User:Cbrann/reflection

Organic farming in New Zealand

Are organic farming practices something that farmers should adopt? And if so, will this be feasible financially for the farmers? For my Wikipedia article I contributed to an article that already exists, Organic Farming in New Zealand. Being immersed in farming culture myself for most of my life, and being from New Zealand, I thought I would be able to make a positive contribution to this article, adding a number of different sections that go more in depth about organic farming. The sections that I added include, types of farming in New Zealand, Government influence on policy, methods to increase sustainability and, sustainable practices impact on farmers. I chose these sections to add as I believe they give the reader a greater understanding of the multiple parts that work together to enforce sustainable farming practices.

The article is supposed to provide an insightful and informative look into the agriculture industry in New Zealand, its environmental impact, and the efforts being made to reduce this impact. The inclusion of specific government policies and legislation aimed at reducing emissions is useful for providing the reader an understanding on the steps being made to address environmental concerns. The methods to increase sustainability section provides useful information on the practices adopted by New Zealand farmers to reduce the impact they are having on the environment. I used specific examples such as grazing, precision farming, planting trees, composting, and renewable energy to highlight the variety of approaches farmers are using to increase sustainability.

Before taking this class, I assumed that Wikipedia was a platform that provided non reliable information. This opinion was mainly driven by teachers in high school always saying not to use Wikipedia as a source of information for research assignments. This was an opinion that has stuck with me for most of my school life. It was extremely eye opening for me to learn that Wikipedia has aided in the formation of an extremely large community, filled with people from different countries and areas of expertise. I was unaware that anyone has the ability to create a Wikipedia account and contribute on existing Wikipedia pages, or even create your own page. As someone who has always been quite close-minded about social platforms, my initial response when learning that Wikipedia had a large social element to it was that of reluctance or doubt that I would enjoy immersing myself in this community. I was wrong. I enjoyed stepping out of my comfort zone, and writing about something that I am interested in, rather than writing about an assigned topic. The idea that anyone is able to view my work makes me anxious though, I have always been self-conscious about my writing and reluctant to let anyone read it. Wikipedia being an open platform allowed for anyone to view my work, which I found quite nerve racking.

I had a couple of revisions on my article from fellow Wikipedians, none of them were major revisions. I had a total of 6 revisions from 4 different contributors, Lindsey40186, Mobyoctopad44, WikiCleanerBot and DI2000. They were all revisions on my punctuation and spelling. Seeing as though the last contribution before I made my contribution was in 2021 by user 174.7810.252, I had a feeling that I wouldn’t receive much traffic from other Wikipedia users. So, I was surprised to learn that I did receive some feedback. It also shows how vast the Wikipedia community is for these people to contribute to an article on such a niche subject. I showed my gratitude to those that contributed to my article by liking their revisions.

Overall, my experience with Wikipedia has been transformative. I began with the perception that it was a platform with unreliable information, but throughout this semester, I have learned about the platform’s vast community and the ability for anyone to contribute. Although I was initially hesitant about the social aspect, I found the experience of writing and sharing my work with others to be rewarding, despite the anxiety I felt fueled by being self-conscious about my writing. The fact that other users took the time to make revisions and provide feedback on my article was a surprise, which further highlights the collaborative nature of Wikipedia. This class has reinforced for me the value of approaching new experiences with an open mind, as well as embracing the opportunity to learn and grow. The goal of this article was not to enforce the implementation of sustainable farming practices, or to conclude if these practices are financially beneficial for the farmers. Though it was to provide an outline of the parts that construct an organic/sustainable farm in New Zealand.