Community
3 September, 2025
Green for Farmers takes off
WHEN Elise McKinnon started the Wear Green for Farmers Day initiative earlier this year, she never expected it to take off across the state the way it did.
What started as a small fundraiser in the south west to support Need for Feed turned into Crown Melbourne lighting up in green all night on Friday, August 22.
Mrs McKinnon said her volunteering work began in an effort to raise awareness about what farmers were going through in the midst of one of the worst droughts in recent history.
“People in the city and the State Government didn’t seem to understand how important farmers are,” she said.
“They didn’t seem to understand what farmers needed – the biggest thing farmers needed was feed.
“Yet there were all these incentives and grants given out for infrastructure – well there’s no point having infrastructure if you have no feed.
“It seems that people feel like they get their milk from the supermarket but they don’t actually understand that without our farmers there is no food.
“I helped to do a lot of the lobbying and the advocacy to State Government and then from there it was raising awareness in the city.”
Mrs McKinnon said she started talking to Need for Feed founder Graham Cockerell as drought conditions heightened on her and had the idea to join forces in an effort to bring the community together to support farmers in need.
“I loved what Need for Feed were doing because they were 100 per cent volunteer-led and everything they did was going directly to hay for our farmers,” she said.
“Beyond that they do a lot of other support like bringing hampers for farmers, bringing toys at Christmas – they do so much wrap-around support.
“They were coming down to Camperdown with 40 trucks to bring hay for our community.
“I just wanted to make sure the community knew they were coming but also the fact these strangers who didn’t know our community were taking time away from their lives to come down and support our community was quite incredible.
“Because hay was the main thing we needed, feed for the animals, that was when I came up with the Wear Green for Farmers Day.”
Mrs McKinnon said what started as a fundraising opportunity grew into something so much bigger.
She was able to put together educational resources for schools and mental health resources for farmers battling through the difficult times.
“It started as a fundraiser and that visual display of wearing green in support of our farming communities,” Mrs McKinnon said.
“Then because there was so much excitement around it and interest, it turned into an education opportunity, to educate our kids.
“But we also think about educating schools in the city and beyond – and businesses –about what this drought is and why it’s so important and why our farmers matter.
Mrs McKinnon said Rural Financial Counselling Services were a great resource for farmers to tap into.
“It seemed like there are a lot of mental health resources and there are some good financial resources through Rural Financial Counselling Services,” she said.
“It’s really hard because farmers are so proud and particularly being struck by something like this drought which was not ever anticipated, it’s really difficult to ask for help.
“Rural Financial Counselling Services are just amazing. They are so kind and caring and there’s no judgement.”
While trying to keep up with the momentum, Mrs McKinnon has been volunteering her time for the past three months and is now finally starting to put on the brakes.
“I had all these people who wanted to support Wear Green for Farmers Day but it was really hard because I was doing it all myself and there’s only so much one person can do,” she said.
“Once I really believe in something I just have to do more and more and more – I can’t help it.
“It’s time for me to slow down. We’ve got all these things in place now and it’s really taken off and has struck a chord.”
Having Crown Melbourne light up green for the cause was something Mrs McKinnon said was really special and she hoped next year Wear Green for Farmers Day could take off again.
“I got onto Crown and asked them if they would light up and they said yes,” she said.
“There’s an opportunity to potentially do it again next year and this time really try to get into the city schools.
“We really want to change the perception of our farming industry because this drought has really shown us that people didn’t understand the value of our farmers.
“And also, to say to our farmers, ‘Thank you – thank you for what you do every day’.
“It was really lovely when people said thank you to me. I never actually expected it.”