Mr. John Comer:

Everyone who spoke referred to the 30 deaths on farms last year. We also have to face up to the 3,000 serious injuries on farms last year. As I stated, the whole dynamic has shifted towards the mantra, "Bigger, cheaper, faster". I have come from a meeting on the 2025 agrifood strategy which is making projections and recommendations for growth in agriculture. To be sustainable, primary producers and individual businesses require an economic model which reflects the fact that they need labour and cannot do everything themselves. This is not the current model.

In terms of lifestyle, there has been a shift from a lackadaisical approach where one was able to talk to one's neighbour to one of intense pressure and busyness, as it were. We also need to face up to this issue if we are to reduce the average age of farmers and make the sustainable model work all the way back to the primary producer.