A Reader’s Digest poll has proclaimed farmers to be one of Australia’s most trusted professions. We come in at number 7, ahead of GPs and even our friends, the vets. Weather forecasters got their just desserts ;), ranking a miserable 26.
It’s a pleasant surprise, particularly given the much-discussed growing urban-rural divide.
In fact, we climbed two spots in the last year but I wonder whether this year’s poll was conducted before or after those shocking episodes of animal abuse at Indonesian abbattoirs were screened and whether this has changed the way Aussies feel about farmers.
I hope not. The farmers I know are sickened by the cruelty. Fortunately, I can sleep well knowing that none of our cows have been subjected to that treatment. Dairy heifers are sometimes exported to countries desperate to build their own herds with Australia’s world-leading breeding stock but are handled very carefully on the journey to ensure they arrive in peak condition.
I’d love to hear from you about all this. Why do you think farmers are so highly trusted?
The Milk Maid Marian 
I, Like you am a dairy farmer in Gippsland. I have just read some of your blogs and I think the main reason farmers are so trusted is because the general population never sees or talks to us! Unless they supply us with products or services to our farm I don’t seem to talk to anyone else except family! There are just never enough hours in the day for mere socialising and when everyone else is just starting to warm up at functions we are yawning our heads off!
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That’s interesting, Deborah. Do you think farmers are better off “flying under the radar”?
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