Tag / Young Farming Champions Program

by Lynne Strong

Youth off the streets and onto the farm

Using primary industries to reach and teach disadvantaged students is one benefit of The Archibull Prize.

Each year The Archibull Prize engages with a wide range of amazing students and teachers and this year The Lakes College (TLC) from the NSW Central Coast has partnered with Picture You in Agriculture, the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal and  Young Farming Champion Tim Eyes to study the beef industry.

TLC is a small alternate high school for Years 9 and 10 and is part of Father Chris Riley’s Youth Off The Streets program. The school only opened in 2017, which makes this Archibull journey extra special and with 5 staff members and 24 students everyone is involved.

“We like to view The Lakes College as a strong team who all support each other day to day. We are based in Blue Haven Community Centre. We are first and foremost students, but we also cook our breakfast, recess and lunch at school in our kitchens, make sure the place is clean, tend to our veggie garden and work and play on the brilliant sporting facilities our school so fortunately has around it.” Source TLC blog 

TLC are “Raising the Steaks” as they learn about the beef industry with their Archie and mentoring them is Young Farming Champion Tim Eyes. Tim is an agricultural contractor and co-founder (with his partner Hannah) of the successful Food Farm situated in Wyong Creek less than 10km from TLC. Tim and Hannah raise grass-fed beef, lamb, chicken, eggs and vegetables and regularly invite the public through the farm gate to see their sustainable brand of agriculture.

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Tim and Hannah

On July 2 the students of TLC found themselves amongst the animals of the Food Farm. They dug for potatoes, collected fresh eggs, picked oranges from the tree and milked Joyce the dairy cow. For Tim, who has entertained children both in mainstream schools and at the Sydney Royal Easter Show, hosting the TLC students was an enjoyable and eye-opening experience.

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“It was really refreshing having unfiltered, blunt questions – they were just very honest kids,” Tim says. “They had real questions about red meat and feeding people under the poverty line so we spoke about exploring the secondary cuts such as mince, which is accessible, diverse, and quick and easy to use.”

The potato patch proved particularly popular. “They spent probably half an hour there, digging potatoes and getting their hands dirty and thinking it was the most exhilarating thing, and that was so good to see,” Tim says. Indeed the wonder of the potato patch was commented on in the school’s blog with one student saying: “Potatoes grow in the ground – seeing that blew my socks off!”

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Another aspect of the visit that impressed Tim was some of the kids said they could see a future or a progression into a job with farming. “For them to even consider, for a split second, that maybe a career in agriculture was a good idea was pretty exciting; and it definitely made me think how the agricultural industry could have an effect on the poverty line and how it could employ people who wouldn’t have an opportunity otherwise.”

The Archibull journey of The Lakes College will be one to follow in 2018. “A lot of the students are quite artistic and I think they will be incredibly surprising on what they bring to the Archies,” Tim concludes.

You can read all about The Lakes College’s visit to The Food Farm here on their Archibull blog.

#YouthVoices18 #ArchieAction #YouthinAg

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by Lynne Strong

Cotton Young Farming Champion Casey Onus takes farming technology into the classroom

Keeping up with the ever-changing world of technology is often a challenge but Cotton Young Farming Champion Casey Onus is keeping cotton farmers abreast of changes in big data and farm-based technology such as drones.

“Big data is basically a fancy term for collecting all the information that comes off your farm,” Casey says. “Collecting big data enables us to make smarter decisions about where we spend our money and where it is going to have the most impact, and also allows us to pick up problems in paddocks that we can then rectify.”

The simplest example of big data is yield information. Data can be collected straight off the header and processed into paddock images. It can also be combined with satellite imagery such as NDVI (normalised difference vegetation index), allowing management plans to be made of paddocks, which in turn can lead to more targeted application of inputs such as fertiliser.

“Big data helps to make the agricultural industry as a whole more efficient,” Casey says. “By monitoring and collecting various forms of on-farm data we can really tweak efficiencies. This enables us to minimise the overuse of fertilisers and other products, and responsibly manage our environmental impact well into the future. It also aids biosecurity. When the Russian Weed Aphid came in and caused problems for the grain industry, it could actually be mapped across a geographical area from advisors scouting using some of these big data programs. If all of these programs talk to each other you can literally map that across Australia. And that’s huge. That gives potential to know what is happening at any given point in time and allows us to react accordingly.”

Although Casey believes satellite imagery and big data remain more economical for large-scale crops, she knows smaller technology such as drones has multiple uses on the farm from stock scouting in rugged terrain to monitoring water troughs and weed populations. At the recent Tocal Field Days she took drone technology to interested members of the public. “We set up a drone simulator on the big screen in the Hunter Local Land Services’ tent to encourage people to come and ask their questions about using drones on farm and to have a go at flying before they make the investment to get one,” she says. “The drone simulator was quite popular, especially with the school kids on the Friday, but we had quite a lot of landowners come with questions about CASA rules, utilising drones on-farm in their individual situations and even questions from people who had already purchased a drone but didn’t quite have the confidence to fly it yet.”

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Casey will continue the story of cotton and technology as she goes into schools as part of this year’s Art4Agriculture The Archibull Prize. Working with students from Oxley High School, Irrawang High School, Raymond Terrace Public School and Muswellbrook High she will help foster relationships between the community and the Cotton industry.

#WearCotton #WeloveCotton #ThisCottonPickingLife #YouthVoices18 #ArchieAction #YouthinAg

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by Lynne Strong

Young Farming Champions Muster July 2018 Week One

This week’s top  stories from our Young Farming Champions across the country

In the field

Rain, glorious rain! This beautiful sight brought slight relief to some of our New South Wales based Young Farming Champions who are currently battling drought. Red dust turned to mud on Wool Young Farming Champion Emma Turner’s family sheep property last week and we’ve all got our fingers crossed for more of the much needed wet stuff to fall again soon.

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Farm meets fashion: National clothing brand Jeanswest and Cotton Australia have joined forces to showcase the story of the Australian cotton industry with the help of our very own Cotton Young Farming Champions Emma Ayliffe and Naomi Mulligan. #cottonaustralia

Read all about Emma’s story here

And read Naomi’s story here

Congratulations Emma and Naomi, we know your love for Aussie Cotton will shine through! #

Wool Young Farming Champion Emma Turner is talking all things wool this week to a group of Small Schools from the Barwon/Moree, NSW, area who are taking part in the 2018 Archibull Prize. Four small schools from rural and remote locations around Moree decided to team up for this year’s Archibull Prize as a way of providing the great learning opportunities for remote students and sharing those opportunities with a wider audience.

They are documenting their #ArchieAction journey through their great blog the Baa!won Wooly Bully, where you can catch up on their recent exciting experience of shearing sheep. We’re looking forward to reading all about Emma’s visit!

#welovewool #wearwool #lovesheep

Out of the Field

Young Farming Champion Anika Molesworth is in Leeton, NSW, this week taking part in an Australian Leadership Foundation residential program. Anika will be presenting a leadership project idea to the Rice Growers board. Good luck Anika! #WomenInAg

In Sydney, Young Farming Champion Jo Newton is a panellist and semi finalist judge at the Enactus Australia National Competition.  If you see her, say Hi and Congratulations, because…

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This week Jo Newton was announced winner of the RAS Victoria Emerging Leader in Victorian Agriculture award!  Jo is a Research Scientist in Dairy Genetics for Agriculture Victoria and she donates much of her time to ensuring the next generation of scientists are aware of opportunities in agriculture. She is Chair of the Art4Agriculture Youth Voices Leadership Team committee and a highly valued member of the Young Farming Champions who is always generous in her support of all YFC. A huge congrats to you Jo! Read more about her award here

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Congratulations also goes to Young Farming Champions Jasmine Whitten and Lucy Collingridge who were finalists in the International Food and Agribusiness Management Association Case Study Competition, with Lucy’s team taking out first place in the Intermediate (post-graduate) section. Well done Lucy! UNE Business School #uneagriculture

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Lifetime Highlights

Love, as well as rain, must have been in the air this week with two exciting engagements.

Congratulations to Grains Young Farming Champion Keiley O’Brien on her engagement to partner Ross Noble.

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And all our best wishes to Wool Young Farming Champion Tom Tourle and fiancé Courtney Lloyd on your engagement.

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It’s such a pleasure to enjoy these highs with our Young Farming Champions throughout their lives! Best wishes Keiley and Ross, and Tom and Courtney.

#YouthVoices18 #YouthinAg #ArchieAction

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by Lynne Strong

Young Farming Champion Jo Newton wins RASV Emerging Leaders Award

Breaking News

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Art4Agriculture is pleased to announce Young Farming Champion Jo Newton has joined Amelia Bright as one of two recipients of the 2018 RASV Emerging Leader in Victorian Agricultural (ELVA) Award.

Run by The Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria the Awards “recognise people under 40 years of age who have demonstrated leadership qualities and make a contribution in their profession, or to the wider industry and community.”

Jo currently works as a Research Scientist in Dairy Genetics for Agriculture Victoria with the ImProving Herds Project and donates much of her time to ensure the next generation of scientists are aware of the opportunities in agriculture – regularly attending school-based events to share her own experiences. Jo is also Chair of the recently formed Youth Voices Leadership Team, an initiative of Art4Agriculture.

“The agricultural sector has warmly welcomed a city convert and supported my growth and development,” Jo said. “I’m motivated by a desire to give back by doing research that has real benefits for our livestock industries and sharing agriculture’s many opportunities and career paths with the next generation. To have my contributions to agriculture recognised through the RASV Emerging Leaders in Victorian Agriculture Award is overwhelming and humbling.”

The award comes with $10,000 prize-money, which Jo will use to extend a fellowship in Ireland, commencing in November, where she will work with leading animal geneticists and extension specialists at Teagasc: The Agriculture and Food Authority. “Receiving a RASV Emerging Leaders Award will enable me to turn this fellowship into a truly life changing experience,” Jo said. “It will enable me to visit other major research groups in Europe, and hopefully to attend one of the big European animal science/genetics conferences. These activities would offer me an opportunity to hear the latest research in animal science in Europe and would provide a forum for idea sharing and networking within the wider European agricultural community. New knowledge and networks formed in Europe would be brought back to Australia, offering an international perspective to my future work and providing a foundation for future collaborative research opportunities.”

Lynne Strong, Art4Agriculture National Program Director, has known and mentored Jo for many years and believes she is a most-worthy recipient of the ELVA. “Jo has a strong  ‘we-can-do-this attitude’ and a unique capacity to frame things in a positive and encouraging way, giving others the courage to find their own voice and take ownership of  the solutions,” Lynne said. “Jo’s advocacy and promotion of agriculture is helping to build community trust and understanding about agriculture, is attracting new people to the sector and helping retain agriculture’s best and brightest minds.”

Jo was presented with the RASV Emerging Leaders Award at the prestigious Agriculture: The Heart of Victoria gala dinner on Thursday June 28 in Melbourne. The dinner, held by RASV and the Victorian Farmers Federation, highlighted the contribution of agriculture to Victoria.

Watch Jo’s interview at the awards here

This award continues Jo’s association with the Australian show movement. In 2013 she was a Royal Agricultural Society of NSW Rural Achiever. It also follows her recent announcement as the winner of the leadership category at the Victorian Young Achiever Awards.

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by Lynne Strong

Young Farming Champions Muster June 2018 Week 4

This week’s top  stories from our Young Farming Champions across the country

In the Field 

With almost all of NSW in mild to severe drought and the NSW DPI Drought Hub  providing a one-stop online destination for information on a vast range of services and support available to  farming families and communities to prepare for and manage drought some of our Young Farming Champions are reporting some good news .

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Marlee Langfield now making all the on farm management decisions on her farm at Cowra took a gamble and sowed her first crop.

Its was a very nervous wait and a great relief to get two small rainfall events which give hope for the season ahead  

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After planting her canola in what some may describe as a dust bowl Marlee was very pleased to see the rain which has encouraged the canola to shoot

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Photos Marlee Langfield 

Likewise Emma Ayliffe purchased her first farm this year and planted her first crop of barley and along with fellow Riverina farmer Dan Fox  was pleased to see the clouds open up.

Many other YFC farmers like Emma Turner, Bessie Thomas and Anika Molesworth are looking forward to the day the rains return in their region and grass can replace hand feeding with grain and hay

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 Photo Emma Turner 

Out of the Field 

Our Cotton young farming champions are visiting schools in Sydney and the Hunter this week

James Kanaley will be visiting Airds High and Mamre Anglican School and Casey Onus is visiting Irrawang, Muswellbrook and Oxely High School and Raymond Terrace Public School.

Wool Young Farming Champion Sam Wan and Youth Voices Leadership Chair Jo Newton are attending the Heart of Victoria Gala Dinner . 

Wool Young Farming Champion Lucy Collingridge is doing a great job keeping us uptodate on UNE IFAMA tour 

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Photo L-R: Jasmine Whitten, Meg Rice, Macarena Calderon and Lucy Collingridge

Updates from our global travellers

Today three Young Farming Champions (YFC) had the opportunity to meet with Macarena Calderon and discuss the issues agriculture is facing in Argentina.
Macarena is a member of the Pergamino Rural Society, particularly the youth section of the organisation.
The Pergamino Rural Society, which is like a combination of NSW Farmers and YFC, supports their rural members through political advocacy, education and training, networking and extension services. The society also supports rural youth, aged 15-35, and provide educational opportunities.
Experiences were shared, with both Macarena and YFCs understanding the difficulties their respective industries faced in educating the broader communities about where their food comes from and attracting young people to careers in agriculture.

 

Until next week #youthvoices18 #youthinag #archieaction

 

 

 

 

by Lynne Strong

Young Farming Champions Muster June 2018 Week 3

This weeks top stories from our Young Farming Champions across the country

In the Field 

Wool Young Farming Champion Katherine Bain currently getting the Cow Girl Experience in Canada will take up her new role as a Production Analyst with Paraway Pastoral in their head office in Orange in August.

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Beef Young Farming Champion Tim Eyes is hosting his Archibull Prize School The Lakes College at his farm on 21st June 2018. Wow are they in for a treat

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Out of the Field.

Wool Young Farming Champions Peta Bradley and Caitlin Heppner caught up with Young Farmer Business Program  Team of Alex MacDonald and newly appointed Adele Henry whilst visiting Orange last week for The Archibull Prize.  Its was widely agreed that the Young Farmer Champions will be invaluable in promoting the opportunities available as part of the YFBP.  Megs Dunford from the DPI Schools Program also attended and gave an overview of how they support primary and secondary schools.

Aussie Farmers Foundation supported Young Farming Champion Jasmine Whitten stars in the latest Art4Agriculture video showing young people how they can become Eggsperts

Shoutout to #YouthVoices18 Dione Howard and Emma Turner who will be participating in Hour of Power at MerinoLink Conference in Goulburn. Awesome opportunity for young professionals to speak about their work and passions within the wool industry.  Read more here

#WearWool #LoveWool #WOOLisCOOL #YouthinAg

Wool Young Farming Champion Dione Howard will be visiting Moss Vale High School participating in The Archibull Prize 2018 to share her story and inspire next wool ambassadors

Young Farming Champions Jasmine Whitten, Lucy Collingridge and Meg Rice fly out to Argentina today for IFAMA conference. Find out more here and you can follow their journey on Facebook.

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Lucy Collingridge

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Jasmine Whitten

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Following in the footsteps of Young Farming Champion Bronwyn Roberts in 2013 Youth Voices Leadership Team member Anika Molesworth is the key note speaker tonight at the Marcus Oldham Leadership Course Dinner. Anika will be sharing her leadership journey through the 7 Forks in the Road that have led her to where she is today.

  1. Finding your fight
  2. Believing in yourself
  3. Backing yourself
  4. Finding your wolf pack
  5. Jump in to learn how to swim
  6. Never stop learning
  7. Having the courage of your convictions

Huge congratulations to Young Farming Champions Liz Lobsey and Emma Ayliffe who have recently been announced as finalists in the Adama Young Agronomist of the Year

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till next time share your stories with us using the hashtags #YouthVoices #Youthinag

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by Lynne Strong

Young Farming Champion Katherine Bain enjoying life on Dane Ranch in Canada

Young Farming Champion Katherine Bain is blogging from Canada. Here is the latest in her Cowgirl Experience

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This past month in Canada has seen the weather warm up, and cool down again, and lots going on at Dane Ranch! Calving is now finished, and all the cows are now being put out on to range.

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A lot of the work now is being done on horses, which I am really enjoying. The main horse I’ve been riding is a black gelding by the name of Smokey. He’s a cool character and knows his way through trees a lot better than me!

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The biggest part of May was Branding. Branding is a big affair, with friends and family coming in to help out. Over two days we branded, vaccinated and recorded close to 800 calves! The branding was all done with horses, which was very exciting to watch. All the cows are branded so they are easily identifiable when they are out on range, so everyone knows which cows belong to who.

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It hasn’t all been work. I also got a chance to drive around some of the beautiful lakes in the area. Because there had been so much snow over Winter, all the lakes and rivers were full (and sometimes overflowing). The views from the lakes were breathtaking, especially with the snow-covered mountains in the background. It’s definitely a scene you don’t get back in Australia.

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Moving the cows out on to range is a big process. There are three ranges that the cows are moved to over summer. The biggest range is at the Dane Ranch, as well as a smaller range where the purebred cattle go. The other range is about an hour away at the other Ranch, near Anaheim Lake, which is called Clesspocket. The cows, and the replacement heifers go up to the Clesspocket range on a truck, and then pushed out to the grassy meadows with the horses.

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Other duties we’ve been doing are very similar to back home. A lot of fencing has been done to mostly help keep young bulls in. They mostly use logs here to build what they call Snake Fences. Luckily there are lots of trees that fall down, so all we have to do is cut them to size put them on!

I’ve only got one more month left working on the ranch – how time flies when you’re having fun (and working hard)! I’m looking forward to riding up on the ranges, making sure all the cattle stay in the right area and stay where there’s lots of grass.

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by Lynne Strong

Art4Agriculture at the MerinoLink Conference

The 2018 MerinoLink Conference  and Field Day will be held in Goulburn this week on 20th and 21st June and Art4Agriculture will be flying the flag for young people in agriculture.

The purpose of the MerinoLink Annual Conference is to provide an opportunity for sheep producers and service providers to network, learn about research outcomes and management programs and also to have a positive influence on the future direction of the sheep industry in Australia. 

A highlight of the conference will be the Hour of Power, sponsored by T.A.Field Estates, which will give an opportunity to nine young professionals to speak about their work and passions within the wool industry. During this session Art4Agriculture will be represented by Young Farming Champions Dione Howard and Emma Turner.

Dione will elaborate on concepts she delivered last year at the Australian Farm Institute’s Roundtable Conference where she encouraged industry to invest in and support young professionals. See her inspirational speech here.

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Dione, who will be appealing to both new and experienced members at MerinoLink, says these are her take-home messages:

There are many opportunities that exist for young people to get involved in the wool industry.

Programs such as Art4Agriculture’s Young Farming Champions exist so that our industry can invest in us as young people in wool. 

I urge members of our industry to get behind young people with an interest in wool and support them to step up and take on available opportunities.

 Emma, who is set to graduate from the University of New England in October, will use her time at the Hour of Power to present her honours project to industry.

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My honours project, on the implementation of shorter shearing intervals at Ivanhoe comparing six and twelve month shearings, is highly relevant to the industry and I am hoping the Hour of Power will give my research exposure and provide networking opportunities as I job hunt for the future.

 Rounding out Art4Agriculture’s involvement in MerinoLink will be National Program Director Lynne Strong who will be the speaker at the conference dinner. Lynne will use her life journey from a pharmacist to a farmer to illustrate how the wool industry will benefit from the investment in youth and how working together makes innovation fast and easy.

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It is wonderful to see the 2018 MerinoLimk Conference following our vision to help young people stand up and be confident to share their own stories

#LoveWool #WearWool #WOOLisCOOL #YouthVoices18 #YouthinAg

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by Lynne Strong

Local Land Services and Young Farming Champion Casey Onus collaborate at Tocal Field Day

 

Extending over three days in May the Tocal Field Days, held in the NSW Hunter Valley, are a premier event to showcase all that is new and exciting in agriculture, and in 2018 we were excited to see a collaboration between Hunter Local Land Services and Young Farming Champion Casey Onus, who together took the world of drones to the enthralled public.

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Casey Onus at Tocal Field Day answering landowners questions about CASA rules and  utilising drones on-farm in their individual situations 

“We set up a drone simulator on the big screen in the Hunter LLS tent to encourage people to come and ask their questions about using drones on farm and to have a go at flying before they make the investment to get one,” Casey said. “The drone simulator was quite popular, especially with the school kids on the Friday, but we had quite a lot of landowners come with questions about CASA rules, utilising drones on-farm in their individual situations and even questions from people who had already purchased a drone but didn’t quite have the confidence to fly it yet.”

Although Casey believes satellite imagery remains more economical for large-scale crops, she knows drones have multiple uses on the farm from stock scouting in rugged terrain to monitoring water troughs and weed populations. And they are fun to fly!

So popular was Casey’s demonstration that even Chair of Hunter Local Land Services Board Lindy Hyam, had a go at the simulator.

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Chair of Hunter Local Land Services Board Lindy Hyam and Casey Onus encouraging landholders to ask questions about using drones on farm and to have a go at flying before they make the investment to get one, 

“Hunter Local Land Services recognises that addressing innovation and utilising modern technology is a key challenge for many local farmers, and is keen to find practical solutions to help local producers improve their productivity and profitability,” Penny Evans from Hunter LLS said. “Casey and her drone simulator created quite a buzz at the Tocal Field Days and it showed there is demand from the local community to help them adapt new technologies to their needs.”

Hunter LLS and Casey will partner again in 2018 as they take The Archibull Prize into local schools to excite young people about the high level of technology in agriculture and inspire them to think about STEM career pathways in agriculture .

#youthinag #archieaction #youthvoices18

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by Lynne Strong

Young Farming Champions taking the farm to the city

Last week our Young Farming Champions took the fresh young face of agriculture into schools  participating in The Archibull Prize in Sydney and Wollongong

Cotton Young Farming Champion Emma Ayliffe shared her career journey  with students and teachers at Granville South Creative and Performing Arts High School, Parramatta Public School and Kurring-gai High School.

Emma had great success with her Name the Good Bugs/Bad Bugs game turning students with no previous experience into experts in 20 mins.

She found it very rewarding to hear from the teachers of  the Power of the Cow in Archibull Prize schools.

She took her hat off to the team at Parramatta Public School who have formed a partnership and are working directly with 90 students to complete the program

Horticulture Young Farming Champion Tayla Field supported by the Aussie Farmers Foundation took the story of fruit and veg into schools in the Eastern Suburbs and to Gywnneville Public School

With strong messages about eating fruit and vegetables as part of a healthy diet

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Students at Little Bay Community of Schools and Gwynneville Public School (below) embrace the concept of Eating a Rainbow of fruit and vegetables every day Gwynneville Public School

and the importance of traceability and biosecurity Tayla was a hit with the students

Tayla was thrilled to see the students eyes light up when she showed the level of technology available to farmers in the horticulture industry she loves

Wool Young Farming Champion Sam Wan had Wooley Dooley time with students at Picnic Point High School. Read all the fun here.

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