Farmers talk about environmental issues over a haircut at Fieldays
, 2022-12-01 19:56:00,
Farmers told a hairdresser at Fieldays in Hamilton they were overwhelmed by the amount of changes needed on farms.
They could get a free hair cut, from Jason Muir who runs the Cutz for Korero, only if they were willing to have an honest yarn about what environmental challenges they faced on the farm.
A quick “so what are we going to do for you” from Muir, sorted what new hairstyle they would walk away with, and a snappy follow-up of, “what environmental issues worry you,” easily got them to open up.
The free hair-do was organised by the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) .
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“I can help the EPA ask the questions they want to ask farmers and get the messages across they want communicated to the farming community. Farmers are a great bunch to chat to,” Muir said.
Muir said farm industry representatives told him they found it hard to get messaging about change across to the farming community.
It was all about finding solutions, he said.
EPA community engagement lead Vanessa Crowe said the authority wanted to make an impact at Fieldays, have conversations with people in farming, and influence behaviour change around environmental protection.
The authority also wanted to acknowledge the issues farmers faced and encourage conversation, Crowe said.
Gerhard Uys/Stuff
“We talked about what’s happening in Wellington (Parliament) and how to get more Maori farmer’s into farming,” says Gavin Reedy, Maori learning adviser at the Environmental Protection Authority who sat down for a haircut and a beard trim with hairdresser Jason Muir.
People were used to getting into a chair and getting their haircut and would open up easily in that environment, Crowe said.
Muir originally had the idea for a popup hair salon in exchange for political conversation in 2014.
He had always been interested in street performance and started the first popup salon when New Zealand debated a change of its national flag that year.
The country wasn’t very good at political debates and needed open conversations without fear of judgment on topical issues, Muir said.
The popup salon celebrated hairdressers as communicators and the role they played in serious issues, he said.
Crowe said this was the second time the project ran at a Fieldays.
Anyone could book an appointment for a haircut and…
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