The Our Farmers initiative wants to show people the importance of farmers. Their work determines whether we have enough to eat.
The usefulness and importance of the people who go out into the fields or the barns every day to produce the products we take for granted on the shelves of shops today. This is the fundamental aim of the new and unique Our Farmers initiative. It has been launched by the agricultural group SANAGRO. Together they employ up to 280 people on their cooperatives.
"We want to point out that we have heroes not only among doctors, paramedics, policemen or firefighters, whose work we respect very much. But we also admire the farmers who, whatever the weather, go out into the fields and look after their crops and livestock ," explained Tomáš Kohút, CEO of SANAGRO, whose ambition is to involve competing cooperatives, organisations from other sectors or the general public in this activity.SANAGRO today associates 10 farms in western and central Slovakia.
Farmers are very important in times of pandemic
According to official statistics, only 4 per cent of people work in agriculture and their average age is 47. Meanwhile, young people are not very interested in working in the sector. This makes our farmers more important than ever at a time of pandemic. "This year, in fact, added to all the circumstances that affect the harvest is the extent to which we can protect farmers from COVID-19. We urge people to behave responsibly. The work of farmers determines whether we will have enough to eat not only today, but also next year," says Tomas Kohut from SANAGRA. As he further points out, the problem of the shortage of workers is even more acute in the current crisis situation.
SANAGRO: Food shortages are a real threat
Through up-to-date information and farmers' stories, the Our Farmers initiative wants to highlight the startling facts that the entire agribusiness sector has been struggling with for years. It also wants to highlight that food shortages can be a real threat. If farmers are forced into quarantine, the damage to agriculture will be irreversible - there will be no one to sow, harvest and process the crops and no one to look after the animals. "Farmers know very well what happens if there is no one to connect the animals to the milking machines, for example. Such a situation endangers not only their health but also their lives. The animals must be milked, fed and treated. The public does not know about the little things that are of great importance to the cooperative farmers. With this initiative, we want to change that and bring the everyday life on farms into the public eye," says Tomáš Kohút from SANAGRA.
"I will be very happy if other farmers, food producers and other companies in our industry join Our Farmers. At the same time, I would like to get as many companies, organisations and the general public involved in helping farmers as possible." concluded Tomáš Kohút, CEO of SANAGRA and creator of the Our Farmers initiative.
