The Greens are committed to keeping farmers on the land.

If our rural and regional communities are to survive and thrive in today's world, they need to be economically, socially and environmentally sustainable. But governments around Australia are making matters worse, providing bandaid drought relief cheques while exposing farmers to unbalanced competition from Collins St investors, failing to provide adequate biosecurity protection, and leaving climate change unaddressed.

The Greens have been working hard for years to help farmers by improving biosecurity, promoting 'clean, green and clever' agriculture, and protecting regional communities against Managed Investment Schemes and similar anti-competitive tax breaks.

Christine Milne and Rachel Siewert have established a Senate Inquiry into Climate Change and Agriculture that is examining how Australian agriculture can thrive in a climate changed world, both adapting to the changes and providing solutions to reduce emissions.

One of the best ways to helpregional communities thrive in the face of climate change is to help them become part of the solution. Through Farming Renewable Energy, a key Greens policy, farmers would be helped to diversify their income streams by adding renewable energy farms to their cropping or grazing businesses. The photo shows how renewable energy can go hand in hand with agricultural activities.

You can read more about Greens' policies on keeping farmers on the land by clicking on the links in the text above or surfing through the tags just below the title. Alternatively, here are a few easy links:

• The Greens' Farming Renewable Energy policy
• All the stories on our site about biosecurity
• All the stories on our site about Managed Investment Schemes
  • The Preolenna and Meunna story - a case study on the impact of MIS schemes on a regional Tasmanian community
    
• Direct link to the Senate Inquiry into Climate Change and Agriculture
• All the stories on our site about rural and regional communities
  

You may also enjoy reading Rachel Siewert's passionate statement about keeping farmers on the land at GreensBlog and Christine Milne's recent speech in the Senate on the Inquiry into Climate Change and Agriculture's.