Farmers are “stuck in their ways,” anti-environmental, climate change sceptics, and have an entitled mentality that makes them reluctant to change, according to most of what you will read in the media right now, both social and mainstream.
To be sure, there are some farmers who will be resistant to change (as there are in any group), but I can guarantee you that they are in the minority.
Most farmers have already begun adopting new, more efficient agricultural methods, but they nevertheless take the same kind of physical punishment as their counterparts who haven’t made the transition.
Let’s show some gratitude to the farmers who make sure we don’t go hungry.
Additionally, most people cannot afford to upgrade their machinery without taking on massive amounts of debt. For the most part, people in this country have never benefited from any sort of government aid.
What has most surprised me in recent weeks is the level of pure venom directed against farmers due to the false belief that they are solely responsible for carbon emissions.
I don’t consider farmers to be heroes since “they have large arid regions devoid of trees and nature in the manner they think, spray everything in sight, kill the insects, and wreck creation” (‘Huckleberry’ on Stuff).
It would appear that many people, including Huckleberry, have a completely warped image of farming as a whole. But I want to zero in on the harsh, indifferent remarks being made both online and off.
It is my sincere wish that our city friends will engage in some introspective soul-searching and wonder what led them to a situation where they find it okay to troll and attack others who live in more rural areas.
Farmers who “boo hoo” into their $100,000 tractors while polluting our waterways have no sympathy from Erik and “deserve all they get,” he wrote on Facebook.
It would appear that all of the onus for both causing and cleaning up pollution has been placed squarely on the shoulders of farmers. No farmer I know would argue that their work does not contribute to air pollution. Many of them are arguing that, if everything that contributes to emissions must be accounted for, then everything that removes emissions must be accounted for as well. There’s more to the tale than meets the eye.
Those who are “anti-environment” want to be able to profit from the deaths of millions of people and animals. They are too sluggish to walk to the demonstration, so instead they sit idly in their toasty taxis, emitting carbon dioxide into the air. According to straybullet on Stuff, “this is farmers doing it rough, having to get off the couch to moan like spoiled children.”
What if your dog had an accident on the sidewalk, and you had to clean up not only his mess, but also some of the mess left by another dog? In my opinion, you should not have to pay a fine for this incident without first having it thoroughly investigated. You know your dog did it, so you can’t really deny it.
In the tractor cabs, I didn’t see any people sporting tin foil caps, which is a nice change. Can you get 5G protection for your tractor already? Why do these lunatics feel entitled to wreak havoc on the globe to no one’s benefit? This is what Simon said on Facebook.
Trolls were many during the recent Groundswell demonstration. My understanding of Groundswell is that they are not a bunch of “racist, conspiracist, radical, climate sceptics,” but rather a collection of farmers who are trying to warn us that the demands being placed on the agricultural community are too great, too fast. They acknowledge the necessity for change but express concern over the rate of transformation.
It’s like being told you have to get a Tesla and put solar panels on your roof before next winter because it’s good for the planet. In theory, this is a fantastic plan, but in practise, it would be too costly and too fast for the majority of New Zealand households to implement.
“Their tractors may be in gear, but their heads are clearly in neutral,” said Nat on Facebook.
Extreme feelings of hopelessness and frustration are the driving forces behind the demonstrations; nothing has thus far provided a channel for the voices of rural residents to be heard by the government, therefore they are forced to resort to tactics such as demonstrations in order to be heard. They’ve had nowhere to turn but into a corner. Short notice and a busy time of year meant that the newest demonstration didn’t bring as many people as the last one. The farmers don’t not care because of that. Whether you showed up or not, you would have been punished any way. And there will always be outliers who use protests to forward their own agendas, but you would be incredibly myopic to focus just on the few demonstrators who held signs that were clearly not in keeping with the rest of the crowd.
You can bet they’ll complain later about how much money they spent on gas to bring tractors to the protest. AW wrote on Facebook, “This group will always have and need something to gripe about.”
I am quite worried about the widespread hostility in this country toward farmers. Minister of Agriculture Damien O’Connor’s useless, nasty, and sarcastic response to the latest Groundswell demonstration reaffirmed my worry that rural people are being despised, abandoned, and disregarded. He should be going into bat for farmers, not tearing them down. Due to our already alarmingly high rates of despair and suicide, I worry for the mental health and wellbeing of the people who live in rural areas.
Some of the farmers “jump at any occasion to show off their expensive tractors and double cab utes,” as the saying goes. — Facebook post by Renee
Is this the kind of person I want to be if I accuse and criticise farmers online or in person? Are there any parts of this that I’m missing? Am I being humble and kind to others? Am I assuming too much? Exactly who am I hurting? From where did I get this meal? Even if you can’t see the good intentions behind the people who are on the receiving end of this abuse, it’s important to remember that they exist.
