This week Young Farming Champion Sam Coggins was invited to share his ideas on a global stage as one of three young Australians selected to participate in the Youth Ag_Summit in Brussels
Ten years ago a very small team came together to form the organisation that is now known as Picture You in Agriculture.
We had a vision to:
- Create a national network of young farmers promoting agriculture
- Have an Australian community proud of our farmers
- Develop young people to thrive in business and in life
Out of this vision The Archibull Prize and Young Farming Champions (YFC) programs were born and our 2016 external independent evaluation of both programs showed we are certainly ticking all these boxes and some.
We then added “foster a network of globally connected thought leaders in agriculture and sustainability” to our vision.
Our highest purpose is to show young people in agriculture that they can achieve amazing things if they identify their core values, focus on doing what they love, surround themselves with people they can learn from and ask for help when they need it. We exist to help young people in agriculture learn to do extraordinary things and thrive in life and business
The YFC journey starts with learning the skills and tools to go into schools in a safe environment as the face of youth in agriculture for The Archibull Prize. The YFC program finds ways to continue to expose participants to global ideas and gives them skills and knowledge to participant in discussions on the world stage. This week Young Farming Champion Sam Coggins was invited to share his ideas on a global stage as one of three young Australians selected to participate in the Youth Ag_Summit in Brussels
Visit the Youth Ag-Summit website here
Together with Yang-Ming Goh & Christopher Young, Sam will bring a fresh perspective to the challenge food security during the conference. Sam’s application essay included the need for values based communication to address the seemingly universal stigmas surrounding genetic modification . Read more here
“At one of the Young Farming Champions workshops, facilitator Greg Mills challenged us to think about how the broader community perceived agriculture and the people in agriculture. Greg introduced ‘values-based communication’ as way to develop trust between community members and those of us who see our future in agriculture. By demonstrating as agriculturists, we share their values and we care about what they care about, we can demonstrate that we are the type of people they can trust to look after our animals, our people and the planet.
Greg’s presentation really stuck with me and got me thinking about how this approach could be applied to break down the stigmas surrounding genetic modification and careers in agriculture. These reflections formed the basis of my application to be part of the Bayer Youth Ag Summit in Belgium and I was honoured to be selected.
Thank you, Greg and Young Farming Champions!”
Sam is a great example of how the YFC program challenges people to think differently and then gives them the skills and mentorship to participate at the next level to build on these new ideas. A key success factor is that some of our mentors & trainers come from non-traditional backgrounds and bring new perspectives and provide an expanding world view to the YFC
Speaking of Young Farming Champions Global Communicators succeeding on the world stage a huge congratulations to YFC Casey Onus and her UNE teammates for third place at the International IFAMA contest in Miami. On top of that, UNE pulled off first place with their team Bec Clapperton, Max Laurie and Sarah Wall
Casey Onus (far left) with the UNE IFAMA team
Every decision you make about who you let join your team and the standard you hold gets viewed through the lens of your values.
