Have you ever wondered exactly who is behind looking after the farms your delicious organic meat and other produce comes from?
According to the National Farmer’s Federation (NFF) publication ‘Farm Facts 2012’, 99 per cent of the estimated 134,000 farm businesses in Australia are family-owned and operated.
With this information, it appears key that family farms are supported by Aussie locals. They’re a huge part of our country and image, and play an incredible role in providing us with our organic meat!
Here are three reasons to love the family farm:
They supply us with food
Family farms are responsible for the food on the dinner table – and lots of it. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 93 per cent of food consumed in Australia in 2009 was sourced from Aussie farms, and it also helps to feed up to 40 million people outside of Australia each year.
That’s a huge amount of food production relying on family farms – without them, we’d have a hard time finding food to feed our families, would lose revenue from international exports, and may even have to sacrifice our delicious organic meat!
It’s in the family
Family farming is a practice that provides jobs for generations of families, with younger members of the family often taking control of the farm as time passes. Family farms ensure jobs for thousands of Australians, and mean that invaluable knowledge is passed down from person to person about the ways of the land and organic farming practices.
They care about their produce
Cultivating crops is a labour of love, and no one cares about their produce more than family farmers. They’re dedicated to consistently maintaining and improving the quality of their produce, and organic meat producers are dedicated to animal welfare and health. What’s more, family farmers have a passion for sustainability and wellbeing of future generations and family values, rather than producing a product simply to gain profits.
