The AgForce Every Family Needs A Farmer campaign has been developed to reconnect urban consumers to the bush – highlighting the modern face of Queensland farming, where their food and fibre comes from and how farmers care for the environment and their livestock.
When it kicked off in 2006, the campaign marked the first time anywhere in Australia in nearly 20 years that a campaign of this scale was launched by farmers.
The main aim of the campaign is to begin to bridge the divide between the city and the bush.

It’s is AgForce’s boldest initiative yet but one we believe is critical as unlike 20 years ago, most people in urban areas today no longer have friends or relatives on farms and as such those linkages between the bush and the big smoke have been lost.
This has meant that gradually, a divide based on a lack of understanding has developed.
AgForce wants to rebuild the connection between the city and the bush to counteract the influence of the radical groups which have heavily influenced government policies through the urban vote.
The Every Family Needs A Farmer campaign is just the start.
We must rebuild this link between the city and the bush over time but we must start now.
The campaign uses television advertising to reach the mass metropolitan audience where the bulk of government resources are being invested.
The message in phase one the campaign was told through three generations of the Coe family, AgForce members from Durong, west of Kingaroy.
The Coes are just like thousands of Queensland farming families who are doing their best for the environment, for their livestock and for their family to bring food to Australian and international consumers.
These are the faces we need our urban cousins to recognise – the families who live, work and play on the land, building viable and sustainable enterprises which will last well into the future.
The campaign demonstrated how Queensland’s farming families were doing their best for the environment, for their livestock and for their families to bring food to Australian and international consumers.
Importantly, our research has shown that one in five primary school students believe milk comes from a carton and meat comes from the supermarket – they have no knowledge of where their food comes from. We believe our Every Family Needs A Farmer campaign will prove an important educational tool to many Brisbane schoolchildren.
The campaign is more than a television commercial, as AgForce has developed a range of fact sheets around the positive aspects of Queensland farmers in the environment, economy, animal welfare, business and other activities.
Each fact sheet contains stories from real farming families. These fact sheets can be found on this website.
This material is also being adapted for primary school children and AgForce has a comprehensive activity sheet for use by teachers.

In phase two, the trio of sportsmen – Shane Webcke, Dane Carlaw and Michael Ennis from the Brisbane Broncos - are at a barbecue when Dane congratulates Shane and Michael on the great spread they have provided.

However, when Shane says “Don’t thank us, thank the farmers”, Dane’s reply is an off handed “Yeh, right, you think I had a head knock on the weekend” and the others watch in horror as the food starts to disappear.

The audience is given a simple message: no farmers no food.