Part 7: The Implications Of Change
7.1 Introduction
There is no doubt that farming has been in a state of rapid transition since 1984 and that this transition has come on top of the normal vicissitudes of farming life; and it is easy to spell out a doom and gloom picture of farming. This has been done twice this year for the mid Rangitikei, once in the Listener in February, once in North and South in June 1997. But what is happening in farming is more complex, and not all doom.
In the years prior to 1984 the heavy subsidisation of primary production had three major effects – it artificially raised land values, it kept production going in unprofitable areas - and it also artificially raised farm families’ expectations, as can be seen from the farm family perspectives in the study.
The changes since 1984 were needed – no farm families doubt that – but the radical nature and rapidity of change have placed a heavy burden on the sector that is reflected in the responses of those interviewed, and the amount of stress and depression.
Sheep and beef farmers and their families are now concerned with a host of matters - financial sustainability, lack of interest from government, increasing administrative tasks on top of even longer working hours, continuing withdrawal of services, what’s going to happen to them in their retirement. Some farmers and their families are riding out this ‘low’ time and feeling optimistic - about farming, about the future and their part in it. Many feel ‘stuck’ because they do not know what else to do, others see no light at the end of the tunnel. Some are financially ‘sound’ and still thinking of leaving farming. Why?
A number of people we interviewed are realising that their ‘way of life’, the very culture, or core of farming, is changing. [ special thanks to Elizabeth Mortland for these insights] "A whole sector of the population has to move from the way of looking at the world that their grandparents, themselves and their children have been used to. That is, the traditional family farm culture is being challenged."
"Farming had a basis of a past, a present and a future... Farming culture was based on a philosophy which emphasised beliefs and values of responsibility for oneself and family, but now the whole future is uncertain. It is this uncertainty that is causing so much pain, and indecision, for farmers have nowhere to go. Many people are feeling powerless in the face of these changes…."
Contact for Enquiries
Rural Affairs Coordinator
Sector Performance Policy
MAF Policy
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
PO Box 2526
Wellington
NEW ZEALAND
Phone: +64 4 894 0675
Fax: +64 4 4 894 0745
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