Continuing our feature on Inspiring Young People in the Agrifood Sector. This is a guest post by Steph Fowler who has just started a PhD in Meat and Livestock Science,
There are everywhere man!!! All these inspiring young Australians choosing agriculture as a career of first choice and why wouldn’t they ? Hassad are investing in OZ agriculture for all these reason We should be proud of our Aussie Farmers they have a great reputation world wide
The Steph Fowler story………..
Farming isn’t in my blood; it’s barely even in my family. I grew up on the Central Coast of New South Wales in a small coastal suburb, Green Point, as far away from the country as you could get. Believe it or not I have just started my PhD in Meat and Livestock Science, with a project that is looking at the potential of Raman Spectroscopy in predicting meat quality (translation – I measure meat with lasers). I eat and breathe meat and livestock but it hasn’t always been this way. When I was growing up I never dreamed that I would end up joining an incredibly rewarding, innovative and exciting industry that would take me across the country and around the world.
It wasn’t until high school when I decided to study agriculture because I liked animals that I got involved. After a very successful first cattle show, I was hooked and became a fully-fledged member of the school cattle team and spent the remainder of my high school years breeding, preparing and showing stud Limousins.
Once I left high school I headed up to Tocal Ag College, in search of more practical skills and completed a Cert III in Horse Husbandry and a Cert IV in Ag. Part of these courses included work experience on properties. You can just imagine I readily jumped at the opportunity to go to New Zealand and work as a general shepherd before heading up to work for Northern Australian Pastoral Company on Connemara Station in Queensland. I loved the life of a jillaroo so much that after finishing at Tocal, I readily agreed to stay on with NAPCO heading out to the Barkley Tablelands in the Northern Territory to be a jillaroo, on Soudan Station.
After my jillaroo career finally ended after I smashed my left foot in a motorbike accident in September 2007, I began the next step in my journey by undertaking a Bachelor of Agriculture at University of Western Sydney in 2008.
When I started my undergraduate degree, I became involved with the Intercollegiate Meat Judging (ICMJ) Competition as a competitor and then as the UWS Coach. ICMJ introduced me to meat science and provided me an opportunity to do work experience across the supply chain with Australian Country Choice (ACC) Teys Australia and Cargill Beef Australia. I worked throughout the beef supply chain, in manufacturing, processing, at feedlots and on stations but still couldn’t decide what I wanted to do. It wasn’t until I completed an enterprise study for uni, at a 17 000hd feedlot that realised I wanted to become a scientist in research and development as I got a real kick out of bringing new ideas to the table and having a say in how things could be done.
My involvement in showing also took a new turn when I started uni as I joined the local agriculture society and got heavily involved in the running of the Hawkesbury Show and helped organise junior judging and a junior judging training day for youth of the area. It was this involvement that lead me to be the Hawkesbury Showgirl for 2011. No small feat for a girl now more comfortable in boots then heels!
After completing my honours in assessing the impact of Hormonal Growth Promotant defects on the productivity of beef feedlot steers, I was torn between doing more research for the feedlots and taking on a new project within meat science. I ended up deciding on meat science, it’s my kind of career because it’s unique. No two days are ever the same. I spend days out in the paddocks, in the yards, at the feedlots, in the processors, and in the lab. It’s that vital step where paddock meets the plate, where we can make or break the hard work of the farmers. It’s also important (and usually overlooked) to make sure that the meat industries can increase productivity to ensure supply of meat without compromising animal welfare, the environment and all essential meat quality.
There are increasing challenges associated with meat production with cost-price squeezes, environmental challenges, changing policies and labour skills shortages, to name a few, but there are also increasing opportunities as Australia and the world attempt to meet increasing demand for food. Consequently, the direction of agriculture and meat production for the future is changing and I want to be part of it’s new direction.
Only 5.7% of Australia is suitable for food production yet our farmers feed 60 million plus people. We are a very lucky country indeed with food in abundance. Well done Aussie Farmers