AGRICULTURE author Alice Mabin recently spent time travelling through the South East speaking to farmers in the region about the state of Australian agribusiness.
Over the last five years Ms Mabin has travelled solo across the nation, interviewing more than 1000 farmers and agribusinesses.
She believes most people have “no idea where their food is coming from” and without farmers, there would be no food on tables.
“Our daily survival depends on people most of us take for granted,” Ms Mabin said.
“So I traced the journey of our food supply from paddock to plate, through the veins of our country roads and uncovered something shocking.
“Our $60b industry was under attack from silent threats on the inside and multiple challenges from the outside.”
Ms Mabin mapped her concerns from GDP numbers to trade agreements fuelling the economy, believing these challenges are combining to erode the stability of the industry.
“The ticking time bomb of the rural workforce vacuum is leaving farmers struggling to find workers and causing our country towns, businesses and schools to slowly disappear,” she said.
“The debilitating drought and increased competition for water allocations and low priced foreign food imports displacing home grown alternatives are just some of the issues we face.
“My passion is to preserve our rural way of life and safe guard our agricultural industry for generations to come.”
This passion is what spurred her on to create her book The Grower.
The Grower series gives a photographic and informative insight into each industry and how farming is today.
Readers will feel the passion farmers have for what they do, understand a little of their hardship and see how they strive to succeed in an ever challenging environment.
While in the South East Ms Mabin spent time taking photos at Mayura Station, Di Giorgio Winery, Keringa Angus, Konnetta Station, Andy Withers short horns and Warawindi Limousins.
“I captured shearing, cattle crossing a salt lake, grape picking and was present for the birth of twin calves” she said.
“Each and every farming operation I got to visit was so unique in its own right and each one has a great story to tell.
“But one of the stand out things is that each and every property is so passionate about what they do and so driven to do the best they can in the industry.”
