My sister shared a post on Facebook via Farm and Food Care stating “Farms are private property, please be respectful.”
I find it quite disheartening this has to be made known publicly, but either way, it’s an important message.
Depending on the crop, it may be tempting to pull over on the side of the road, grab our phones, and snap some pictures. And pictures, from a respectful distance, are fine. What isn’t fine, however, is when people damage crops in an attempt to get a selfie to post to Instagram, and it’s absolutely disgusting that some of us believe our own entitlement takes precedence over a food source, and further, a farmer’s income.
Last summer, there was a sunflower farm in Ontario that had to close its doors to the public because the crop was so badly damaged from visitors walking through it to get the perfect picture. This summer, a lavender farm, also in Ontario, has discovered damage to their lavender from people literally laying on the plants for pictures.
I don’t really have the ability to designate which words to use to articulate how blatantly stupid, disrespectful, and unacceptable this sort of behaviour is.
I’m not sure why, but some of us really struggle to grasp the concept that farms are not public property. Entering a field without permission from the farmer or person who owns it is trespassing, and it’s wrong. Plain and simple. We wouldn’t just saunter into someone’s backyard to snap some pictures, would we? So why do some of us fail to see the issue with trespassing on farmland?
Crops are a food source, and they’re a source of income for the person growing them. They aren’t a backdrop for a photoshoot, nor are they open to the public. Respect farmers and everything they do for us and stay away from their fields.
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ontheedgeofeverything 