HHG Legal Group Associate, Richard Dewar, pays tribute to the legacy of the WA farming community to mark National Farm Safety Week 2024 (14 to 21 July).
As a leading law firm dedicated to farmers and the communities and businesses that support them, this National Farm Safety Week, HHG Legal Group would like to pay special tribute to the many contributors, leaders and participants in the WA agricultural industry as a whole.
Farming in WA, and across Australia, faces unprecedented challenges. Farmers are increasingly coming under pressure from all angles – political, economic, global and local market forces – and for some, their very livelihood, lifestyles, and family legacies are at risk.
Our history, from ancient and up to modern times, is rich with stories of farming families taking great risks and adapting to the land, the weather and often unpredictable forces of nature. When you scratch the surface, most farming legacies have been built on a history of great familial sacrifice. Farmers continue to be enormously significant contributors to our society, but their significance is often overlooked in an increasingly consumer-driven world.
To both survive and to grow as a sector for the benefit of the whole society, farmers have consistently adapted and innovated. There is hardly a problem on the farm that a farmer cannot solve. They are often the true innovators, whether it's reusing materials, repairing machinery with secondhand parts, being early adopters of new technology, conducting world-first research leading to value adding improvements to processes and techniques, developing safer methods, or finding efficiencies in everyday tasks.
Despite the risks and challenges, farmers have time-and-time again demonstrated their ability to not only recognise opportunities, but to adapt their practices in order to capitalise on those opportunities and new market changes. Their ability to calculate and manage risk is embedded in their DNA across generations, ensuring not only survival but often thriving against the odds in the most challenging of circumstances.
More recently farming communities have found it necessary to not be silent in the face of adversity. New entities are forming to represent the interests of WA farmers in Canberra and in Perth, and to ensure their voices are heard. The next generations in the industry are becoming more active and lobbying to protect the long-term future of farming, and to bring attention to the sector's unique needs and risks. These messages have never been more important politically and economically. Our society depends upon the farm sector perhaps more than any other, yet it would be hard to find any sector taken for granted more than agriculture.
The resilient nature of the farmer – their innovation and determination and ability to adapt – coupled with strong advocacy and a focus on sustainable practices, will ensure the future of the WA agriculture industry is in safe hands. But neither its survival nor its success can be taken for granted, and in our times requires more widespread recognition and support politically, socially and economically.
HHG's dedicated Agribusiness team
HHG Legal Group is a premier legal service provider for the Agribusiness sector across Western Australia, catering to a diverse range of large-scale agricultural enterprises. Our team of Agribusiness lawyers brings a wealth of experience and a deep understanding of the unique challenges and opportunities within the agribusiness landscape.
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