Celebrate "Back To The Farm" Week

I propose the Central West of New South Wales be the launch pad for a movement that will sweep the world. It's called "Back To The Farm Week" when city families go out to stay with farm families for a few days to experience life on the land. Many city people love 'going bush' because they love getting close to nature and they want an authentic farm experience. Many farm people are traditionally very hospitable and enjoy showing visitors how they work and talking about their farms. It's my idea for bridging the 'city-country gap'. It can have important environmental and social benefits for society, building understanding on both sides about many critical issues.
Of all the problems the farmers of the world face, the one that grates on their nerves is called the 'city-country gap'. That means, city people have no idea what farmers deal with, they don't understand where their food and clothing and shelter comes from, and they don't care. Aldo Leopold, the father of the modern ecological movement, was a farmer. He said that the 'spiritual anger of not owning a farm' lay in assuming that breakfast comes from the supermarket.
Bringing people together on a micro level can solve big macro issues... such as the following:

• farmers are often more environmentally concerned than they are pictured in the popular press and stereotyped by environmentalists
• city people don't know the hardships farm families live with while they produce food and other goods for city people to consume
• some farmers don't fully appreciate the sincerity of city-based people in their concern for land degradation and species survival
• city people are often ignorant of the importance of primary industries to their modern lifestyles

"Back To The Farm" is a big farm stay program that invites ordinary farmers to invite ordinary city families into their homes for a stay. Most farm houses have sufficient beds for a few extra people. And city people would be told not to expect professionally-managed accommodation, but to be treated as one of the family and tucked into bed in the spare room. The farm families who wish to get involved will be briefed about the simplest way of handling their guests.

A central authority - perhaps the NSW State government - could coordinate the necessary organisation required for attracting applicants on both sides of the gap and assigning families to farms.

This could become an annual event and spread to other countries. Bringing people together - to break bread and share their homes - is the msot effective way to bridge the gap between sections of our community that need each other to survive.

*************************IF YOU THINK THIS IS A GOOD IDEA*************************

1. Please email this blog to someone who can help make it happen (a politician, a corporate who could sponsor it, etc)
2. Leave a comment at the end of this blog
3. Email us at michael@newhorizon.au.com