Food Security Video Goes Viral

When word of the novel Coronavirus spread throughout Australia, some people took to the supermarkets to buy up big. But farmers across the country – like Sam Heagney from Mungindi – knew that food security was not going to be a worry here in the ‘lucky country’.

Sam Heagney and his wife Annette farm South Bunarba, in northwest NSW. The property has been in Annette’s family for more than 100 years and is 50/50 dryland and irrigation. Along with growing wheat, barley, chickpeas and cotton, they run a handful of cattle.

On 24 March this year, Sam was sitting in his tractor thinking about images he had seen of people swamping supermarkets and decided he had a simple and sobering message people needed to know: that Australian farmers grow enough food per annum to feed 75 million people – three times our population.

“There was so much talk at that time about food security and panic buying of food and I just knew that the panic buying wasn’t warranted. It was completely unfounded. Just panic and feeding on all the panicking. It also meant some people who didn’t have the means to go in and load up two trolleys were struggling to get food at all 

“I just wanted to try and reassure people that there wasn’t any problem with food security, and at the same time use that as an opportunity to highlight how good Australian farmers are at growing food and what we do. I wanted to get a bit of social license back by highlighting that Australian farmers are working hard to make sure everyone gets fed.”

To demonstrate, Sam made a video filmed right from his tractor cab as he ran through some calculations of average wheat, chickpea and barley yields.

“Based on average wheat yields, this paddock alone should grow enough wheat to make 2.25 million loaves of bread,” he says in the video. “That equates to 22 million Vegemite sandwiches.”

Since posting the video to Facebook and Twitter, it has been viewed more than 500,000 times.

“I was absolutely not expecting this kind of response. As I said to my wife, if I had known that, I would have worn a clean shirt. She says it added to the authenticity!

“The idea was to get a message out there and it seems to have done that but I certainly didn’t expect anything like that. I think it just reiterated the point of the message that so many people a) wanted to hear a positive message and b) were interested in their food security and where their food comes from and how it gets grown and made.

“I believe that all of us as farmers are responsible for advocating on behalf of our industry, and I think anything we can do to try and improve the way people view us and get a better understanding of what we do is worthwhile. Especially now when there seems to be so much pressure on us as an industry that hasn’t existed in the past. There’s a lot of misrepresentation of what we do, whether it’s how we handle animals or the chemicals we use or how we go about our businesses as farmers. I think it’s even more important now than ever that we are out there advocating for ourselves.”

For Sam, apart from going viral on social media, COVID-19 hasn’t really changed life that much.

“It has a bit, but not nearly as much as I think it has for people in the cities. Partly because we just get up in the morning and go to work on the farm and that certainly hasn’t changed. From a work perspective, we put a few protocols in place just to try and restrict COVID-19 from coming into our farm workforce and also to try to stop it from spreading if it does come in./p>

“But essentially not much has changed other than the kids have been staying home. But they’re little, so nothing too stressful for them. And they have plenty of room to run around or go ride their bikes. They just get to play at home, really, they’re quite happy about it.”

For people who have been more challenged by the restrictions of COVID-19, Sam’s message is clear:

“In Australia, we’re really fortunate that we have a safe, affordable, secure supply of food because of the work Australian farmers do, and because of their professionalism and sustainable approach to farming. 

“In other words, don’t panic. We’ve got you covered.”

Fun fact: Sam and Annette met in Wagga when Sam was a grain broker with Agfarm and Annette was working for John Deere (and later Hutcheon & Pearce).

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The Heagney family: Sam, Charlie (3), Annette, Walter (7 months) and Sybil (4).