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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s not just at big events. Almost every time I log onto social media, I see criticism of modern agriculture. People with little understanding of science and real research are frightened by irresponsible articles in the media claiming that we are all poisoned because of agriculture. The public, unsurprisingly, is concerned about all this and wonders why farmers don\u2019t change their methods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Farmers don\u2019t need people to tell them how to do more \u201csustainable\u201d or \u201cefficient\u201d farming. Farmers don\u2019t need people who have never worked in the field to explain to them how to reduce the use of pesticides and fertilizers. They don\u2019t need policymakers to \u201cencourage\u201d us to be more environmentally friendly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In most of these cases, the public is asking the wrong questions. In fact, they are not even listening to the right people. What they need to do instead is talk to real, authentic farmers who make a living from the land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Farmers don\u2019t need people to tell them how to do more \u201csustainable\u201d or \u201cefficient\u201d farming. Farmers don\u2019t need people who have never worked in the field to explain to them how to reduce the use of pesticides and fertilizers. They don\u2019t need policymakers to \u201cencourage\u201d us to be more environmentally friendly. Why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The incentives already exist. Every farmer knows that farming is hard. The two factors that have the greatest impact on our income\u2014weather and commodity markets\u2014are beyond our control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I don\u2019t know if there will be enough rain this year, I definitely don\u2019t know if there will be too little or too much, at the right times, if there will be a heatwave or a frost. I can\u2019t predict commodity markets. No one can; markets are driven by supply and demand that are out of my control. This means that my role as a farmer, when it really comes down to it, is risk management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important to emphasize what can be defined as hyper-locality (or \u2018extreme locality\u2019) of agriculture. What works on my farm may not work on a farm just 10 kilometers away.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fertilizer is expensive. Pesticides are expensive. So are diesel, seeds or seedlings, labor, machinery, and everything I need to plant, manage, and harvest a crop and operate my farm each year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If my crop doesn\u2019t \u201cuse\u201d the inputs I apply efficiently, I lose money. If I have more equipment than I need, I lose money. If I don\u2019t manage my workers properly, I lose money. Even if I do everything right and check off every box perfectly in the crop, I can still lose money! There are no guarantees in farming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A counter-argument I often hear is that I am not exposed to the \u201cenvironmental cost\u201d of my actions. Hence, the need for carbon taxes and emission reduction regulations. This is not accurate. The soil I cultivate plays a crucial role in my future success. If I destroy and degrade it, I won\u2019t be able to make a living in the long run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the things I often say about farming is that we rely on the generations before us to create a future for our children and grandchildren. This is the generational nature of farming; I am a third-generation farmer with the hope of building a business strong enough to survive. No, actually to thrive\u2014into the fourth and fifth generations. I am not unique in this. Most farmers have the exact same goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Does this mean we are perfect? No! Does it mean there aren\u2019t better practices we haven\u2019t yet discovered? Of course not. Farmers like me rely on guides, researchers, and experts to help us learn how to improve our methods, with research on agronomy, crop variety development, and much more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The success of my farm, and all others, is significantly driven by the success of researchers and people who can help me implement and succeed in implementing. Given time, if researchers develop a better way to achieve greater success for me and my land, it is in my interest to seek out those methods. I rely not only on them but also on experts in accounting, law, corporate governance, business management, marketing, and much more to help me find the ideas and practices that can develop a brighter future for me and my community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My farm is in a constant state of update and change, and I invest a lot each year in learning new and better ideas. But when it comes time to try something new, I have to try it on my farm to see if it works here. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn\u2019t. And often it is different for each farm. The experts I seek are those who communicate regularly with farmers to ensure they are on the right track with their new idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s important to emphasize what can be defined as hyper-locality (or \u201cextreme locality\u201d) of agriculture. What works on my farm may not work on a farm just 10 kilometers away; not to mention someone who grows dryland, irrigated, vegetables, or just orchard crops. Or livestock. Each area is different, with different soil and climate conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The multinational campaigns that multinational companies choose to run often ignore this reality, and they have a direct impact on the daily consumer\u2019s view of agriculture, which can sometimes lead to regulation. The regulations set by governments directly affect our livelihoods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How is this a problem? Well, the reason these companies try to appear more environmentally friendly is to improve their profit margins, and even if they have good intentions, they usually have misleading information. Why? Because such companies rarely invest time and money to talk first with local farmers to understand the hyper-locality of agriculture. Such campaigns, disconnected from the location of the farm and fields, directly affect our ability, for better or worse, to be economically sustainable, often creating the wrong kinds of incentives and sometimes preventing the building of multi-generational family farms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Don\u2019t get me wrong; regulation is often necessary and can be done well. Sometimes we need the government to protect against negative impacts from players who don\u2019t consider the future in decision-making. Sometimes farmers need protection from monopolies and oligopolies in the agricultural sector. But these regulations need to be designed with the absolute minimum necessary components to achieve security against these phenomena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If regulators want to succeed, they need to talk directly with farmers. They need to hear the farmer\u2019s concerns and fears. They also need to listen to their ideas\u2014we have plenty of them! Cooperation is key to success\u2014and cooperation only works if both sides can talk and listen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All this means that when you feel you want to create change in agricultural systems to improve its impact on the environment, make food safer and better, or even protect farmers, make sure your first step is to talk to farmers. And not just one or two. Talk to as many as possible. We all have our challenges and struggles. We have all had great successes and terrible failures. We all have different opinions about almost everything we do. But no one knows more about agricultural land than farmers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No one else spends thousands of hours on dirt roads, crawling over every bump and little ditch, watching the rain fall, observing the waving flag leaf of wheat in the wind, listening to the buzz of millions of insects and animals inside. The quiet of the evening. No one else understands how water moves across the land, how this or that spot dries first, where a tractor is likely to get stuck if it rains. No one else feels the deep connection that comes from farming that same piece of land for decades, even hundreds of years, from generation to generation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So next time you think about agriculture, its impact on the environment, and how it can be improved, reach out to me or any Israeli farmer. Next time you decide to hold a conference or digital event on agriculture, ask several farmers to be involved as presenters and panelists. Give them the freedom to voice their opinions. You might be surprised by what you hear and what solutions might benefit the people who actually make a living from the land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The best way to move forward is to talk to each other and listen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Recently, I attended a conference called \u201cAgriculture for the Future.\u201d The event included discussions on regenerative agriculture, soil health, carbon-reducing farming methods, and so on. To be honest, it was an interesting and well-organized event, with many speakers and panel participants bringing up intriguing points about regenerative agriculture ideas. There were even a few farmers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1032,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,61],"tags":[74,48],"class_list":["post-1081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-en","category-general","tag-carbon-economy","tag-carbon-hatsafon"],"yoast_head":"\n