price fell by $0.06 to $19.20. From March to September, contracts were lower by anywhere from four cents to ten cents in March, May, April, and August.
At $0.44, dry whey didn’t change. There were two sales for $0.44 and $0.4425.
Cheese blocks stayed at $1.96 each. There were no sales made.
Cheese Barrels were up $0.0175 at $1.96. At that price, there was one sale.
Butter went down sharply for the second day in a row, dropping $0.2450 to $2.70. There were no sales, but ten offers and a bid at $2.45 were written down.
The price of dry nonfat milk went down $0.03 to $1.3950. There were no sales made.
Most farmers have been changing their ways to be more modern for years, but they still get kicked in the gut just as much as those who don’t.
Let’s show more respect to the farmers who grow the food we eat.
Most also can’t buy new equipment without going into a lot of debt. Most people have never gotten help from the government.
The thing that has surprised me the most in the last few weeks is how much hate has been directed at farmers because of the mistaken belief that they are the only ones to blame for carbon emissions.
“I don’t think of farmers as heroes because, the way they think, they spray everything in sight, kill the bugs, and ruin creation.” — “Huckleberry” on Stuff.
It looks like a lot of people, like Huckleberry, have a very skewed view of agriculture in general. But I’m going to talk about the mean and uncaring comments that are being made online and in person.
My hope is that our urban friends will do some serious self-reflection and ask themselves how they got to the point where they don’t know where their food comes from and don’t care about others to the point where they think it’s okay to troll and hurt rural people.
“Boo hoo, farmers who cry into their $100,000 tractors and pollute our rivers. I don’t feel sorry for you, and you deserve everything you get.” — Erik on Facebook.
It looks like farmers have been given 100% of the blame for creating emissions and 100% of the blame for getting rid of them. I don’t know any farmers who deny that farming makes emissions. Many of them are saying, among other things, that just as everything that creates emissions will be counted, so should everything that stores them. So much more happens in the story.
“They don’t care about the environment and want to make money off the deaths of millions of people and animals. And because they are too lazy to walk to protest, they sit on their behinds in their heated cabs and blow CO2 into the air. “This is how hard life is for farmers: they have to get off the couch to whine like spoiled kids.” — straybullet on Stuff.
Imagine if your dog did its business on the sidewalk and you had to clean up not only its mess but also some of another dog’s mess that was nearby. I bet you wouldn’t agree with getting a fine for what happened and would want more information. You wouldn’t say your dog didn’t do it.
“I see that the people in the tractor cabs aren’t wearing tin foil hats. Is 5G protection built into tractors? Why do these crazy people think it’s their right to keep destroying the planet, which hurts everyone? “, wrote Simon on Facebook.
At the recent Groundswell protest, all the trolls showed up. From what I know about Groundswell, they are not “racist, conspiratorial, extremist, or climate deniers.” Instead, they are a group of farmers who are trying to tell us that what is being asked of the agricultural community is too much, too soon. They don’t say it doesn’t need to happen, but the problem is that it’s happening too slowly.
It’s like being told that you need to put a full solar system on your house and buy a Tesla before next winter because it will help the environment. Good idea in theory, but for most New Zealand families, it’s too much, too soon.
Nat wrote on Facebook, “Their tractors may be in gear, but their brains are definitely in neutral.”
People in rural areas feel helpless and frustrated because the government hasn’t listened to them so far, so they have to do things like protests to get their voices heard. They have their backs against the wall. Because of the short notice and the busy time of year, the latest protest didn’t get as many people as the last one. Not because farmers are not interested. It was a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation. And there will always be a few people on the outside pushing their own ideas during a protest, but you have a very limited view if all you saw were those few signs that were out of place.
“Just wait until they start complaining about how much it costs to run their tractors for this protest. This group will always have something to complain about, because they need to.” — AW on Facebook.
I’m very worried about the hatred that exists in this country toward farmers. Damien O’Connor’s unhelpful, snide, and sarcastic response to the latest Groundswell protest confirmed my fear that rural people are being disdained, abandoned, and ignored. He should be fighting for farmers, not tearing them down. My worry is about mental health and community in rural areas. Our depression and suicide rates are already high, and I don’t see how this trolling, mean, and uncaring attitude can help.
“Some of those farmers are so easy to anger that they’ll jump at any chance to show off their fancy tractors and double cab utes.” — Renee on Facebook
If you want to accuse and attack farmers online or in person, you should ask yourself, “Is this really who I want to be?” Do I have a full picture of what’s going on? Do I treat people with dignity and respect? Am I making assumptions? Who do I hurt? From where did my food come? Check yourself and remember that the people getting this kind of treatment are real people who are trying hard to make things better, even if you can’t see it.
