The world needs creative, innovative and courageous young people who can connect, collaborate and act. We know that youth may only be 20% of the population but they are 100% of the future. The time is now to let them share their dreams and design the future they want to see.
The Archibull Prize connects school students with the people and the places behind the food we eat and the natural fibres we use. Since its inception over 300,000 students have been engaged in courageous conversations about how farmers and the community can work together to create a world with zero hunger and zero waste.
Australia’s dairy and egg industries have been reinterpreted during The Archibull Prize this year so let’s meet the Archies for our milk and eggs.
Each year the world looks forward to the creative talents of the entire Beaudesert State High School as they bring quirky and imaginative angles to their Archie. Their 2019 entry is no exception incorporating real bovine bones, braille, a cut-out Herringbone dairy and a robotic milking arm.
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“We did not want our cow to look like a cow but more a piece of art. When the dairy guys came out to see us at the start and we shared our ideas Paul made a comment that he wanted the real world to understand that dairy farmers were not just ‘hicks’ but that there was real science to farming and that dairy farmers did more than just milk cows.”
Beyond the science Beaudesert students also looked at the reasons behind the decline of the Australian dairy industry.
“If our cow can make an impact and a few people understand then, perhaps, that can turn into many and farmers can get more help and assistance through these tough times. Milk needs to be treated like the ‘white gold’ that it is and not something that is considered just a ‘staple’ and in everyone’s fridge.”
Also taking a close look at the Australian dairy industry was East Loddon College in rural Victoria with their Archie named Tandarra to Toorak. Art students from Years 9, 10 and 12 explored the ways milk production supports both rural and urban communities and on their classic black and white cow they painted a road from the country dairy to the city fridge.
“We have built the city skyline on top of the cow in a ‘cartoonish’ manner to convey how we, in the country, are quite removed from the city life and we don’t know much about it. We can only imagine that it is the same for people living in the city that they don’t know about the dairy industry, but because it is so important to us and such a big part of our lives we want to teach them and help them learn about it.”
Students of East Loddon are proud and appreciative of living in a rural community with a close association to dairy farmers. They used ear tags and milking cups on their Archie, which were donated by a local farmer, and were thankful for the time farmers made to speak with them. Farmer Michael Lawry also appreciated the interest shown by the students:
“I believe that it takes the shared and reinforced values of a community to successfully raise a child and I believe that we live in such a community.”
The ever-enthusiastic YFC Jasmine Whitten guided two schools through the world of egg production and did you know Australia Never Delivers Rotten Eggs? That was the anagram for ANDRE Kluckin, the Archie entry from Picnic Point High School.
“We have created a giant egg carton that symbolically represents all eggs produced in Australia and sold in shops. It explores the three main methods of producing eggs; free range, caged and barn. Each method has many pros and cons, which creates an ongoing debate for consumers.”
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When discussing their creative designs for Andre the students relied heavily on input from their YFC.
“Jasmine made us think about the marketing strategies of egg cartons. The free range egg cartons usually have more bright and detailed logos and reflect open spaces and create an eye catching logo for the consumer. Caged eggs usually have plain labels with limited colour. Our logo and carton art is bright and fun to entice the consumer to buy our product. We have shown that all eggs, regardless of the farming technique, are carefully packaged and freshly available for people to buy and enjoy.”
Also exploring the world of eggs and poultry were the Year 8 Humanities students from Granville Boys High School who created Basketbull.
“While our Archibull is now a basket of eggs, the poultry industry certainly does not put its eggs in one basket. Rather, it incorporates biosecurity, food security, farm animal welfare, considered breeding practices for various types of poultry, the egg industry, the impact of climate change and environmental issues into a sustainable poultry industry practice that can feed, clothe, and power a hungry nation.”
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Using still-life and impressionist painting influences, mathematical artistic patterns and even chicken wire, each egg on Basketbull represents a different sector of the industry, and the Archie as a whole reflects the famous painting Panier D’Oeufs by Henri-Horace Roland Delaporte.
“Panier D’Oeufs translates in English to ‘basket of eggs’. Delaporte painted his masterpiece in 1788 which was also a significant year for the Australian poultry industry because it was the year that the first poultry arrived in Australia with the First Fleet. These new arrivals included 18 turkeys, 29 geese, 35 ducks, 122 fowls and 87 chickens.”
Mega shoutout to our supporting partners as you can see all the schools and students involved in 2019 Archibull Prize experience found it an invaluable learning tool on so many levels
This week’s top stories from Young Farming Champions around the world…
In the Field
What better way to start the week than with news just in from the rice fields of Myanmar, where YFC Sam Coggins is working as a Soil Research Officer at the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) – a government agency in Australia’s aid program that commissions agricultural research to support farmers in developing countries and Australia.
Sam sent us this “Day in the Life” snapshot:
We work with partners in Asia, Africa and the Pacific to collaboratively create practical solutions for shared farming challenges. The ultimate goal to support food security, sustainability and economic prosperity for us and our neighbours. For example, one project is analysing how rice growers in Myanmar and Australia could use fertilizer more productively and sustainably. Part of my job has been iterating a digital fertilizer advisory tool with farmers in Myanmar to learn how we can make it useful for them.
Here is an average day of prototype iterations:
Have strangely tasty naan with beans in it (local Myanmar brekky dish), drive to the house of local research partners and plan consultations for the day.
Travel to villages and sit down with farmers to chat about farming and bounce the latest prototypes of digital fertilizer advisory tool off them.
Return to our accommodation, chat through what we learned and redevelop the parts of the smartphone app that farmers didn’t like.
I love my job because it has so much variety and I get to practically contribute to stuff I really believe in.
Sam, left, celebrating after finishing intense week of prototype iteration
This farmer has 3ha of farmland, two weather apps, a farming apps, an app to measure the size of his paddocks and two Buddhism apps. He told us we need to make the fertilizer app for him faster.
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Back in Australia, resident Biosecurity Officer and wool Young Farming Champion Lucy Collingridge recently held the final meeting in a two year long feral pig monitoring project. The project, which is part of a PhD project for feral pig expert Darren Marshall of SQ Landscapes, involved the collaring of feral pigs to monitor their movement across the landscape, the testing of blood samples for zoonotic diseases and an index of abundance camera monitoring project. Another essential aspect of the project is the community perception and participation in feral pig control.
The project was initially featured on landline in 2018, and a follow up segment was aired last weekend. Watch the story here.
Lucy also held a meeting to support the landholders involved in the Cuttabri area who successfully obtained a grant to manage pests and weeds in their area. Feral cat and feral pig traps have been sourced locally, grain for free feeding and ammunition for the humane destruction of pest animals have been supplied to the group to support their in-kind work in controlling pest animals on their holdings. This program is also supported by Australian Wildlife Conservency who are actively working in the Pilliga National Park and State Conservation Adea fo reintroduce native species such as the Bilby.
Information about the grant can be found here.
Grains YFC Keiley O’Brien made time to get amongst it and snap some beautiful family photos in the crops. Keiley and her partner Ross run Nobel’s Contracting and are experiencing their most wide spread hay making season yet, with jobs from Tullamore, to Cowra to Balranald.
Wool YFC Bessie Thomas is getting ready for shearing across their western NSW properties this month. Their shearing team will shear about 10,000 merinos during the next few weeks, with the wool then heading down to Elders wool technician and auctioneer Samantha Wan to work her magic fetching the best price for the fibre.
Bessie’s daughter Airlie all tuckered out getting ready for shearing.
Wool YFC Melissa Henry from Quebon Coloured Sheep hosted the Re-Gen Grazing Group at their farm near Young, NSW. “We were out in the paddocks looking at pasture, root growth and soils. We received some really positive feedback and a few tips on how we can further improve our pastures through grazing management. Thank you Boorowa Community Landcare Group, Scott Hickman and all members of this very supportive group,” Melissa says.
Out of the Field
The September School Holidays marked the arrival of the Royal Melbourne Show. Besides the showbags, carnival rides, horse events & livestock judging there’s another side of agricultural show’s that’s not always seen by the general public. Wool YFC Sam Wan & YVLT Chair Dr Jo Newton had the opportunity to experience some of this.
Dressed to impress, Sam and Jo attended the Official Opening of the Royal Melbourne Show with the Governor of Victoria the Hon. Linda Dessau AC. Sam attended as a finalist for this year’s Emerging Leader in Victorian Agriculture (ELVA) awards while Jo was there as a 2018 ELVA winner. They were accompanied by Sam’s husband Tom (left) and Jo’s brother James (right).
In addition to recognising young people who are passionate about careers in agriculture, events during the show also pay tribute to the army of people who bring the show to life.
Jo says, “Attending the Art, Craft and Cookery High Tea opened my eyes to a whole other side of the show. At this year’s show more than 4000 entries were received across all the art, craft and cookery judging categories. This is many more entries than the 172 received at the first competition in 1911! The High Tea is an opportunity to not only acknowledge the Championship winners but also celebrate all the stewards – show volunteers – who take care of the logistics of such a big competition. It was fascinating learning more about what’s involved in this part of the show.”
In further Melbourne Show news, YFC Jasmine Green was a judge in the Beef Cattle Interbreed competition and National Farmers Federation 2030 Leader and Lego Farmer Aimee Snowdon attended the Agribusiness Leaders Luncheon.
Congrats to Jo Newton also for her second opinion piece for Farm Online, “What we can learn from the Visible Farmer Project.” Read the story here.
Climate YFC and founder of Climate Wise Agriculture Anika Molesworth is proud of her local council has become the latest to declare a Climate Emergency. Anika addressed Broken Hill Council and a room full of supporters last week as part of the public forum and the Landcare group that was driving this declaration. She says the council chambers broke into loud applause in support of the declaration.
“The role of local government in responding to #ClimateChange is critical. It’s not just about reducing our emissions but helping our residents respond and build resilience to the impacts of a changing climate. Impacts are being experienced by our local community, environment and infrastructure,” Anika says.”
“Building pressure on higher levels of government to fund and legislate for emergency action to restore a safe climate is the most critical task a council can undertake”
Anika appeared in Women’s Day last month, writing about the national climate marches, and the Barrier Daily Times last week speaking on council declaration. Keep up the great work Anika!
University of New England YFC Becca George traveled to Dalby, Qld, for the 2019 SMARTBEEF Conference was held from October 2nd – 4th. “Some highlights of SMARTBEEF include the demonstration of the ‘bunk bot’ an autonomous bunk reading robot, and a Q&A and demonstration from celebrity chef Jess Pryles, also known as ‘hardcore carnivore,’” Becca says.
“Jess cooked tri tip beef using her line of meat seasoning and a smoker. There were many great speakers, demos and of coarse yummy grain fed beef! Thank you to Angus Australia for sponsoring me to attend SMARTBEEF 2019.”
Beef YFC Jasmine Green featured in a “Where are they now?” throwback on Angus Australia as part of their Angus Bulletins’ centenary editions. Read more about Jas’s story here: Angus Youth: Where are they now? – Jasmine Green
Grains YFC Marlee Langfield was mentioned in parliament by Member for Cootamundra Steph Cooke MP following last month’s Pizza and Pitch series of consultations with youth across the Cootamundra electorate.
In the video below Steph Cooke MP says, “Among the many inspirational attendees in Cowra was Marlee Langfield who would like to see a better connection between current Agricultural Show Societies and the next generation. We spoke about the stigma young people experience in joining committees and groups and discussed ways to move forward towards bettter integration and acceptance.”
Marlee also appeared in The Land Newspaper this week, celebrating 100 years of the Morongla Show. Marlee is an enthusiastic volunteer on her local show committee.
Beef YFC Bronwyn Roberts has been announced as a speaker at the Young Beef Producers Forum, running in Roma, Qld, 14-15 November.
YFC Sally Downie appeared in The Land article Young People Talk Drought, on the UNICEF youth drought summit. Read more here.
YFC and meat scientist Steph Fowler featured in the Cowra Guardian article “Advances in agriculture and a rich history on show at DPI Open Day.” Read more here.
Prime Cuts
YFC past and present are continuing to impress on the national stage! Congratulations to the following young movers and shakers for these incredible accolades:
University of New England (UNE) YFC Ruby Canning and National Farmers Federation 2030 Leader Matt Champness have both been awarded a BBM Youth Support Agriculture scholarships.
Ruby will be travelling to Canada and hopes to gain industry contacts and insight into the feedlot industry, including topics such as carcass quality, cattle health, and value chain relationships
Ruby Canning has also recently landed the role of media and publicity coordinator for the UNE Farming Futures executive committee. You’ll rock it Ruby!
YFC Sally Downie has been named a finalist for Agricultural Student of the Year in the Farmer of the Year awards, and Picture You in Agriculture founder Lynne Strong and Sally’s YFC mentor Meg Rice have been officially invited to attend this year’s awards ceremony. Good Luck Sally!
In the world of cotton, two past YFC Billy Browning and Richie Quigley have been announced Nuffield Australia scholarship recipients. Huge congrats!
Billy Browning has also been named a finalist in the ADAMA Young Cotton Achiever of the Year Awards. Good luck Billy.
Perth based grains YFC Calum Watt travelled to Brisbane as a finalist in the 3 Minute Thesis competition, although he didn’t progress to the final we’re incredibly proud of his efforts. This week he’s back in WA learning all things TV and radio communication as part of the Fresh Science program. This wraps up with informal “layman’s presentations” on big scientific topics on Wednesday night. Good luck Calum!
Lifetime Highlights
Jump onto Facebook and follow Red Meat YFC Kirsty McCormack’s page Cow Nerd Girl, sharing her insights into rodeo and international agriculture from Australia to Canada. “Writing has always been a secret love, along with the camera this is permanently attached to my arm,” Kirsty writes. “With an opinion always formed I decided I would share some of these moments (good and bad) with the rest of the world.” If you’ve ever wondered what life is like in the world of Canadian beef ranches and rodeo, follow along here.
This beautiful photo below of YFC Bessie Thomas’s daughter Airlie was re-grammed by ABC Kids sustainability warrior Dirt Girl #dirtgirlworldofficial
Archie Action
The 10th Annual Judging Tour of the Archibull Prize is kicking off and we’ve received some fabulous sneak peaks! If you don’t follow us on Facebook, now’s the time to pop over to Picture You in Agriculture and enjoy our most favourite time of year: #ArchieAction time!
More detailed photos and video of all this year’s amazing entries will be going up on the Art4AgricultureChat blog so WATCH THIS SPACE as we head towards the biggest event of our year, the Archibull Prize Finals!
The Archibull Prize connects school students with the people and the places behind the food we eat and the natural fibres we use. Since its inception over 300,000 students have been engaged in courageous conversations about how farmers and the community can work together to create a world with zero hunger and zero waste.
Five Young Farming Champions with support from Australian Wool Innovation partnered with 10 schools studying wool industry in The Archibull Prize and showed that issues such as drought, climate change and mental health are prominent in student minds. The Archie action continues and here we take a look at more schools studying the wool industry, starting with the always surprising Hurlstone Agricultural High School who delved into the world of magic.
Shambull the African Witch Doctor is the Archie designed by Year 10 Visual Arts at Hurlstone to represent drought and climate change. Made entirely from felt Shambull explores the theme of lush to dry.
“The piece depicts an area of Broken Hill, the area of New South Wales most affected by the drought. It’s the ending of a day, which thematically represents a change. It also represents how we are running out of time to find a solution to the environmental problems facing the industry right now.”
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Hurlstone was assisted by YFC Wilcannia Merino farmer Bessie Thomas and and Broken Hill farmer Anika Molesworth who also inspired the African influence after telling the students of how her family uses African breeds of drought-tolerant sheep.
“From this, we decided to delve further into the rich culture of Africa. We immediately felt drawn to the idea of traditional witch doctors masks. Witch doctors, in essence, are members of societies who aid others using magic and medicine. This concept of healing felt extremely appropriate as a message of hope in a tough, overwhelming time. They personify healing, representing our dreams for future positive environmental change.”
Over at Granville South Creative and Performing Arts High School students continued with their pop-art theme from 2018 to create another DIVA with a social conscious. One side of DIVA 2.0 depicts the wool supply chain from paddock to garment; the other, inspired by veterinarian and YFC Dione Howard, shows internal organs of a cow – made from wool!
“DIVA 2.0 sits on a bed of green woollen crocheted grass full of beautiful blooming daffodils and forget me nots, because we wouldn’t want to forget the iconic wool industry and should be promoting its quality and use throughout our lives.”
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DIVA 2.0 exerted her social conscious this year by collecting wool products for distribution to Sydney’s homeless.
“DIVA 2.0 is brightly coloured and literally sparkles but the most unique part about her is that she is giving back. She has not only promoted and encouraged the use of ethical practices and the welfare of animals through her design but she has literally collected woollen goods from our local community to give back to the wider community. DIVA is soft, generous and caring.”
Elizabeth Moo-Carthur (or Lizzie for short) is the name of the cow-now-sheep Archie from St Johns Park High School who are situated near the original farms owned by Australia’s wool pioneers, the Macarthurs.
“Our Archie has metamorphosed into a merino sheep rather than keeping its original form of a cow. To achieve this change, Lizzie’s horns were removed, which taught us about the safety of working with fibreglass, learned from our Industrial Arts teacher. To construct the horns which are indicative of a merino sheep, we fashioned the curve from paper cups, recycled wire coat hangers, papier maché, and lots of masking tape. By the addition of real wool and painting the face to make her look like a sheep, Lizzie’s transformation was complete. Lizzie is trans-species, and we do not judge her – we accept her for who she is.”
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Using jigsaw-shaped pieces Lizzie takes the viewer on a journey through the wool industry, employment, climate change and biosecurity – the latter inspired by a visit from YFC Lucy Collingridge.
“We did not know very much about the need for, or importance of, biosecurity before meeting Lucy. A range of microscopic images of bacteria, such as Dermatophilus congolensis that effect sheep and wool are represented symbolically in jigsaw pieces by brightly painted styrofoam balls, some with pipe-cleaner filaments and some without. Red and white twisted pipe cleaners represent the blood sucking parasite Barber Pole Worms (Haemonchus contortus), which can be fatal for all types of sheep.”
When the blank Archie turned up at Skillset Senior College in Bathurst it had a broken ear so, rather than fix it, students drew inspiration from Vincent Van Gogh (who cut off part of his own ear) and combined this with indigenous influences.
“Our students were given the chance to work with a local Wiradjuri artist Kantandra Mackay. She helped teach the students how to create works that allowed them to express themselves in a range of ways. Exploring indigenous, modernist and personal approaches to artmaking and personal expression was one of the key features of our project.”
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YFC Peta Bradley was also instrumental in guiding the creation of the Archie, named Interknitted Communities.
“Our Young Farming Champions visit was amazing! As part of an initial ZOOM visit Peta Bradley gave the students inspiration through her use of google maps, the students really wanted to explore the idea of an aerial view, creating ‘paddocks’ that were joined together. When Peta came to our school, the students were so proud to show her their progress and to get to ask her more questions about the wool industry. Each square on our entry was created by an individual student who created a design based on country, the wool industry or agriculture more broadly.”
Irrawang High School explored wool by focussing on the important, but sometimes overlooked, profession of shearing. Inspired by world-champion shearer Hilton Barrett their Archie (named Hilton) looks at traditional shearing and a future where sheep are shorn by robotics.
“The front half of the cow is highlighting the process of how a traditional sheep shearer needs to approach a sheep and what cuts should be done in order for the sheep to be as relaxed as they can, but also for the shearer not to strain themselves too much. The red lines across the back at the front are symbolic of how the machine being developed would try and cut from research images.”
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LED lighting leads the viewer across Hilton to show a shearing shed, the Help ‘em shearing logo (an initiative started by Barrett), the direction of shearing cuts and a robotic arm. Pops of blue though out represent the shearer’s singlet.
“The final part of our cow is the small robot arm, which is a symbol of the larger concept of robotics, and it can perform a simple task like pick up some fleece from the shearing shed floor.”
Mega shoutout to our supporting partners as you can see all the schools and students involved in 2019 Archibull Prize experience found it an invaluable learning tool on so many levels
The Archibull Prize connects school students with the people and the places behind the food we eat and the natural fibres we use. Since its inception over 300,000 students have been engaged in courageous conversations about how farmers and the community can work together to create a world with zero hunger and zero waste.
Five Young Farming Champions with support from Australian Wool Innovation partnered with 10 schools studying wool industry in The Archibull Prize and showed that issues such as drought, climate change and mental health are prominent in student minds. Let’s meet the first five Archies from our wool schools.
In an imaginative and interactive expression of the wool industry Merrylands High School highlighted mental health on their Archie.
“Our Archibull sculpture explores the importance of mental health support networks for Australian farmers and the ripple effect that climate change, bio-security, employment and healthy communities bring to Australian farmers that increases their mental health diagnosis and suicide rates.”
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In a nod to the ironic, students have painted sheep jumping over fences as a renowned method of relaxation, pointing out that for wool farmers this is not necessarily a break from work. They have also included a replica brain scan on their Archie’s back to show that mental health is not always visible.
“Outlining the brain scan is a dotted line of light projecting from within the cow. The light pulsates blue and white in an irregular sequence which symbolises the lights in medical practices when undergoing Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scans – a form of neuroimaging. The audience unconsciously alter their breathing rhythm as a physical response to the lights. This reaction draws a link to breathing as a form of meditation, a technique for resting the mind and promoting a positive wellbeing.”
From farming to fashion was the theme for Sean the Cow from Crestwood High School, who illustrated the wool supply chain from paddock to processing to garments.
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With guidance from YFC Katherine Bain students charted their own learnings about the wool industry on Sean, and the effects of climate change on farming. As their knowledge progressed so did their Archie until it ended up with a manufacturing sculpture inserted into its belly.
“Sean the Cow is unique because it can be used as a visual resource to educate others on the wool industry in Australia. We explored the main components that make up the industry and applied our individual strengths to portray these on the different sections of the cow. Some of us were knitters and made accessories for Sean to wear, some are painters and represented different components of the wool industry through images. Others explored sculpture and created an intricate sculpture representing the manufacturing process for inside the cow; and others used different materials to create texture and design.”
Greystanes High School enlisted the help of YFC Lucy Collingridge to guide them through their wool journey and they came up with an Archie divided in two.
“On one side we focused on the land or the farm and tried to show the effects of climate change. On the other side of our cow we wanted to tell the story of wool products and celebrate it being one of the most common fibres. We wanted this side of the sculpture to be filled with wool”.
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The Greystanes students obviously enjoyed making their eye-catching and brightly coloured Archie using wool and really encapsulated the 2019 Archibull theme.
“Throughout this wonderful experience we have enhanced our creative skills and ideas, learnt about the wool industry and much more from our Young Farming Champion Lucy Collingridge and become closer as a team by working together on our unique Archibull. Our Archibull demonstrates that feeding, clothing and powering a hungry nation is a shared responsibility and that everyone should do their part to help each other.”
Over at the Manly Selective Campus of Northern Beaches Secondary College students participated in the 2019 Archibull as part of an extra-curricular enrichment program. Volunteering their time they created Moorino to help everyday Australians learn how to support the Australian wool industry and to show the connection between community and industry.
“This connection is clearly portrayed through the centrepiece of our artwork, the loom, with all the strands of wool coming together to symbolise collaboration and connection throughout Australia.”
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Moorino illustrates many aspects of the wool industry including drought, water usage, carbon footprint, farming charities, the Australian Made logo, woollen garments and a custom made wool stamp from YFC Sam Wan. Students also incorporated their recent actions of striking from school in climate change protests.
“Human footprints walk alongside sheep prints the same way Australia’s community and farming industry must work together to maintain a healthy community. Though there is a contrast between the dark grey and light green, the gradient between them shows that change will not be immediate and our community must take the time to become sustainable.”
Keeping with the climate change theme Burwood Girls High School took a dark and foreboding look at the future with their creation of Apocalypse Cow.
“Our Archie is unique because it is a direct call to action to address the climate emergency that our planet is currently facing. This is a threat that will only continue to progress unless action is taken straightaway. Our Archie is unique because it is not aiming to be polite or gentle about the issue.”
Drawing on the words of climate campaigner Greta Thunberg the head of Apocalypse Cow is vibrant blue representing health and the colours used gradually morph into darker shades representing an uncertain future. Bright pom poms scattered about represent hope. All over the cow are climate change messages.
“Multi layered materials covering the Archie’s eyes symbolise the aimlessness and blindness a large population of the world holds in regards to the climate emergency. Finally, our Archie is adorned with a vibrant crown consisting of woollen pom poms as well as an array of native Australian flora. This aims to offer a glimmer of hope. We as a species can still hold onto the beauty of our world, we just need to embraces new changes.”
Mega shoutout to our supporting partners as you can see all the schools and students involved in 2019 Archibull Prize experience found it an invaluable learning tool on so many levels
The Archibull Prize connects school students with the people and the places behind the food we eat and the natural fibres we use. Since its inception over 300,000 students have been engaged in courageous conversations about how farmers and the community can work together to create a world with zero hunger and zero waste.
Our 2019 entries are in and over the next week we will be showcasing them in a series of blog posts
From vast acreages of wheat to intensive paddocks of salad greens, plants feed and clothe us. Let’s have a look at the Archies representing grains and horticulture.
Chronibull is the brightly coloured grains entry from Wee Waa High School with a GPS base station on its head, silos along its back and a tractor and spray boom above its tail.
“Our artwork “Chronibull” aims to chronicle the development of the grains industry to the sustainable industry it is today and providing grains to feed and power the worlds growing population.”
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Ably assisted by YFC Casey Onus, Wee Waa students looked at the history of grain production from aboriginal firestick farming, through to conventional farming and finally the era of regenerative agriculture with no till and controlled traffic farming. The school used this environmentally-aware ethos in the creation of Chronibull.
“We used a lot of recycled materials that would have otherwise been waste including the paper pulp, the boom equipment from a scrap pile at our local machinery dealer and a used GPS station. We used techniques such as decoupage to enhance our collage as well as mixing soil with paint for the creation of the soil on the hooves that is the foundation of the crop.”
YFC Emma Ayliffe guided Lake Cargelligo Central School on their grains journey, which produced an Archie with its very own hydroponic system and live plants.
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“Archiponics is a working aquaponics/hydroponics system. The cow is drinking from ‘Lake Cargelligo’ through a ‘straw’ and the water flows into a PVC growing tube located in the Archie’s back. The water flows back through into the pond for recycling. The system works with solar power and is to represent where agriculture is headed to in the future; renewable power and sustainable growing of plants in a system then can produce greater amounts of food in a modified environment.”
This Archie even includes a tap on its tail with droplets representing responsibility from a global to local level.
“Everyone plays a part in the responsibility, with the students realising that food security starts local. They cannot rely on having food if they only rely on being fed by the rest of the world.”
Out of the grains paddocks and into the salads was Canterbury College from southern Queensland with YFC Tayla Field providing a unique insight. Students created the eye-catching Heather the Horticulture Heifer to portray the effects of rain and no-rain on horticulture. With 3D sculpturing Heather incorporates grains, newspaper clippings of weather reports, LED lighting and a central cut-out showing a truck transporting hay.
“We felt that this was an important scene to represent and is aimed to create awareness of the hay runners who are assisting our industries through these times.”
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Heather also uses unique QR codes, which can be scanned by the viewers who are then linked to a song, an infographic, the ABC website, games and the school Archibull blog.
“This allows her to ‘tell a story’ beyond her sole visual representation. Given the advancements of technology in the Agriculture industry we think this pushed Heather into the current modern world and makes her unique.”
Staying in QLD Tayla then moved onto McAuley College where Year 7 students worked on the project in their own time with no class time allocated. Wow! Welcome to the competition Boots McCowley.
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The students focussed their studies on the Scenic Rim area to come up with an Archie rich in local connection. A map of the region spreads across Boots’ back like a patchwork quilt.
“This patchwork also wraps around the cow like a comforting blanket, representing the interconnected nature of the industries working the land together; the value of every small part of the supply chain to the success of the whole industry, knitted into the economic, social and environmental aspects of the Scenic Rim region.”
This is the first year McAuley College has studied agriculture and huge congratulations go to all the students who completed such in depth research, planning and construction in their own time.
“(Boots McCowley) will become a legacy item for the school. We decided to dedicate the considerable time, effort and resources to this project to mark an important milestone in our College’s history as we kick off the first class of Agricultural Studies. This is an important addition to the culture of the school, and promoting the shared values of this community and the mission of the Archibull Prize seemed deeply important, connected, and authentic.”
Mega shoutout to our supporting partners as you can see all the schools and students involved in 2019 Archibull Prize experience found it an invaluable learning tool on so many levels
“When I hear about what these students are doing – I could not be prouder!
Having youth talk so passionately about climate change solutions for a sustainable agriculture sector makes my heart sing.
Sometimes I have to pinch myself that I am part of the Picture You in Agriculture programs which connect me in far western NSW to students 1,000 kms away so we can share ideas and stories. There are no other programs which make such an impact on the lives of young people – both rural and urban – like these ones, when it comes to farming and sustainability.”
Anika Molesworth Young Farming Champion, Australin Financial Reveiw 2019 100 Women of Influence, Young Australian of the Year Finalist
Students participating in The Archibull Prize and Kreative Koalas love getting visits from their Young Farming Champions but it’s not always possible for the two to meet physically. Enter technology. Using tools such as Zoom and Skype YFC Anika Molesworth recently took her climate change message to James Erskine Public School (JEPS) and Hurlstone Agricultural High School (HAHS).
Anika and the students from Hurlstone Agricultural High School
Students from JEPS were already on a sustainability trajectory before a giant white fibreglass koala landed on their doorstep. They have been involved in Clean Up Australia Day and National Tree Day, they maintain a vegetable garden, a sensory garden and a bee garden, and they recycle paper and cardboard weekly. They have begun collecting recyclable containers through Return and Earn and have used the credit to adopt a orangutan through WWF.
They are also using their Kreative Koala to focus on climate change and so Anika was a perfect fit to virtually zoom into the classroom. “Anika described life on her farm and how it is affected by climate change and the kids were like little sponges and asked some very relevant questions,” teacher Taryn Pears says. “The kids wanted to know what they could do and after listening to Anika they were saying things like ‘I’m going to waste less food’ and ‘I’m going to take shorter showers’. Anika targeted them very well.
“Personally, I was blown away by the number of young women in agriculture. I have some female students who I think would make outstanding agriculturists and Anika has definitely sparked their curiosity.” Taryn Pears Teacher Erskine Park Public School
Anika and the students from James Erskine Public School
Down the road from JEPS secondary students at HAHS are working on another masterpiece for The Archibull Prize as they study sustainability and biosecurity in the sheep and wool industry.
“We were able to get in touch with a Young Farming Champion, Anika Molesworth, via a Skype call, in which she discussed the effects of climate change on far western NSW and gave us insights on her view on how to tackle the issue as the young generation,” the students said in their Archie blog. “We could all definitely sense her strong passion towards her agricultural work as she educated our team with her amazing presentation on how we, as individuals, could make a difference to climate change with our social, political and consumer influence.”
Using modern platforms of communication Anika is having effective and inspiring conversations with both primary and secondary students – the next generation of young climate champions.
Check out this very clever call to action from the students at Hurlstone Agricultural High School
Hurlstone Agricultural High School entry in the animation section of The Archibull Prize 2019
Action4Agriculture has a vision for an empowered national network of 1000 diverse youth voices working together to inspire pride in Australian agriculture. But as Lynne Strong says:
“We know can’t do this alone and so we get a huge buzz when we meet organisations and people doing fabulous stuff we can amplify.”
Such was the case when Lynne attended the Heywire/FRRR Grant Winners announcements and met Andrew Viney from arts and social change organisation BIG hART. BIG hART began in Burnie, Tasmania 27 years ago and tells the stories of regional areas across Australia.
“The majority of our work happens in regional and remote communities so we have a natural affinity with communities with strong agricultural connections. Our focus is on increasing the visibility of communities and of the issues which affect them and our model involves long term (3-10 years) projects. Consequently we only have a few projects happening at any given time, such as during the Millennium Drought when we had a project running in the Murray-Darling Basin called Gold.” Andrew says.
Andrew Vinney (left) at the Heywire/FRRR Grant Winners announcements
Another innovative and successful project was the Acoustic Life of Sheds, a music and arts exhibition with a difference – held in five sheds across regional Tasmania and winning the 2018 APRA/AMCOSS AMC Art Music Award for Excellence in a Regional Area.
BIG hART’s latest project is Shed Happens, winner of a Heywire FRRR 2019 Youth Innovation Grant. Shed Happens aims to help people understand what life is really like on Australian farms by engaging directly with farmers on an everyday basis through an online video series. The $9,800 grant will develop digital media and literacy skills through workshops and creation of five films featuring stories of rural youth.
Kassidy Fuller from Bullfinch, WA is part of the Shed Happens Team, along with Alexander Rajagopalan from Bruce Rock, WA, Kurt Richards from Dowerin, WA and Hayden Di Bella from Ingham, QLD.
“Last year was tough for my family, The wheat crop struggled through drought, but I was grateful the sheep were happy, healthy and worth a lot of money. Talk of a ban on live sheep exports changed that. My family rely on exports for our main source of income. I believe Shed Happens could have given my family a voice in that difficult time.” Kassidy Fuller
By building strong relationships on the ground with farmers Shed Happens envisages giving these farmers a voice to the public and, in turn, the opportunity for the public to ask questions directly to those farmers. It is an engagement that sits well with the visions of Picture You in Agriculture.
“If you want to build enduring relationships you have to be prepared to be in it for the long haul, because respectful, trusting and open relationships take time and committment. That’s why we are so successful with The Archibull Prize . Our Young Farming Champions are on the ground working with students in schools for six months at a time. We’re building interpersonal trust and this is what BIG hART does. They are working side by side with the people on the ground and the people on the ground trust them to tell their stories. They’re doing beautiful things for farmers in innovative ways. That’s why I love Shed Happens.” says Lynne .
We all know dogs are a human’s best friend and when it comes to farm dogs they are both best friends and highly valued team members! This week celebrated International Dog Day and YFC Peta Bradley sent us these beautiful pictures of her family’s gorgeous farm dogs from Armatree, NSW.
YFC Dr Danila Marini has been enjoying her week of work outside testing potential applications of virtual fencing with a small flock of young merino ewes. She says the new applications look promising! Good luck with the write up, Danila.
Out of the Field
YFC and Drought Coordinator for Forbes Shire Council Sally Downie hosted a Drought Business Forum on last week as an opportunity for small businesses to come together and speak with a business support service.
“Two presenters from Central West Business HQ attended and contributed to the discussions. They presented on how businesses can adapt to the changing retail environment, how to get other business streams and finance issues. They were also able to offer free additional follow up support for all businesses in a range of ways depending on their individual needs. This is exactly what businesses need due to the limited assistance for drought affected businesses currently available,” Sally says.
“The feedback from event was very useful and will be used to compile a report and sent to relative parties and for council reference to help better support our local businesses.The goal now is to ensure there is follow up and action taken to improve support and create widespread awareness as well as to generate support for these businesses to those outside of Forbes.” Well done a very important community event Sally! If you’d like to read more, head over to our Picture You in Agriculture Facebook page for more.
PYiA founder Lynne Strong represented the YFC team at the Heywire FRRR Youth Innovation Grants Announcements on 18th August and was so inspired by the foresight and courage of the program she blogged about it here: Can we teach Courage? We are huge fans of the Heywrite program, with several of our YFC – including Sally Downie – being Heywire Alumni.
Lots of news in from AgQuip 2019 last month with many of our YFC meeting up at the largest agricultural field day in the country. Ruby Canning sent it this great pic of our five new University of New England YFC, Becca George, Forbes Corby, Ruby Canning, Haylee Murrell and Emily May.
Wool YFC Lucy Collingridge was working with the North West Local Land Services at AgQuip. As part of her role as Biosecurity Officer she spoke with landholders from across the state to provide best practice pest management advice. From wild dogs to rabbits, deer to feral cats, the environmental and agricultural impacts of all pest species were discussed. In her lunch break, Lucy had a quick catch up with egg YFC Jasmine Whitten and grains YFC Marlee Langfield. These three superstars form part of our Youth Voices Leadership Team social media committee and it was the first time they had all met face-to-face together!
YFC and 2019 Peter Westblade Scholarship winner Chloe Dutschke is currently on a wool classing tour of Western Australia as part of her scholarship. Chloe is travelling with Scholarship chairman Craig Wilson and has visited Billandri Poll Merinos, viewing rams and tagging lambs with genetic ID tags. She is currently at Wattle Dale Merinos preparing rams for their inspection day. Have fun Chloe!
Exciting week for YFC Hannah Hawker who got the best seat in the house for the Parkes Show.
“Following a stint as an intern in the announcers box at Sydney Royal this year, I’ve picked up a few gigs for local shows in my area. As much as I am a sucker for any country show, I was particularly excited as we came into the last week of August for my beloved local show,” Hannah says.
“Parkes has a huge selection of events that actually run over four days if you include the horse program on Sunday. I’ve seen the show from a number of angles over my time but this might well have been the best, and I don’t just mean the view from the second story box perched perfectly over the centre of the main arena. A special pass into the pavilions before they opened to the public gave me an insight into the massive effort judging and set up was- run completely by volunteers, usually families, and all for the joy of showcasing our local excellence. People in it for the love of it.
“Print outs, results, sponsors bios, run sheets passed along my desk as the day went on. I had a brief moment to stop and think at the enormity, and level of professionalism, involved in this event.
“Announcing was a hoot as the old hands welcomed me in with enthusiasm and trust well beyond my experience. Events of the days and sponsors making it possible was standard, but the horse events and dog high jump gave opportunity for excitement and ad libbing, getting the crowd involved and sharing some of the knowledge I’d gained over my years. Congratulations to the committee of Parkes PA&H and thank you for letting me be involved!”
Coming up Out of the Field this fortnight:
YFC and Cowra farmer Marlee Langfield is heading to Pizza and Pitch for Cowra Youth, a meetup with Member for Cootamundra Steph Cooke. The initiative aims to help MP Steph Cooke inform her priorities and goals to make towns in the Cootamundra electorate better places to live. Steph Cooke is calling for young locals to pitch ideas for their communities and we’re no doubt the incredibly community minded Marlee will have some great ones!
Are you heading to Global Table in Melbourne this week? YFC and InStyle Farmer for Change Anika Molesworth is, along with friend of the program and National Farmers Federation (NFF) 2030 Leader Oli Le Lievre.
“Global Table brings together leading international and Australian agrifood events under one umbrella to join the conversation on solving our biggest food challenges and creating tomorrow’s breakthroughs. Global Table kicks off with a three-day conference at the Melbourne Showgrounds, featuring Seeds&Chips – The Global Food Innovation Summit, coming to Australia for the first time.”
Anika is moderating a session called ‘Disrupting Climate Change,’ while Oli is working in the Innovation Precinct, hosting programs like the Agrihackathon. Good luck to you both and we can’t wait to hear how the week goes!
YFC Lucy Collingridge, Emma Ayliffe, Chloe Dutschke and friend of the program and YVLT minute secretary Sophie Howard will be attending the 2019 Agrifutures Rural Women’s Award Gala Dinner and National Announcement at Parliament House in Canberra.
Youth Voices Leadership Team vice chair and agronomist Emma Ayliffe is gearing up for her role as keynote speaker at the upcoming Chicks in the Sticks event in Victoria’s Grampian Ranges next month. Tickets via here.
Friend of the program and NFF 2030 Leader Matt Champness beamed in from south-east Asia to speak to the Victorian Country Hour this week chatting about his work with farmers in Laos. Matt is presenting the findings of his work at the Asia Pacific Weeds Society Conference in Kuching Malaysia this week. Break a leg, Matt! Take a listen to Matt on the Country Hour here.
NFF 2030 Leader and Lego Farmer Aimee Snowden has a busy month ahead, say hi from us if you see her at any of these upcoming events:
I’m part of the organising committee for this year’s Victorian AgriBusiness Summit in Wangaratta this week, co-hosted by the Ovens Murray Ag Biz Alliance (OMABA). We’ve got a great program together!
I’m heading to the Australasia-Pacific Extension Network (APEN) Conference in Darwin from 11 to 13 September, as the Gala Dinner speaker. I’m looking forward to the program, and also my first trip to the NT!
UNE YFC Ruby Canning is off to Kempsey High School this week to give the students some guidance and tips on parading and cattle showmanship. Ruby joined forces with their Ag teacher after judging the cattle at Kempsey Show earlier in the year. And if you were at Tamworth Show this weekend you may have spotted Ruby judging the qualifying round of beef cattle that will be heading to Sydney Show:
“Drought is devastating by its very nature. It creeps up on the landscape and even after its end is declared, the impacts keep coming. That is the nature of Australia and drought, it is a part of our climate and we know to always expect it.
Despite this, our drought policy is not well established but we do seem to have a well-established pattern every time drought strikes.
Conditions set in and it’s crisis time. It is all over the media, donations flood in from those far removed from the dry dams, dying stock and failed crops.
Months pass, no rain, no relief, more stress, debt and work. Farmers are in the thick of it, but why is everything quiet?” Keep reading here.
Lifetime Highlights
Congratulations to YFC Laura Phelps who has been working in the UK for the last 12 months and has extended plans to stay, taking on a new role as Head of Banking, Business Investment and Tax in the investment area for the Department for International Trade. Best of luck Laura!
Mega Congrats to YFC Meg Rice who graduated from UNE with a Bachelor of Agriculture/Bachelor of Law this week! We can’t wait to see where your hard work and dedication will lead you Meg.
Thanks to the Farming Futures UNE Facebook page for this great photo of Meg on her graduation day.
Archie Action
It has been a HUGE week of Archie Action for YFC going into and Google Hangout-ing with schools across the country for the 2019 Archibull Prize.
Samantha Wan had a blast at Manly Secondary School Campus, Burwood Girls High Schol in Sydney and Irrawang High School in the Hunter.
YFC Tayla Field had a great day at McAuley College in Beaudesert.
Dairy YFC Sally Downie is hanging out with Beaudesert State High School in QLD and East Lodden College in Vic this week, Wool YFC Peta Bradley is heading to Skill Set College, Bathurst for a Face-to-Face visit, Wool YFC’s Lucy Collingridge has an e-meeting with Greystanes High School and Bessie Thomas is hanging out with Hurlstone Agricultural High School. Good Luck everyone! We know you’ll have a ball!
A YOUNG Australian wool broker who has made the industry her life by innovating to provide the best experience for service company staff and grower clients has won her sector’s most prestigious award.
In a hard-fought contest of live presentations, resumes and quizzing on industry issues, Sam was judged the award winner against Australian Wool Network wool and sheep specialist Russell Macgugan from Victoria and Western Australian Landmark broker Matthew Chambers.
Sam said she appreciated being part of the award alumni, especially among the several Elders brokers who have won the award and who she now looks up to.
“This is very much, as with anything I’ve ever done, a testament to all the people who have helped me get to where I am.
“Those who have given me a chance and supported some of the strange things I’ve decided to do and been prepared to give it a go and see how it flies.”
Although not born into the sheep and wool industry, after starting with Elders about seven years as a trainee, Sam said she has built her life around wool through her support role, advocacy, community work and involvement in industry programs.
“It’s all been because of wool, all the opportunities have been because of wool.
“So it’s not just a wool family, but it’s building a life around it,” she said.
“But it is very much a family and (tonight) I’ve been able to see some faces I don’t see very often and to have that support network — I know they are all there.”
The award’s prize includes an economy airfare, accommodation and Congress fees to attend the IWTO Congress in Tongxiang, China in May 2020 and a tour of the Chinese wool textile industry. The Award recipient will be exposed to the wider wool industry beyond greasy wool auctions and the international trading rules system for wool.
Sam’s passion persisted from the first interview
Elders National Wool Selling Centre manager Simon Hogan said it was so satisfying to see Sam win the award, whose passion first stood out in a telephone interview for a wool technical support officer role.
“It was her passion and enthusiasm for agriculture and wool, and her desire to get into the industry.
“She had researched the role, she had researched Elders and it is still showing through now,” he said.
“Sam is so passionate, and her dedicated and her willingness to dot the i’s and cross the t’s to make sure everything is done has followed through from day one.
“Wool is Sam’s life, she wears wool, she knows all about the product…Sam is wool 24 hours. She is up against it not coming from a farming background with so many challenges to overcome.
But what she brings to our team is a point of difference, she brings a different skillset.
This included her IT, social media and marketing skills. Sam’s role at Brooklyn includes completing all weekly sale operations, providing technical advice to clients, district wool managers and the branch network. She auctioneers weekly in Melbourne and as required in Sydney and she is an excellent auctioneer,” Mr Hogan said.
Sam also created an internal weekly wool market report podcast and is always looking for ways to expand the Elders Wool digital and social media footprint. Her IT skills helped develop, implement and support of Elders’ new wool-valuing system across all three wool selling centres. She is also studying a certificate on Blockchain technologies.
Mr Hogan said examples of innovations introduced at Elders by Sam included livestreaming of the wool catalogue.
“Without Sam we wouldn’t have thought of that and now the whole industry is doing it.
Sam brings a different dimension to our team — she breaks the mould.
Sam brings that diversity and that’s what makes a good team – she’s a brilliant asset and we all love her.”
Mr Hogan said every district wool manager has their grower clients.
“But Sam’s clients are everybody’s clients, she supports the whole lot and makes the district wool managers look good.
“Her attention to details and perfectionist manner makes it all comes together.”
Keep looking outside and to the future
Despite her achievements, Sam said there is still work to be done. The broker award and the Elders ‘Thomas Elder’ Employee of the Year award she won last year for improving end-to-end service to wool growers, helped set the bar for her.
“You just need to keep looking to the future.
“It’s a traditional industry which is what I love about it, but there are still things being used in different industries that we can bring in to make more money for the growers.”
Next week as part of her ongoing work in advocacy and educational work with youth as an Archibull PrizeAustralian Wool Innovation Young Farming Champion she will talk about her wool career at three high schools in Sydney.
“There a whole bunch of us Young Farming Champions in different fields of agriculture out there sharing our stories.”
Calibre of broker award finalists was excellent
On behalf of fellow judges WoolProducers president Ed Storey and Sheep Central correspondent Murray Arnel, AWTA raw wool general manager Ian Ashman said the calibre of all three presentations was excellent.
He said the complexity of modern day wool broking and the detailed skill set needed to do the job effectively was clear from the finalists’ presentations.
“In a close run race, the panel believes that Samantha best met the assessment criteria.
“In particular, Sam impressed with her strong focus on communication, education and engagement, both within the wool industry and to the wider community in general.”
“Her innovative approach and ability to introduce new tools and techniques to assist both broker staff and clients to get the best possible financial returns is extremely impressive.”
Mr Ashman said it was extremely difficult to separate the finalists and all would be very worthy winners.
All finalists impressed the judges with their passion and dedication to the wool industry, commitment to providing outstanding service to grower clients, their work in educating the next generation of brokers and the extremely high quality of their written submissions and face-to-face presentations.
The judging panel this year gave equal weighting and consideration to applicants who were office or field-based, within criteria that including innovation, service delivery, business outcomes, performance standards, ethics, presentation, dedication, business relations and industry awareness.
This week’s top stories from our Young Farming Champions (YFC) around the country and globe.
In the field
First stop on our round the globe tour this week is with YFC Sam Coggins who has touched down in SE Asia for the next stage of his work with Rise Harvest. Sam is the co-founder of the Rise Harvest smartphone app that provides site-specific fertilizer recommendations for smallholder rice growers in Myanmar.
“I just had a day in the field during an intensive rice course at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines, where I tried unsuccessfully to plough rice field with Gertrude the carribou (native water buffalo),” Sam says. ” I will be here for the next three weeks and then I’m going to straight to Myanmar to put learnings into practice developing digital fertilizer knowledge tool with smallholder rice growers.”
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On Aussie soil, Youth Voices Leadership Team (YVLT) vice-chair and agronomist Emma Ayliffe sent us this update from her farm near Lake Cargelligo, central NSW:
“The 2019 winter cropping season has seen a much better start compared to last with rains earlier to get crops out of the ground. Small rain events every couple of weeks are helping to sustain our crop but we need a substantial rain event in the next couple of months to get closer to average yields. Compared to last year we are in a much more exciting position as can be seen this this picture,” Emma says.
Friend of the YFC program, National Farmers Federation 2030 Leader Matt Chapness is in Laos and sent us an update while “passing the time on a two hour drive to the village.”
“Yesterday I demonstrated a modified whipper snipper we made to control weeds in direct seeded rice in Laos. This picture (below) shows the results. Field overrun by weeds (left), weed cut (right). I’m off to demo to three other villages today and give them our design.”
Out of the field
Climate YFC and InStyle Magazine Farmer for Change/Klorane Changemaker Anika Molesworth is a triple threat this week with appearances on both television and radio, as well as articles published online!
Anika joined the panel on ABC’s The Drum to talk about climate change, examining the impacts of higher temperatures and lower rainfall, dissecting Australia’s current climate and energy policy, and looking forward to where the country could go from here.
She spoke about how the agricultural industry is being challenged by rapidly changing conditions, why current policy is out of line with the science, and gave examples of the great potential in rural Australia as we move to a low-carbon economy.
Anika also spoke with Triple J’s Hack about drought and the Future Drought Fund which provides relief for some farmers experiencing the word drought in recorded history and the need for emissions to be reduced in order to prevent worse future droughts. Take a listen here.
“In failing to act on human-induced climate change, our political leaders are neglecting the rights of the next generation.
“You just need to turn on your television to know this drought is tough. Every evening, Australian families are being bombarded with footage of struggling farmers, dust-bowl paddocks and hungry animals…”Read more here.
A two time Charles Sturt University graduate, Anika this week starred on the CSU “Insight: explore news, careers and study with CSU” website in the stroy, ‘Women in agriculture- let’s push things forward.’ Read more here. And what a woman she is! Keep up the great work Anika!
If you don’t follow Anika on Twitter, you can find her at @AnikaMolesworth She has been named one of the most influential people in Australian agriculture on Twitter and this week alone her tweeted video on a national drought strategy has been viewed 17,800 times and counting…
What are we learning from the #drought and how should we respond?
Also hitting the radio waves this week was Eggs YFC and YVLT communication creative team member Jasmine Whitten who spoke to ABC New England for the NSW Country Hour. “I spoke about my passion for agriculture and the education activities I have done as a Young Farming Champion and a Landcare coordinator,” Jas says. It’s absolutely worth a listen:
Jas also headed back to her old stomping ground of the University of New England (UNE) last week for the uni’s huge Ag Week event. We spotted Jas in this video from Agmentation (a two-day sprint and pitch grassroots problem-solving event):
Ag Week was the perfect opportunity for our new UNE YFC to introduce themselves over on PYIA. Well done to our Ruby Canning, Emily May, Haylee Murrell, Forbes Corby & Rebecca George for a brilliant week of guest hosting our social media channels. Pop over to PYIA now to take a look back over the week, which included Becca George and Forbes Corby speaking on the Rural Focus Symposium Q & A panel, alongside speakers Andrew Roberts, David Brownhill & Jock Whittle.
“The theme of the day was ‘corporate vs family farming: learning from each other.’ On the panel we discussed challenges for young people entering farming & what we think the future of farming looks like for our generation,” Becca says.
As chair of the Farming Futures committee, YFC Forbes Corby was spotted in this story about the symposium in the Armidale Express
YFC Becca George was showcased on the UNE Agriculture Facebook page as part of the Farming Futures UNE Careers Fair, which is an opportunity for both high school and university students to meet industry representatives and consider careers in agriculture. What excites Bec about the future of careers in agriculture?
Heading west to Narromine, YFC and 2018 Narromine Showgirl Keiley O’Brien recently MC’d the 2019 Showgirl competition, which consisted of interviews, a luncheon and a ball.
YFC Keiley O’Brien, third from the right.
“We had five entrants in the competition, each who were a deserving winner, with Annabelle Powell, an embedding nurse, being named the 2019 Narromine Showgirl.
“I was honoured to MC the night as our outgoing Showgirl and had an absolute blast in doing so. It was great to see so many people within our district come together to celebrate our town, our show, and our people. We had a record number of 176 people in attendance, with two fellow YFC Bec George and Lucy Collingridge amongst the crowd.
“Big thanks to our judges: Spike Orr, Vice President of the Parkes Show Society, Effie Ferguson, The 2019 Land Sydney Royal Easter Show Girl Runner Up, and Lydia Herbert, ASC Next Gen Vice President.”
YFC Lucy Collingridge, Keiley O’Brien and Becca George caught up at the Narromine Showgirl Ball last weekend. Keiley was the 2018 Narromine showgirl and did an awesome job as the MC for the 2019 Narromine Showgirl Ball.
Last week also saw Keiley attend the Grain Growers Innovation Generation conference in Ballarat, Victoria with her employer RuralBiz Training. “Innovation Generation brings together award-winning speakers, innovators and industry professionals from across the sector, to inspire and challenge young people within the grains industry. I had a fabulous time networking and endorsing the flexible training programs offered through my work,” Keiley says.
Not far away in Bendigo it was all action at the Australian Sheep and Wool Show, where UNE YFC Ruby Canning was busy photographing for the Stock and Land Newspaper.
“The Sheep and Wool Show is the largest of its type in the Southern Hemisphere,” Ruby says. “It was a great experience meeting and networking with other individuals within agriculture. Competitors traveled from all over the country, including as far as Western Australian, to showcase their top stock.”
“While I was there I worked closely with Joely Mitchell, the Acting Editor of the Stock and Land. Along with photographing most of the champions, I had the privilege of photographing the industry dinner Lambition, which included meeting and photographing MLA corporate chef Sam Burke, as well as Jason Strong the newly appointed Managing Director of MLA.
“To top the event off one of my photos made the front page of the Stock and Land Newspaper for the second time, and I was shortlisted for the BBM Global Industry Scholarship.”
Congratulations Ruby! Fingers crossed for you with the scholarship winners announced in early October. If she wins, Ruby plans to travel to Canada and America to study the feedlot industry and meat grading and quality systems in comparison to Australia.
Ruby Canning with Joely Mitchell the Acting Stock and Land Editor at Lambition.
We were excited to see Ruby also spotted fellow wool lovers Rice YFC Erika Heffer and Dairy YFC and YVLT Chair Jo Newton in the crowd at the Sheep and Wool Show!
Over to Wagga Wagga, NSW, where YVLT mentor leader and Local Land Services (LLS) district veterinarian Dione Howard has been as busy as… well… an LLS district veterinarian!
Last Friday Dione attended the Graham Centre Livestock Forum with Riverina LLS, where livestock researchers, producers and market experts shared their latest insights.
Later in the week Dione spoke to the Charles Sturt University (CSU) Vet Science Class of 2020 about all things district vetting before the students head out on their final year of placements. The following day CSU had its Ag Careers Fair where students come together to hear from organisations in the agriculture sector who they might consider working for when they finish their agriculture, animal, vet or business degrees – lots of opportunities!
This Friday the Riverina LLS hosted a Lamb Post Mortem Workshop, in conjunction with Elders Wagga Wagga, where Dione shared with producers common causes of lamb mortalities and how they can identify what has happened to lambs so that they can make improvements for next year. Wow – what a week!
This week also saw Dione present at NFF House, Canberra, to a Lunch ‘n’ Learn group about her experience as WoolProducers Youth Ambassador for 2018-19. This was the last of her commitments for this program, now it’s over to Woolly YFC Samantha Wan for the 2019-20 Youth Ambassador role!
Speaking of Sam… If you’re heading to Sheepvention in Hamilton, Victoria, this week keep your eyes peeled for Samantha Wan. Sam is presenting the Elders Southern Clip of the Year awards. Looking forward to hearing more about this Sam!
We’re also staying tuned for news from YFC Steph Fowler who flew to Germany this week for the International Congress of Meat Science and Technology (ICoMST) which starts this Sunday. Steph is presenting three papers on the meat science research she has been doing at Department of Primary Industries, and Steph’s PhD student will be presenting another two papers. Break a leg, Steph!
Coming up this week in Sydney is the Royal Agricultural Society (RAS) of NSW’s leading Agricultural and Agribusiness careers expo, AgVision2019. YFC Lucy Collingridge and Dee George, and friend of the program and NFF 2030 Leader Aimee Snowdown are all heading AgVision’s way – say hi if you see them!
UNE YFC Becca George is gracing the RAS of NSW Facebook Page and website this week as one of the 2019 RAS Foundation Rural Scholarship winners. 22-year-old Becca is a fourth year Bachelor of Business/Bachelor of Agriculture UNE student in Arimdale, originally from the small central NSW town of Nevertire. The RAS Foundation Rural Scholarships support students from rural areas who have to relocate to study. Applications are now open for 2020 RAS Foundation Rural Scholarships: Apply here
And did you catch Becca George’s photo on the Ten News Daily Bailey segment? Congrats Becca and we hope it’s pouring with rain out there soon.
YFC and YVLT communication creative team volunteer extraordinaire Marlee Langfield was the face of the recent Rural Women’s Network Hidden Treasures Honour Roll campaign, which recognizes fabulous volunteering efforts of rural women. As a 2017 Hidden Treasures nominee, Marlee was asked to talk about why she loves being involved with her local community and how she hopes the Morongla Show will continue for another 100 years. “They came to the Country Women’s Association/Red Cross meeting to film, which meant they could see me in volunteer action,” Marlee says. Nominations for the 2019 Hidden Treasures Honour Roll have now closed.
Prime Cuts
Congratulations to Wool YFC Samantha Wan who has been selected as one of three finalists in the 2019 National Council of Wool Selling Brokers of Australia Wool Broker Award! Read all about it on Sheep Central here. Well done and good luck Sam! The prize sounds right up your alley…
“The winner of the 2019 award will win an all-expenses paid trip to attend the 2020 Congress of the International Wool Textile Organisation in Tongxiang, China in May 2020. Arrangements will also be made for the 2020 award winner to visit the wool textile industry in China.
NCWSBA executive director Chris Wilcox said the winner will be announced at the AWIS Wool Week dinner in the evening of Thursday, 22 August.”
Double YFC whammy for the NSW Young Farmers – with two YFC elected at the recent Annual General Meeting. Mega congrats to Meg Rice who was re-elected as a NSW Young Farmer Councillor, and Martin Murray who was elected as NSW Young Farmer deputy chair and onto the grains committee. Well done Meg and Martin!
Congratulations Meg Rice
Congratulations to YFC Tim Eyes from The Food Farm: Central Coast Produce who last week won champion tree felling at the district fire brigade championships!
And a huge warm welcome to the latest amazing talent to join the YFC team, Sally Downie. Sally has been awarded the 2019 Picture You in Agriculture Scholarship. Read Sally’s blog here to discover what makes her so incredible and a deserving winner of this scholarship. Sally’s heading to Beaudesert State School as part of the 2019 Archibull Prize and they’re already as excited as we are!
Archie Action
2019 Archibull Prize school visits are well under way and this week YFC Lucy Collingridge visited Greystanes High School and St Johns Park High School, where she spoke with 50 secondary students. At Greystanes High School, Lucy met with a range of students from years 7-12 who elected to participate in The Archibull Prize this year with their art teacher. Here, Lucy skyped with YFC Emma Ayliffe to give the students an insight in to the cotton industry. At St Johns Park High School Lucy spoke with the year 9 elective arts class who are participating in The Archibull Prize with their art teacher. Lucy also had the pleasure of speaking with the year 10 elective agriculture class who joined the session.
“I loved my time at the schools and I am looking forward to some follow up Google Hangouts with the students and tracking the progress of their Archibulls for 2019!” Lucy says. “Big thanks to teachers Donna Draper, Max Labal and Leah Bonus!”
Lifetime Highlights
How special is this…! YFC and Cowra grain grower Marlee Langfield was recently doing some family research when she came across a 1979 newspaper clipping with her grandad Clem Capps on the front cover of The Land newspaper. We love the headline, “Everything Old is new again” because 39 years later, Marlee and her partner Andrew made the cover! Read and enjoy the stories below…
