Why We Should Think Of Farmers As Environmentalists



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 The agricultural sector is a globally crucial industry in terms of food production and economic development but it also contributes significantly to water and soil management. The negative impacts from land management actions such as land clearing and typical conventional farming methods including over fertiliser, herbicide and pesticide use has lead to large societal costs. With increasing population growth, the pressure of food production has only intensified the mismanagement of land resources. The outcome of these actions has portrayed agriculture as an industry that degrades the environment.

Consumers have a perception of farmers only as providers and farmers often receive the blame for environmental problems. But over the last 50 years farmers have been questioning the consequences of ignoring the environment and have been adapting to changing circumstances that are not only market driven. The agricultural industry is facing enormous challenges such as food security, climate change, soil erosion and drought which has shifted farming methods towards sustainable farming and conservation management. Practices such as no till farming, conservation buffers, crop rotation and contour farming are just some examples that protect soils and maximise water retention to improve water management and prevent land degradation.

Farmers are stewards of the land as they understand the responsibility in preserving resources and land conservation is important in maintaining land usability for future generations. From past actions it is known that agricultural practices which cause irreversiable damage to land will lead to ecological and financial loss. The land is their business and balancing environmentalism with profit to maintain productivity and value of resources is critical to the survival of the modern farm. A new way of thinking about agriculture needs to reverse public misconceptions of farmers towards the realisation that they not only have a very crucial role in society, the economy and environmental management, but that it can also be a positive role for environmental protection.