Marking ag Day

Australians across the country are being urged to get involved and show support for farmers by celebrating shared values during National Agricultural Day today.

Retired Dardanup dairy farmer Danny Harris said he felt “privileged” to have lived the life he did on the land.

“Dairy farming was always in the family for four generations,” Mr Harris said.

“I left school in 1959 as a 15 year-old and my father tried to convince me to go off and do something else but I wanted to come back to the farm and that’s what I did and I’ve been there ever since.

“Having been able to live in a rural community all my life, we have friends now that I went to school with on day one in Dardanup.

“That has been an enormous privilege. Now that we are not on the dairy farm, we share that same rural community and I’ve just got a passion for rural life and rural people.”

Mr Harris said he felt lucky to farm in the South West.

“The other thing that makes us so privileged to have been in agriculture in the South West as our location is so close to Bunbury,” he said.

We have grown up with Bunbury being a major part of our life — our social life, our business life has always been associated with Bunbury and while we are not in an urban environment we are still able to share that life.”

With so much of rural Australia contending with one of the worst droughts in living memory, National Farmers’ Federation president Fiona Simson said there had never been a better time to recognise farmers for what they do on behalf of all Australians.

“This AgDay, whether you’re a farmer or a city resident, we want to celebrate the values we all share, and remind people of what they have in common with their country cousins,” Ms Simon said.

“It’s these values that drive our farmers to produce high quality food every day, for Australians and the world.”